This morning we picked up our car at the Warsaw airport. A brand new Nisson. I have to admit, I was nervous at first, but as I started to drive through the city, I became comfortable pretty quickly.
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%81%C4%99czyca . We found a quiet hotel on the edge of town and took a room. 
This is the art museum of Poland. It holds exhibits ranging from archaeology to 20 century Polish art. 
Here’s a painting by Bernardo Bellotto. 
entitled “View of Warsaw From the Terrace of the Royal Castle”. It was painted in 1773. The view looks much the same today.
One gallery we enjoyed dealt with the evolution of man from the individual to the collective. The first room contained busts of individuals and was headed “Everybody has a place”. The next room dealt with the hierarchy and showed the separation of classes from kings to peasants. Marlene is looking at an ancient family tree. This room lead to a room called “Regression” which depicted the rise of Nazi Germany and the overrunning of Poland.
This painting showed the subjugation of the Pols to both German and Communist brutality. From this museum, we headed next door to the Polish Army Museum. Marlene waited for me while I took a quick tour through the displays which showed the history of the Polish Army from the creation of he Polish state until WWII.
Outside were exhibits of heavy armor, tanks and fighter planes from WWII.
After leaving this museum we got on the light rail and rode it to the end of the line and back.
From the train we got a good view of the “Elephant in Lacy Underwear” , a ‘gift of friendship’ from the Soviet Union. Built between 1952 and 1955 it’s the tallest building in Poland and the fifth tallest in Europe. From the train ride we headed back to Old Town to watch people. 
I was taken by the little girl with her balloon. 
We ended the evening with dinner at a Polish “Izzy’s” all you can eat for a fixed price. It’s directly across the street from our hotel and the only reason we went there is because our favorite restaurant was closed when we arrived there on Sunday. 
This was filling, but not real tasty. 
There was, however, lots of variety. The evening ended with this view out our hotel window.
Our hotel is on the east side of the Wisala River. This is the side the Russians occupied and while it was a battle ground, it was not leveled as was the west side of the river which was occupied by the German army. This is an older, more residential section of the city and we find it quite comfortable. It’s within walking distance of old town and some of the main attractions in Warsaw.
Each morning we are treated to a generous, tasty, breakfast buffet. Everything from pickled herring to chocolate cereal. The beds are wonderful and the bathroom spotless and tiled from head to foot. Everything seems new even though the buliding is old.
It’s all very environmentally conscious. Instant hot water, a master switch by the door so that when you enter your room, you insert your door card into a receiver and it automatically turns on all the lights. When you leave the room you take your door card out and all the lights turn off. No wasted electricity. As you walk down the corridors or stairs, only the lights that you need come on. Then they automatically go off as you pass by. Very neat modern technology. Of course we have full internet service. All this for $60 a night. The breakfast alone would cost us $20 for two if we went out to a restaurant. 
Speaking of restaurants, we found this place about 3 blocks from the hotel. It seems Italian oriented, but you can get almost anything you want. We have eaten there two nights in a row and have had wonderful vegetarian meals washed down with a reasonable house wine.
Here, Marlene is having mushroom soup and roasted vegetables and I’m having a mushroom pasta with a side of steamed spinach topped with parmesan cheese.
This morning as we have done the last two mornings, we walked across the Wisala River to old town.
From the bridge, we also get a view of the main downtown district. Old town was completely destroyed by the Nazis in 1944 and has since been rebuilt to look exactly like it did before it was destroyed.
Castle square is where you enter the old town from our side. 
On my next post I’ll have some pictures of Saturday’s wanderings.
Got here early. No problem with security. So far can't think of anything we forgot.
A pleasant surprise on Friday. Over a year ago we extended an invitation to a new acquaintance for her parents to land at our airstrip when they came to Portland to visit her. Last week we got an email saying they would like to take advantage of our offer.
We have house sitters arranged. Another Boomer couple will be living here while we are away. As usual, Marlene has created a list of things to be done and has flagged all the places she is concerned about having plenty of water.
They even got Omy up the ladder to check out the finished product. We've since added a rope so they can climb up or down two ways. When the leaves come out, this will be well hidden.
