Warsaw, Day 2 for me

Sometimes, I am so tired that I cannot sleep. Yesterday may go down in my personal history as holding the prize for the most tired I have ever been. After days of hard labor, digging away at rocks and baked clay, after mornings of wake-ups before dawn, after hurrying to pack and leave on time, followed by the usual sleepless night on the long flight -- I was in a fog of sleep deprivation. And still, I needed to do a final edit of my post last night  (missing of course half the mistakes I should have caught). It was after midnight before I hit that comfortable bed, expecting to be jittery and unsettled from sheer exhaustion. Instead, I was out to the world and for the first time in weeks, logged in a solid seven hours of la la land sleep.

In the morning, the fog in my head lifts and I look outside.

No rain in Warsaw yet. I have two goals for this day: to see Bee again and to spend time with my sister.

But first, breakfast. It's not a buffet here -- you have to order off of a menu. I just go with my standard granola yogurt and fruit. Well, with an added pastry.

Of all my June days this year, funnily enough, this day, my first full day in Poland, is perhaps the most leisurely. Unrushed. My important people today (Bee, my sister) are flexible. No need to hurry. 

(heading out...)

 

First comes a walk with Bee. I had asked about the new green spaces by the Palace of Culture,so we walk in that direction, passing through the gorgeous Saxon Park. 

... filled with preschoolers, visitors, Varsovians.

 

 

The scent of linden trees in bloom right now in Warsaw is intense! These are the weeks anyone should visit Poland. For the fragrance!

 

 

Then to the Palace of Culture, the most hated gift,  grudgingly accepted, from the Soviet state. Meaning Stalin.

 

 

 

... passing, too, the monument to Janusz Korczak. There are many many monuments in Warsaw to heros who make your heart swell with grief. This one is in that group. Korczak was a Jewish doctor who took care of orphaned children. His legacy? When the Nazis forced his Warsaw Ghetto orphanage into deportation, Korczak refused multiple offers to save himself. Instead, he chose to walk alongside his 200 children and orphanage staff, comforting them to the end. They were all tragically murdered at Treblinka.

The grief and anger seem to have abated. But they're not gone, I still feel both when I am reminded, through books, art, statues like this one. 

 

The green spaces are nicest to the front of the Palace, and Bee and I lingered there on a bench. The weather is cool, but really beautiful. No rain today!

 

 

 

(Socialist realism looks like this: )

 

 

From there, we walked to the small street -- Chmielna. It was under renovation, turning into a pedestrian street the last time I was here. It's very pretty now, but what I especially wanted to see is the new unveiled mural depicting a "futuristic" Warsaw, imagined by artists in the early years of the twentieth century.  

 

  

 

And it's about now that I realized we were getting awfully close to my meetup time with my sister.  I hop on the metro (free for people over 70!). Even five or six years ago, people read books during a metro ride. Today? This:

 

 

 

I am so happy to see both my sister and my nephew waiting for me at the appointed time and place. My sister has long been taking care of my Polish self. My ID was expiring. She reminded me of that and helped me do the paperwork to extend it. Today we also extended my passport. Theoretically I could do it myself, in Chicago. It would take several trips though and long waits at odd hours. Here, it was quick and easy. 

We walked then to a bakery. I wanted a Jagodzianka -- a blueberry yeast roll -- they are in season now and quite good. With milky coffee! (I also love Polish yeasty rolls and pastries...)

 

 

 

There we sat for a good 2 or 3 hours. 

 

 

 

I finally leave, because I'd arranged for Bee to come up to my hotel in the early evening. I love to cut through the parks here and the Saxony one is just a block from my hotel...

 

 

 

 

Bee and I linger in my room, catching up in the way that one does when time with your close friend is so rare and precious. I asked to eat supper with me in her favorite coffee shop in the Old Town neighborhood. We walk through the familiar blocks and squares and settle at an outdoor table. Delicious veggie tortillas with tea...

It's getting late now and clouds are appearing over a brilliant evening sky...

She walks me to the bus stop, I hop on the 116 -- a bus I had taken more times in my life than any other, and I get off one stop too far, but deliberately. So that I can take the longer route, past the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier...

through the Saxony Park again...

And to my hotel, so perfectly located for evening, morning, afternoon strolls...

Tomorrow everyone arrives. Oh how I hope they all travel well and get here at the times that they're supposed to get here!

with so much love...