Warsaw, Day 2

This morning, breakfast was fun, because we got to see some of the Polish Olympic team at breakfast. I'm not sure if the whole team is staying here, but at least some of them are. It's pretty cool.

I think this is Konrad Wasielewski, from the rowing team

Anyway, I told Em that we would alternate sad and fun on this trip. So, since yesterday was the Warsaw Uprising Museum, today was the Copernicus Science Center. It didn't seem too far to walk (and I haven't yet figured out the public transportation system) so we walked. It was hot, and not a pretty walk. But, we found it. It opened at 9, and we got there about 9:30. The line was already really long. It was over an hour before we got in.

Marie Curie in line. They also had Einstein & Copernicus

Every nun needs a bright red cell phone

Once we got in, we headed towards the Re:Generations section, a section which is designed for 14 or older. The group in front of us got stopped for having a kid that was too young, but the monitor let us walk right in. It was pretty cool. When you come into the museum, they give you a card like a hotel key card. In this section (and some of the activities in other sections of the museum), you put your card in and do the activities. It then records the information. At the end, you're supposed to be able to put your card into a machine and find your "perfect mate" based on how other people have responded to the activities. We didn't find that machine, though. But, it was still a lot of fun. It wasn't sexy stuff, it was just things where you had to think a bit more. Stuff like figuring out the demographics for ads and international social mores.

There was one activity that involved the way you speak to different people. There were several different people drawn on a board, and large dice with phrases on them. You had to decide which phrases went with which people. Some of them were pretty friggin' funny.

There was another one that showed you how interconnected the world is now, and what the world would lose if one country stopped trading. Some of those were pretty entertaining, too.

Information Technology, Revolvers, Gasoline

Geese, Garlic, Wigs, False Beards, Eyelashes, Vacuum Cleaners

Christmas Balls, Helium for CERN

We then went around the rest of the museum. The rest was crowded with school/camp groups, so there were a lot of activities we didn't do because of lines.

Nuns step aside for no child

We were getting pretty hungry by then, too, and the cafe wasn't one you could enter from within the museum. The way out was through a gift shop, of course, and Em picked up a stuffed bacteriophage. His name is Polly, because he has bendable legs that would make him stay on Em's shoulder.

Polly want a bacteria?

We didn't see anything at the cafe that looked appealing, so we walked back toward Nowy Swiat, the street of 100 cafes. We just wanted sandwiches or something cool, but we finally gave up and had doner. Then we went across the street to a juice bar and had slushies. That was nice. It was too hot, so we went back to the hotel to cool off and watch some Buffy.

Another pretty address thing. I wanted to buy one

As dinner approached and it cooled down, we went back out. This time to the other side of town. There is a Hard Rock, so of course we had to go there. Hard Rock is very near The Palace of Culture and Science - a huge building that was a "gift from the Soviet people to the people of Poland" Nobody likes it.

Nearby, there are 2 small pieces of the wall to the Jewish Ghetto that remain. There is an apartment between the two pieces now, though I can't actually say if the wall continues through it, or if the wall is broken by it. There's also one of the best examples of what Warsaw looked like just after the war - a building that hasn't been repaired at all.

We decided to do the wall first. It's in the courtyard of an apartment complex. When we got there, there was an older couple taking pictures, so we held back a bit. Then, it was my turn to get my pictures.

Then, I heard Max ask me if I could come translate some German. An old man had come out of his apartment, and was standing in his yard, talking to Max & Em and the other couple. He was telling them in German about the wall. He had lived in that apartment for 60 years. He wasn't there during the war (that was about 70 years ago), but not too long afterwards. So, he knew a lot about it. I actually understood most of what he said, too. I was pretty proud of myself.

The cobblestone part on the left was in the Ghetto. The sidewalk was not. Three bombs fell in that fenced area on the right

A girl came by not too long after he started talking. She was Polish, but was also a tourist in Warsaw. She spoke fluent English, so then he started talking to her and she translated for us. It was very interesting.

With our translator

He showed us a book that he had been keeping for 40 years. It was a guest book of the people who had visited the wall. He is on his 5th volume. He has people from all around the world in his book. He wants it to become part of the history of the wall. I think having a mission in life has been good for him. He is in his 90s, and seems like a much younger man.

This is the 5th of these books that he's made

The countries represented in his books

He told us about all the women that had given him kisses over the years, so of course Em & I added our kisses to his collection. He's a sneaky thing, though. I went in for a cheek and he turned, so I got a nice smack of old man lips.

The other part of the wall. There's a plaque that says two bricks were taken to the Holocaust Museum in DC

We then walked to the building. On the way, we saw a marker in the sidewalk that showed us where more of the wall had been.

The building was creepy. Other buildings around it have been repaired, but this one stands. It was left in good enough shape to not need to be ripped down, I guess, but not good enough to be livable. From the pictures we saw of what Warsaw looked like after the war, this must have looked like a palace. 85% of the city was flattened.

As we were walking back to Hard Rock, I saw a restaurant that I had seen an ad for in our Warsaw map. It had looked like fun, so we decided to go there. It's one of those Polish Experience restaurants. I guess it's more happening on the weekends, but it was pretty dead on a Tuesday night. No matter, the food was good! For an appetizer, we had bread that was served with butter and what the menu said was "traditional Polish drippings." I had seen elsewhere on the menu something about goose fat drippings, so I think that's what it was. The bread and butter were both very good, the goose drippings not so much. But, I tried them! For dinner, I had latkes, Max had duck, and Em had venison. She's been wanting venison for a while (she had never had it before), so she was tickled that she got to have it. I must say, her venison was delicious.

We still needed go to Hard Rock, so we decided to just go for dessert. Along the way, we visited the restrooms at the central bus depot. I read in my guidebook that they were redone for the EuroCup that was just in Warsaw a few weeks ago. They were pretty funny.

In the men's room

This guy was staring at me as I peed.

I can't believe we forgot to get a picture of Em at Hard Rock, but she did get a glass and a pin, so we're good.

A cool mall next to Hard Rock

Emma says - 'Sup Dawg! Science museums make me happy. Almost as much as wildlife things, and sometimes more.It was really, really fun, and there were so many things to do. Most of them had English, which made me happy. I'm glad we had time to have a rest in the middle of the day, because I was really worn out. I really liked talking to that awesome old man at the wall, because he told us stories and explained everything. Dinner was sooo good! I can't even describe it. The Hard Rock was fun, and the milkshake was really good.