and so the husband and i went for an east europe trip in June'08. 2 weeks away from baby YZ and burning a hole in our pockets. but all is worth it.
history and sights are the best things to assult one's mind and eyes. and we got that alot during the trip. *wide grin*
okie 1st stop 1st: Poland!
after the dreadful long haul flight from SIN-transit at istanbul, we were finally at Warsaw, capital of Poland. and the tour started (that's why i dun like packaged tours, more tiring than F&E!).
basically, Poland has not much of sightseeing for a country. but what it has is its history. its sad, long history of under another country. *sigh* the 1st few days of the trip when we were at Poland weren't easy and most of the info i gathered from the tour guides brought tears to me. :(
basically, as most of us know, Poland was under Germany during WW2 and for those who watched "the pianist", you will know how cruel the germans were to the Jews in Poland. in fact, the movie was based on Warsaw this city. straight after WW2, Poland falls under the Soviet Union till only early 90's then did it gain its independence.
what the germans did to the jews then was unthinkable. the movie basically get as close as possible to the real situation then. and 85% of warsaw was destroyed during the WW2 so whatever we saw were all re-constructed to represent the buildings then. not much photos taken in poland. it just doesnt seem right to me. hmm...
@ Ĺazienki Park where the monument of Chopin is located
ahh, now then i know Chopin is from Poland. it may come easy to some, but its really nice for me to learn new nuggets of facts from travelling. :)
and then we visited the old ghetto which was rebuilt mostly. nothing much to see but the tour guide just kept on piling us all the sad conditions of then during WW2. apparantly all the jewish ghetto in Poland is open-boundary one, only the one in Warsaw is enclosed (exactly as portrayed in "the pianist"). and as the germans were killing the jews, and alot of them dying because of the bad living conditions so the ghetto got smaller and smaller. so sad right.
monument to the ghetto heros.
noted that the people's eyes are hollow. an explantion is that these jews staged an uprising against the germans with the notion that they will not see their future (ie, they will die during the process) yet they went ahead.
and we visited old town square too which is completed rebuilt cos its totally bombed to ruins during WW2.
me having huge-ass ice-cream. i have not bathed for nearly 20 hrs i think! lol.
warsaw's old town square
Czestochowa
enroute to Krakow from warsaw, we passed by this place Czestochowa where jasna gora a monestary is located. it houses the famous black madonna painting which is a national religious relic of poland. it's rumored to be painted by St luke and it's called black madonna as the painting (wood) has turned black from the soot from all the praying all these years.
me at our hotel lobby @ warsaw - hotel novatel!
@ jasna gora
the famous black madonna
okie, that's all for now. very tired liao. will talk about krakow next.
its sadder there. :(
1 comment:
How did you enjoy the food in Poland?
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