The hotel we are in is just down from Kimber's office, as well as just across the street from what is probably one of the most "recognized" buildings in Warsaw, the Palace of Culture and Science. The Palace was a gift to Poland from Josef Stalin and was built in 1955. While it is viewed as a symbol of the Communist era and not a favorite symbol of Warsaw for many people. It is quite lovely lit up and a purplish-blue at night, especially from the 43rd floor swimming pool of our hotel.
Kimber's office is located in the same building as a local mall. The wavy glass roof is the mall, and Kimber's office is located in the tower portion on the front. Marathon occupies part of the 6th floor.
I mention Kimber's office here for a special reason. We have celebrated many holidays in some interesting places over the past few years - Christmas in South Africa, Easter in Croatia and Germany, etc., and Thanksgiving here in Poland at Kimber's office. It was an eclectic mix of people that joined us for the "traditional" dinner, Scots, Brits, Poles, a Spaniard, as well as some other Americans. The menu was turkey, stuffing, gravy, green beans, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn on the cob, clam chowder, rolls, cheesecake, pumpkin pie and brownies. The food, prepared as a package by the Warsaw Marriott, was good, but not quite as unique as you would find around a family dinner table in the States. It was a wonderful evening of sharing, and quite interesting to see those that had never celebrated, and in some cases, knew little about Thanksgiving, all gathered together. Some had never eaten roast turkey, and the Spaniard commented that the carrots (actually sweet potatoes) were quite nice. It did remind me a bit of the spirit of the holiday, with a mix of different cultures coming together to share a meal and give thanks for all we have, and we, thankfully, shared it all as a family.
On Friday, we went to the Copernicus Museum of Science, a recent addition on the list of "things to do in Warsaw." Like other science centers, it is full of hands-on experiments and demonstrations for everyone, especially kids, to try. Here you see Sidney truly getting "hands-on", using her hands as a form to blow bubbles. There were lots of things to do, and the place was stuffed to the gills with kids of all ages learning and having a good time. After the museum, we had a nice walk back to the Fenicia Lebanese restaurant, a favorite of Kimber's since arriving in Warsaw.
Saturday was a relaxing day for us. We had a wonderful breakfast in the hotel, then walked down to a local park. Along the walk, we saw statues of Charles de Gaulle and Ronald Reagan. The statue of de Gaulle is positioned to face away from the former communist party headquarters. The statue of Reagan sits across from the U.S. Embassy. Reagan, as you may recall, was president during the time of the Solidarity movement, and was monumental in the change from communism to capitalism in Poland.
The park we visited, Ujazdowski park, had a great playground for Sidney, as well as a nice pond and sculptures. It was first opened in 1896, but has been updated many times since. There are several rare tree specimens, as well as brown-tufted squirrels and ducks.
Sidney played for a while, then we walked down the street past the university botanical gardens and parliament to the Lazienkowski park. The monument to Chopin is here. This is the monument featured on the Warsaw coffee mug from the Starbuck's city collection. A picture of it can be found in Kimber's earlier "Poland Part 1" post.
We made one more stop back at the playground before heading back to the city center. We took a trip up to the top of the Palace of Culture and Science to get a look at the city from a different perspective. While it wasn't as high as the view from the 43rd floor of our hotel, it was clearer because there was no glass between us and the view. The picture of Kimbers office building was taken from up here.
After returning to the hotel for a break, we headed back out to the Old Town to take in the Christmas Market. There were booths set up selling traditional foods, crafts and lots of other stuff. It is located on the square where the "Little Mermaid's Sister" fountain is. Those that have followed the blog for a while may remember a picture of Sidney here about a year and a half ago when Kirk and Sidney did their camping trip. Here is a more up-to-date picture of her with the mermaid.
We shopped a little, then headed for dinner at a restaurant called U Kucharzy. It is located in the kitchen (literally, the restaurant is in the kitchen) of the old Hotel Europejski. We were able to snag a table right beside the stoves and ovens and watched as the cooks prepared the traditional Polish fare around us. The food was fantastic! Kimber had cucumber soup and veal meatballs in a cream dill sauce, I had beef wrapped in cabbage, and Sidney had perogies. And for those in Texas, H.E.B. sells perogies with this picture on front. We, however, dined on much better perogies just a few blocks down from this statue. (The statue is King Sigismund, the man who made Warsaw the capitol of Poland.)
After dinner, we walked off our meal by going back to the hotel. We passed the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier along the way, and want to share it with you as well.
Sidney and Kirk head back to Houston tomorrow, with a six hour layover in Amsterdam. We are planning on trying the art museum at the airport (they have a couple of van Gogh's) and maybe a little duty free shopping. Kimber returns Tuesday, and we will be together again until Kimber heads to London the next week.
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