8-27 Vistula River and the Praga District

 

Today we decided to do something different and walked down to the waterfront walkway by the Vistula River.  There were a few walkers and bikers on the pathway - but not much more.  It looked like their were docks and fairly spaced restaurants on the water and a place for river tour boats to dock.  None were open.  There were 1 or 2 restaurants on the land along the walkway which were open.  

Views back of old town from atop a viewing platform.

Then we noticed this walking bridge to the other side of the river.  Michael looked on his map on his phone and found that we would be close to the Praga District if we walked across.

Pictures from the bridge.

A view back.  Old town on the very right.  And a couple of tourist boats finally out on the water.

Our first stop was at the Cathedral of St. Michael of the Archangel and St. Florian the Martyr.  One thing you should know - things on this side of the river are real - they are old.  They somehow escaped the attention of the Nazis and were not destroyed.

There was a funeral going on so we just took a couple of photos from the very back of the church.

We thought we would grab something to eat at the kiosk below and take it into the park Praski - directly behind it.  And maybe after we finished our food the funeral would be done and we could view the church.

Benches in the park

This was perfect - as our goal today was to try street food - and these are very popular in Poland.  And turns out this little food stand has a 4.8 rating on TripAdvisor!

We had the flat one on the left.

We had a spinach one and a chicken one.  Both were delicious

This dry pool in the park,  has many plastic fauna - covered in lights - must be nice at night.  I must say the Poles love their plastic flowers - so many things outside, restaurants and stores were decorated on the outside with plastic flowers.

The funeral at the Church of St Michael - etc - was still ongoing.  So we headed on to the next thing on our agenda.

We next headed up the hill towards the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Mary Magdalene.  Their was a christening being held there - so no photos inside.

Both the church and the street scene above were on the same street corner.

Rozyckiego Bazar ( their are other spellings as well)

It really seemed like this was a bazar to go to if you were getting married.

Shoes

Outfits for the mother of the bride and guests.  There were men's suits, wigs and hairpieces and bridesmaids gowns.

This market has lasted since the 1880's - it is no longer in its heyday!

I found these buildings no longer in use - very interesting.  I would loved to wonder around all the closed shops - but we are tired.

Art work behind the shadow of a gate.

That was so much walking - we took an uber home and took naps!

8-26-2026 A Much Better Day

 After yesterday's misadventures - we were hoping for a much better day.  We were both able to get much needed rest and having no set agenda - there was no need to rush.  We had found a nearby grocery store in our explorations of the neighborhood yesterday - and we purchased enough bread, cheese, ham and fruit for our next two breakfasts.  

Before I start on our day - a bit of history is important.  Warsaw was almost completely destroyed in WWII by the Nazis.  Of course they did not have the original building plans.  But they were determined to bring back as much of Old Town as they could.  They researched by going back to original artists renditions of what the town looked like.  So even the old city walls they now have or replications of what was there before WWII.

We had also found a self-guided tour we could follow and be guided on our phones that was about a total of 3 miles.  We headed out to the furthest point and then planned to make our way back towards our bnb through Old Town.  We only have two full days in Warsaw.  We saw many "famous" buildings, here are a few.

The yellow and orange city buses reflect well

Another reflection.

Church of the Holy Cross

This is just a random building I thought interesting.

City streets

St John's Arch

Much to do about Fryderyk Chopin in Warsaw.  He used to play the organ in some of the churches.

There are a lot statues here as well

Our reflections are in the window behind Michael.

And the most famous view going towards the main square in Old Town.

St Annes Church

Church of St. Joseph of the Visitation

Castle Square

The palace with long lines of people waiting to enter.

Sigismund III

A replica of the old city walls

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

It is hard to see the details on the building - sun in the wrong place.

Old Town Market Square

Statue of the little Mermaid

8/25/2026 Let the Adventures Begin

 We left the house at 5:45am on Monday morning to catch our early morning flight to Chicago.  As we landed in Chicago the flight  attendants requested that all those who had time to catch their flights should stay in their seats and let those that had little time - some less than 10 minutes to catch their connecting flights get out of the plane first.  And miracle of miracles - everyone did it.  I stepped out of my aisle seat to let my two seatmates go first and then sat back down.  I think the trick was the flight attendant making the announcement didn't just let everyone decide if they qualified - he specified the flight numbers and destinations of each flight deemed problematic - and had all those people raise their hands so everyone knew who they were.  It was quite amazing!

The layover in Chicago felt really long - 5 hours felt like 10 as we were already tired.  The flight was smooth and we arrived in Warsaw on time.  I was dreading the new European requirement that everyone set up photo id and fingerprints for identification, but there were only 5 people ahead of me.  So while it was slow - there were not the long lines that Alexis had reported she encountered at the Copenhagen airport just a week or so ago.  

The problems started at baggage claim.  We waited and waited for our 3 bags as everyone else around  us grabbed their luggage and headed out.  Finally, belt 2 was deserted accept for us and one other women.  The belt stopped.  Started again for a bit stopped - and repeated.  Finally stopped and the sign said last bags for Chicago.  How could Polish Airlines lose all three of our bags!  Maybe they went to the oversize luggage areas - nope!  Maybe someone had taken them off the belt and they were waiting somewhere else - that has happened before.  I walked all around the belt twice - nope no suitcases sitting anywhere.  There were no luggage attendants any where.  There had to be a Lost Luggage office so I set off to find it - and did - but I didn't have the luggage receipts.  I call Michael on WhatsApp to bring them to the office which is to just past belt 6.

Per Michael's airline App - all 3 pieces were loaded onto the plane in Chicago.  The help desk personnale  tell me that it looks like 2 pieces should be on belt 2, but 1 was left in Chicago.  Go back to the belt and wait 15-20 minutes.  He will have them run the belt again - they might have gotten stuck in transit.  Off we go back to belt 2.  Now it is crowded with people - people from the next flight on the schedule. The belt is running - but no new pieces of luggage are coming out.  The belt shuts off and we wait some more.

I tell Michael I will take one more lap around belt 2 to see if anyone has taken our suitcases off and set them somewhere.  The luggage for the next flight starts coming out of the shute.  When I come around the corner heading back to Michael I can see one of our pink suitcases on the luggage cart.  All 3 pieces had finally arrived.  I can see the airline losing 1 piece of my luggage or random pieces of many people's luggage - but how can they lose track of all three pieces of luggage under the same ticket!  Can anyone explain how that can happen?

We head for the exit and try to find a place to sit down so Michael can contact our Airbnb host.  Can't find any place to sit.  So we find a quiet place and Michael tries to call our host.  The host's number is out of service.  He tries to text him on the Airbnb app.  We do not hear back.  

We will have to wait to hear from the host - we can't get into the apartment building without him. Again we search for a place to sit - finally i spot 3 seats outside.  There is a bit of cold wind out there. I get out my winter jacket.  Now I am cold even with the coat on - I see the three seats across from us, but inside the terminal are empty.  So we head inside to wait.  At long last Michal hears from the host who gives him two new phone numbers.  We are seated right by the Uber waiting zone - so we are able to catch one quickly.  

We arrive at the apartment where we are to leave our luggage.  The cleaners have just started to clean the apartment after the previous guests left at 11:30 today.  We head off to explore Old Town which is only a couple of blocks away.  After a short perusal of the area, Michael says his shoulders hurt from his heavy backpack and he would like to go back and sit on the park benches we had passed.  So that's what we did for several hours waiting for the cleaners to be finished.  

We get the call - head back to the apartment - get a quick tour and explanation of how things work and the host takes off.  Michael and I start talking about how we are going to arrange ourselves in the apartment.  I start turning on some lights - just to be sure they are working in one of the bedrooms.  There is a loud pop, a cracking sound and sparks fly out of the 2 lights on the left wall.  Damme!  Now none of the lights in the room and the next bedroom or the bathroom work.  We search for the fuse box and can't find it.

Michael calls the host again - at least now we have a working number for him.  He heads back to the apartment.  So  we wait again.

When the host returns - he shows us the fuse box in the front closet which we had searched.  It is hidden behind the wall.  You have to know where to push lightly on the paneled wall to make the door pop open.  After trying to reset a couple of the fuses and changing some light bulbs - everything is right again.  

We finish unpacking - then Michael takes a nap - on the bed under the lights in question.  He wakes up and informs me that he had been sleeping on a bunch of glass shards from the broken lights!  Is the day finally done with us?

Michael has a business call at 6pm.  After that we go out to eat.  We decide to get pizza as the restaurant is very close to us and has a 4.8 rating, instead of going to a Polish restaurant as we had planned - we will do that when we are not quite so brain tired and it is easier to make decisions on what of all the heavy Polish food we will eat.

And so ends the first day that we have ever been in Poland.