Warsaw

We have nothing to lose and a world to see.

I got back to Krakow Sunday night and Monday (24.02.2020) afternoon I was on a train with Mae and Brian to Warsaw. Once we got to our airbnb, we met up with Cedric.

That afternoon the four of us explored the city. While wandering around we saw the Presidential Palace, Piłsudski Square and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Saxon Gardens, the Royal Castle, a few churches, Old Town, a few fountains and parks, and a statue of Marie Curry.

Warsaw’s Old Town is lame compared to Krakow’s to be honest. Warsaw’s Old Town was destroyed in 97% during WWII, so it has all been rebuilt; hardly any of it is original. But it’s also really small and there isn’t much to do inside.

The next morning, Cedric left to go back to Krakow and Mae, Brian and I went to the Neon Museum. The neon museum has been collecting old neon signs for a while and officially opened in 2012.

As you walk in you can read about the history of neon signs which I loved because it was all about chemistry. A short summary of neon lights: Neon was first discovered in 1898 by Sir William Ramsay and Morris W. Travers in London. Ramsay used fractional distillation to isolate neon: he cooled a sample of air until it was a liquid, then he warmed the liquid and captured the gases that were released. Nitrogen, oxygen and argon (which were already known) were given off and the rest of the gases were isolated and identified. First, they discovered krypton, then neon, and then xenon. Neon gave off a bright red light when it’s electrons were excited. The great thing about neon, and the rest of the noble gases, is that they produced light and are chemically inert, stable and nonreactive. Scientists tried to use the noble gases in everyday situations like lightbulbs but it didn’t work well. Most of the signs were actually used back in the day and then restored and put on display. It was a really unique museum!

After the neon museum, we ate lunch and headed back to Old Town for our walking tour. On the walking tour, we got the whole history of the city of Warsaw. We started at the statue of Sigismund III, the first Polish king from Sweden. Then we saw the Royal Castle which had been almost completely destroyed in WWII. We saw the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist which was destroyed in WWII and built back completely different. We saw Old Town and the famous mermaid fountain. Legend says that the mermaid lived in the Vistula River and watched over Warsaw. Our guide told us about how the mermaid came to look the way she does now. First she start out half-chicken half-human with wings and evolved to the half-fish half-woman we know now. We also saw Warsaw’s barbican, the wall surrounding and protecting the city. The barbican used to be made out of dirt which was smart because it could be easily moved. Then it was made out of bricks, which offered more protection but couldn’t be moved if the town grew or shrank.

Our guide also talked about the Jewish ghetto in Warsaw. Warsaw had the largest Jewish population and during WWII, the ghetto held 300,000+ Jews in a 3km square. There are memorial plaques on the sidewalk marking where the ghetto walls were.

My favorite part about the walking tour was seeing Marie Curry’s house. Marie Curry was born in Poland, when it was part of the Soviet Union, but then moved to France so she could get an education. There, she married a French man and became a dual-citizen of France and Poland. Marie Curry is known for discovering Radium and Polonium and developing the theory of radioactivity. She named her first discovered element after Poland, Polonium. Marie Curry won 2 noble prizes, was the first woman to win one, the only woman to win 2, and the only person to win in two different fields, physics and chemistry. She is a badass. Rumor has it that her office door handle is still radioactive after doing experiments and touching the doorknob to leave the room to wash her hands.

After our walking tour, Brian, Mae and I went to the Palace of Culture and Science and rode in an elevator to the 30th floor to get a magnificent view of the city. We saw all sides of the city in the light and then in the dark when everything was illuminated. It was a gorgeous view! After, we ate dinner and headed to the train station to get back to Krakow.

Back in Krakow, I went to my classes (I actually go to school, I promise) and made friends with Erasmus students in my building. This weekend, I’m catching up on my blog, dishes, laundry, and starting my papers for my classes. Bree and I will probably visit a new coffee shop or two, too. I’m also counting down the days until mom, Aunt Jessie and Maddie come to visit…2 weeks! I cannot wait to see my jirls!