Warsaw March/April 2002

Had to go to my Fatherland at least once while here. It wasn't quite what I had hoped. People tell me that is because we didn't go to Krakow.

Our train was delayed an hour at the Polish border because the German in the car next to us had some sort of problem with his passport. They removed him from the train, after an hour, as a result. So that we were late, we got to see a fair amount of country side.

This is what you look like after your train has been delayed and you are starving to death!

We encountered this beer walking around town on a number of occasions. Not quite the Pied Piper as he didn't have any sort of following.

I could have sworn we were in Austria while walking through this platz. It is where the touristy stuff is. Why tourists in Poland would want to buy crafts in a platz that looks likes Austria only makes me think they are American tourists and don't know the difference.

Apparently there is a Golem like story about this area in Warsaw. There was a monster that would abduct bad children that lived in the cellars of these buildings. The owners took turns hosting the monster.

Around the corner and down the way from the Austrian platz was this clock of Astrological signs. Not quite the Astronomical clock of Praha.

There was a lot of graffiti around town. Lots of it was dedicated to cats too.

I guess beer is a theme too...

As we all know, the polish are very religious people, as well as faithful to the Catholic church. So being that I couldn't get an interview with Polish Pope John-Paul the II, I stopped and gave this Pope a question. See how perplexed he is by my very deep and rigorous question.

Being that there was not a lot to do in Krakow, we drank a lot of coffee. There were lots of coffee shops. Coffee Heaven was nice a comfortable but a bit sterile for me.

Mercer's was very nice. Open and with an attractive interior. The chocolate and stuff coffee drinks were yummy.

Here is an across the table art shot.

Here is a 'Heather as stoic customer' art shot.

TriBeCa was the first shop we stopped at. We took a likely Christmas Card picture here though it was Easter time.

See, wouldn't that make a nice Christmas card?

Communism is not dead in Warsaw. The buildings were very Communist monolith cheap but there were a number of 'Power to the People' type ornament around. These were my favorite.

Power to the Mothers and Power to the Workers...When will they show a Power to the Workers status where the worker has a laptop and latte in their hands?

This was a cool British hotel that had brandy and cigar bar inside. It was too expensive for our cash flow though certainly beautiful.

Cotton candy. The Polish national food!

These are very cool paintings by a French artist that were hanging in a Mexican food restaurant. Loved the paintings...

...the Mexican food left something to be desired. They did brew their own beer and it was, as you can see, a very hip looking place.

Buy your office furniture for the ASSMANN!

The graveyard was the coolest place we went (didn't even find any local designers!). All sorts of family crypts with dates as far back as the late 1700's. Lots of people were there on Easter. Some crypts were well cared for, fresh flowers even. Some had obviously had the family die out some time previous.

'Hello there, I am God'
Not subtle on their religious icons.

This was on a street corner as you were walking towards downtown. Nothing around it (it wasn't the entry to a museum or anything). It was just there and cool.

This pedestal use to hold up the statue you see in the background. Patrick can tell you all sorts of scientific and engineering things about it. He was very impressed. It was very hold.

See he gets very serious about his art and engineering.

Look! Some very tall buildings. Lots of different architecture in Warsaw. Like different people owned different parts of town and wanted to go with themes from totally different countries. A hodge-podge of a city for sure.

Big church spires on a large roundabout. The buildings around were pretty dodgy and the church almost seemed neglected.

Some very serious doors.

The Supreme Court of Poland. Lots of quotes from various famous legal minds on all the posts.

The freeway...

A weather vane. The animal on it seems to be in the upside down 'death' position. Guess a storm is coming...

Mustn't forget my continuing analysis of the Walk/Don't Walk signs of Europe. These are some how rigid but happy!

Having changed our plans to leave a day early, here we wait for our night train to arrive.

And here is our train now...