The Adventures of Phillip and Pat: Warsaw: Cooking Class, the Little Insurgent, and Autumn Colors

Phillip and I are now in Barcelona, but I need to share our last days in Warsaw. We like Warsaw and would return if a flight took us there, but Wroclaw and Krakow were our favorite stops in Poland because of the dwarfs in Wroclaw and the friendliness and number of things to see in Krakow. Food and plenty of museums are what we will remember about Warsaw. On Monday, we had a great cooking class, learning to make pierogis.

It was a hands-on class with Nina, the instructor, giving us tips such as how long the dough must rest (at least 10 minutes, 20 is ideal, and no more than 30), what to do if we have a blow-out when we fill the pierogis, and the importance of thoroughly squishing the edges to seal the pierogis before making them fancy with a fork or special crimping. Four students for the class, so four different fillings for the pierogis that we ate after cooking them! Delicious….

Warsaw has a lot of museums. We walked to the POLIN museum. POLIN is one of the larger museums focused on Polish Jews, from their arrival in Poland thru their decimation during World War II. During the Middle Ages, Jews became merchants and bankers because, due to religious intolerance, they were prohibited by the local rulers from owning land. Some Polish rulers integrated Jewish people into society, however, over 90% of the Jewish population in Poland was killed by the Nazis in just five years.

While the weather was good, we walked in the Stare Miastro (Old Town). Warsaw’s Old Town was actually almost totally destroyed during WWII, but the reconstruction after the war was so accurate that the Old Town got a UNESCO World Heritage site designation.

Some pieces of the city walls from medieval times remained.

The center Market Square was much smaller than that of Krakow and Wroclaw.

The Square was graced in the center with a mermaid statue. The mermaid as a symbol of Warsaw dates from 1622, when she appeared on a Warsaw coat of arms. The legend is that the mermaid decided to stay after stopping on a riverbank near the Old Town. Fishermen noticed something was creating waves, tangling nets, and releasing their fish. They planned to trap the animal, then heard her singing and fell in love. A rich merchant trapped and imprisoned the mermaid. Hearing her cries, the fishermen rescued her. Ever since, the mermaid, armed with a sword and a shield, has been ready to help protect the city and its residents.

Tuesday, we walked in the largest park in Warsaw, Lazienki Park. We didn’t go far enough in to find its peacocks, but the changing leaves were beautiful.

We saw the Chopin statue in the park. I had to use Google to find that it is a willow tree represented with Chopin in the statue, that he sat under the trees in the park to consider his musical compositions. Looks like an alien or a ghostly hand to me.

And like Berlin, the trees were reflected beautifully in the water in the parks. This is from another park, Ujazdowski Park.

Saxon Park had trees that showed the changing to autumn.

Just east of Saxon Park, we found, near the Presidential Palace, Poland’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, with an honor guard and an eternal flame.

The following day, we returned to Stare Miastro so that I could take a proper picture of “The Little Insurgent.” In addition to mermaid statues in the souvenir shops, we saw replicas of this guy. At one of our many museums (we were in more than I’m describing), we found the story of the Little Insurgent. During WWII, twelve- to fifteen-year-old boys volunteered to join the Resistance effort. They were mainly couriers and sentries, and their contributions were vitally important.

Also, during our second visit to Stare Miastro, we visited the wishing bell. According to a legend, it grants wishes, but you must walk around it while keeping your hand on its top. So, Phillip did!

I had to get a picture of this guy… he looks to be straight out of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I was afraid he would boom out “None shall pass!” as I neared for the photo.

On Wednesday, we went to the Warsaw Rising Museum, the museum that was most educational because it had interactive displays even though the subject matter was the failed Polish uprising against the Nazis in 1944 that led the Nazis to kill 200,000 residents and destroy most of the city. Many displays of weaponry.

The museum had a mock-up of the sewer tunnels used by the Little Insurgents. Visitors could crouch down and walk thru, getting a sense of the confined spaces, but not the smell, that the boys endured in their resistance efforts.

In addition to a 3-D fly-over movie showing the totally destruction of Warsaw in 1944, authentic film clips were used to show how the weapons were used. The video behind this anti-tank device showed how it was used to sneak up on German tanks and disable them.

We didn’t just visit museums and Old Town; we also went to a market. I’ve mentioned the mushroom soup that Phillip loved, here are the mushrooms. Vendor after vendor had stalls selling all manner of mushrooms!

On our final evening in Warsaw, we managed to visit a restaurant we’d passed several times. It always had a line of local people, the sure sign of good food. We hadn’t eaten potato pancakes yet, so I ordered mine with stew and Phillip had his smothered in mushroom sauce. As it was chilly and raining, I also ordered mulled wine. All was indeed delicious, but very, very filling!