On the way to staying with our Swiss Family , we had an overnight stop at Uberlingen on Lake Constance. It was a  pretty spot and we had to celebrate the 5th anniversary of Greg’s retirement with a few beers and a great dinner of “lake fish” at our very cute hotel.

 

We left Uberlingen, and took Luigi for a ride on the ferry to cross the lake , and we travelled through 4 countries in a couple of hours! Germany, Austria , Lichtenstein and Switzerland.

We stopped at Lindau, a touristy town on the Lake with it’s Bavarian Lion statue and stone lighthouse. The Rathaus or “Town Hall” was rather ornately decorated!

 

We arrived at Esther and JP’s and it was great to see them! The next day we went to Burgenstock, a mountain (1128 m) along the shore of Lake Lucerne. We caught a catamaran from Lucerne across the lake and took a cable car up the mountain and enjoyed a fabulous lunch (thank you Claudie!!!!)

 

We had good intentions of taking a nice 45 minute stroll around the top of Burgenstock , however a huge storm came across the lake, wild winds and hail, so our walk did not happen, but it was still a great day!

 

The next day was a very relaxing day “at home” which we enjoyed a lot!

The following day we had another Gondola ride up to Alpgschwand, another mountain on Lake Lucerne for another great lunch (thank you Sparta!). The meatloaf was sensational!

 

The next day, we said goodbye to Esther and JP and drove to Zurich Airport where we left Luigi, and took a flight to Warsaw, Poland.

The weather had certainly changed when we arrived in Warsaw! It was raining and only 14 degrees! We checked into our Hotel and walked up to the Old Town.

Warsaw’s Old Town was completely destroyed by German troops in 1944 and was re built and paid for by the people of Poland in the exact same style , using photographs . It was quite incredible sitting in the Market Square, looking at the buildings and realising that the re building continued until the mid 1960’s.

 

We did a great walking tour and discovered a lot of the history of Warsaw.

The Palace of Culture and Science (above) until recently was the tallest building in Warsaw , and was a “gift from  the Soviet people for the Poles” from Joseph Stalin in 1955. According to our guide, very few Polish people like it , (because it is a memory of Soviet times) and the “nick name” of the building  is “Stalin’s dick”.

Of course Warsaw has a history of the Jewish Ghetto and Uprising. We did another very interesting walking tour through the Jewish Ghetto and heard the horrific stories of the Jewish Polish people throughout WW11.

 

Although the walls of the ghetto no longer exist , there is a marker on the ground showing where it was and monuments with a brief history throughout the area. There is no evidence any more of the ghetto as it was completely destroyed.

The “pylon” in the above photo is a memorial of the bridge between the 2 parts of the ghetto (for anyone who saw the movie “The Pianist” ,  this may bring back a memory)

The Ghetto Heroes Monument (left) commemorates the Ghetto Uprising in 1945 and is located at the spot where the first armed clash of the Uprising took place.

 

Another monument of the Uprising (right) which incidentally only lasted 4 weeks is the Monument to the Heroes of the Warsaw Uprising.

There were over 400,000 Jews imprisoned in the Ghetto and at the end of the war , the death toll was estimated to be 300,000 killed by bullet or gas chamber , combined with 92,000 from hunger and disease! It was a very moving walking tour and we learnt a lot!

We have wandered through Lazienki Park to see the “Palace on the Island” built in the 17th Century which was rather nice.

It has been a while since you have seen a photo of food, so here is a selection of the Polish food that we have been enjoying! It’s bloody good!

 

We also found the Old Town Wishing Bell , and the story goes, if you walk around it 3 times , and make a wish it will come true! Well, after walking around Warsaw for 2 days , and about 15 kms each day, Greg wished for new knees!!!!!!

We have enjoyed our time in Warsaw and tomorrow we catch the train down to Krakow for 3 nights. According to our guide , Krakow is a lot prettier than Warsaw, and he told us not to enjoy it too much!!! We will wait and see!

So its that time again, by the way Polish beer is really good!

Cheers!

Greg and Rhonda.