Warsaw, Poland

After a rather rocky start in Poland things finally settled down enough for us to enjoy the city for the day before we headed off into the unknown known as Berlin, Germany. We had most of the day to see the sights that the city had to offer. Continuing on with our usual routine we booked a tour of the city. On our tour we saw:

-The Old Town, included on the UNESCO World Heritage Site List.

-The Royal Castle with its Square, residence of monarchs from 1596 to 1795, as well as the residence of the Polish President in 1918. We also had the chance to see King Sigismunds's Column-the first secular monument in Poland.

-St. John's Cathedral, a Gothic Church and witness to some of the most important events in the history of Poland with sarcophagi containing the remains of eminent Poles.

-The Old Town Market Square and Barbican.

-The former Jewish Ghetto, the Memorial to the Heroes of the Ghetto, Umschlag Plaz and Mila Street, site of the bunker where Mordehai Anielewicz, the leader of the Ghetto Uprising, committed suicide.

-The Royal Route, with superb aristocratic residences and famous monuments, including the Holy Cross Church with its urns containing the hearts of Fryderyk Chopin and Wladyslaw Reymont, the first Polish winner of the Nobel Peace prize for Literature.

-The Royal Park, a walk in the most beautiful park in Warsaw commonly known as Lazienki or 'The baths' and a visit to the interiors of the so-called 'Palace on the Water', the lavish summer residence of the last King of Poland, Stanislaw August Poniatowski.

-The tomb of the Unknown Solider, The monument to the Warsaw Uprising of 1944 and the Monument to the Victims of Katyn.

-We also on a slight detour to program we climbed up the clock tower with a beautiful view of Old Town.

After the tour we headed out to find a place to have a sit down dinner before we headed back to the hold to pick up our luggage and head to the rail station to catch our final overnight train to Berlin, Germany at 11, which turned into 11:30 since it turned out to be an half-hour late.

So our time in Poland was quick with only a tour of the city, a pastry shoppe, two dinners, and a McDonald's later time was up.