We drove eastwards this morning through pleasant agricultural lowlands, to reach the Polish Capital, Warsaw at 12.30pm. We checked into our hotel the Golden Tulip and then headed out to get a quick bite to eat, a hot dog. We met up with our tour group for an optional city tour of Warsaw which was done mostly on the coach with short photo stops. Places of interest were the Old town, Royal route, Lazienki Palance, Ghetto, Palace of Science and Culture, new residential district, city parks and various monuments. We stopped at the Historical Museum and viewed the filmed "Warsaw Remains".

Rebels crouch behind barricades, dodging enemy fire. Rivers of fire belch from flamethrowers. Women and children dash across bombed-out ruins. Men pull a corpse out of rubble. The scenes are as riveting as any Hollywood war movie. But they are snippets of historical footage from the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. After the movie we had some free time so Pete and I walked around the Old Town which is the oldest part of the capital city. It is bounded by the Wybrzeże Gdańskie, along with the bank of Vistula river, Grodzka, Mostowa and Podwale Streets.

The heart of Warsaw is its beautiful Old Town, with narrow cobbled streets, colourful historic buildings and a fairytale character. This tiny cluster of archways and courtyards round the Main Market Square was once the whole extent of the city. While a Renaissance-period New Town sprang up beyond its borders, and the surrounding countryside was built over with the palatial homes of important noblemen, Warsaw remained within the bounds of the Old Town you see today, surrounded by high defensive walls.

The walls were originally raised in the Middle Ages, with gates located at several points round the city. You can still see large fragments of the walls, particularly on the western side of the Old Town leading from Castle Square. At the north end of the Old Town, a high segment of the wall forms an excellent viewpoint, looking out over the downhill slope to the Vistula, the rooftops of the New Town, and the round outline of the Barbican (built in 1540), through whose arches you pass as you exit old Warsaw.

Along the perimeter of the Old Town's defensive walls, you'll notice a striking monument of a city dweller in typical pre-19th-century Polish garb (long, high-necked coat tied round the middle with an embroidered scarf), brandishing a sword. This is Jan Kilinski, a brave shoemaker who led the people of Warsaw in the Kosciuszko Uprising of 1794 against Tsarist Russia. He is a perfect representative of Warsaw's tumultuous past, featuring a long parade of uprisings and displays of bravery by simple local people. There is another monument - the Little Insurgent, a sculpture of a young boy, dressed in a large helmet and carrying a gun, representing the countless children who heroically resisted the Germans during the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.

We met up with our tour group at around 4pm and walked to the Warsaw Uprising Memorial which is a monument dedicated to the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. Unveiled in 1989. We met up with our coach and drove around a few more areas in Warsaw and Pete, Dolly and I were dropped off in old town. We found a lovely cafe and had a few local beers and tried Pierogie's which are filled dumplings and are made by wrapping pockets of unleavened dough around a savory or sweet filling and cooking them in boiling water. They were delicious. We then met up with Sandy and Martin and had a few drinks in another cafe and then we walked around old town and enjoyed the night atmosphere of the area. We walked to Stalins Wedding Cake which is the Palace of Science and Culture. This building was a gift to the Polish people from the people of Russia in the early 1950's. The building itself is, according to the literature, the tallest in Poland. It is strangely beautiful in an austere sort of way and the dominates the square where is is sited. One of it's main attractions is the 30th floor viewing terrace that affords a 360 panorama of Warsaw and its environs. We began to make our way back to our hotel (at least 5 kilometres) and ventured through a Shopping Centre. We found a very interesting chocolate vendor. He was selling chocolate nuts, bolts, cogs, wheels and lego's. The chocolate was delicious.

Very long day today............................