Tag Archives: bierhalle

Warsaw #2

Alright, so it’s sunday and we have rain. Rain means that walking around Warsaw becomes a whole lot less fun for us, but fortunately we have not yet visited that many museums which gives us plenty to do today.

We started for the Royal Castle, but first took some cofffee. The trumpet from a high window declared the Castle museum open (I think that’s what it was for) and a huge cue spread out over the court yard. Bad idea, so we walked to the museum of Archeology first. Though the staff didn’t seem to manage a word in anything else than Polish, the museum was supplied with all the English information you need. Spreading out over two floors, it contains a lot of text and models of old settlements. Apparently when you aren’t a kid, it’s not ok to put on the helmet and sword they have laying around.

Monument
Monument

From there on we continued to the Jewish History Museum. The security for that museum resembles what you will find in an airport. The main collection is not yet open for visitors, but the temporary one was already worth our time. It is dedicated to the Jews in the Polish Legion during the first world war and the interbellum/struggle for independence. The monument outside of it is very impressive as well. The museum looks huge and the building looks interesting. I can see this become  a big tourist spot in the future if it’s fully open.

Polonia jrs in action
Polonia jrs in action

On the way back to the old town, we passed the stadium of KS Polonia Warsaw, apparently the oldest football team of Poland. Lucky for us, there was a game on by the youth team. Their main force went bankrupt and is playing on the fourth level in Poland now, but the fans still turn up for their Polonia. Those old clubs with rich histories are always cool to check out. Couldn’t find a souvenir though, bummer.

Zurek soup served in bread.
Zurek soup served in bread.

Enfin, we ended up having some lunch at a tiny but nice looking restaurant. Lunch for me involved a beer and soup served in bread. I’ve seen others eat it before but this was my first time to give this dish a go. The soup is quite sour in flavour, filled with egg and sausage. The bread gives a hint of sweetness to it, which is probably just the whole idea behind the combo. People do buy Zurek in a bowl, but for me it was the challenge to also ‘eat my bowl’. Apparently that is not too common, the waiter looked curious at me. Then again, that did seem to be his standard look…

We crossed the street after this and visited the museum dedicated to Madame Curie, who was, as most people who collected flippo’s know, Polish of origin. The museum is tiny, cheap and full of knowledge concerning the person. It is not very coherent however, but when in Rome, right? After this we marche don to the royal castle and squeezed in a visit there as well. Funny enough you first have to collect your tickets for the free entrance thing there on sundays. I don’t know why, and I’ve given up trying to understand Poland and its things.

DInner took place in the ‘Bierhalle’, which turned out to be a Bavarian themed place. After that we tried some beers in the Hostel and that’s that. Tomorrow we have a day left, at 21.00 we leave for Kaunas by bus. Kaunas…bus…  Have you seen Kaunas bus station? The arse of Lithuania if I may say so, but I have been promised a different side of Kaunas, the old capital of Lithuania.