What to see in Warsaw

What to see in Warsaw 

The Royal Track:

Zamek Królewski (Royal Castle)

Walking through the Royal Castle, you have to remind yourself constantly that most of it was reconstructed between 1971 and 1984, although the darker elements of the décor were salvaged from the ruins. The castle, located on a plateau overlooking the Vistula River, was built for the Dukes of Mazovia and expanded when King Zygmunt III Vasa (Waza) moved the capital to Warsaw. From the early 17th until the late 18th century, this was the seat of the Polish kings. It subsequently housed the parliament and is now a museum displaying tapestries, period furniture, funerary portraits and collections of porcelain and other decorative arts.

Opening Times: Tues-Sat 10:00-16:00, Sun 11:00-16:00.

Admission Fees: Yes (free on Sun)

Disabled Access: Yes

Unesco: No

Address: Plac Zamkovy 4, Warsaw, Poland

Telephone: 022 355 5170 or 5338.

Website: http://www.zamek-krolewski.pl

Park Łazienkowski (Łazienki Park)

This splendid park contains a number of palaces as well as the Chopin Monument, where the annual Chopin Festival is held each summer, with free concert recitals in the park twice on Sunday afternoon from mid-May to September) set within extensive 18^th-century gardens. Pałac na Wyspie (Palace on the Water) is best viewed from near the monument to Jan Sobiewski, on the bridge where Ulica Agrykola crosses the water. Dating from 1624, Zamek Ujazdowski (Ujazdowski Castle) now houses the Centre for Contemporary Art. The 1764 Pałac Belweder (Belvedere Palace) was of the residence of Poland's presidents until 1994.

Opening Times: Most museums are open Tues-Sun 9:00-16:00; park open daily from 8:00 until sunset.

Admission Fees: No (charge for Palace on the Water and Centre for Contemporary Art).

Disabled Access: Yes

Unesco: No

Address: Ulica Agrykola 1, Warsaw, Poland

Telephone: 022 506 0101.

Website: http://www.lazienki-krolewskie.pl

Pałac w Wilanowie (Wilanów Palace)

In the mid-1600s, King Jan III Sobieski commissioned Augustyn Locci to build the baroque palace and garden of Wilanów for his summer residence. Construction continued from 1677 until the king's death in 1696. Called Vila Nova in Italian (from which the Polish name is derived), it remained popular with subsequent monarchs. Visitors can tour the interior and the gallery, which features portraits of famous Poles. Artistic handicrafts are on display in the Orangerie. Also here is the Muzeum Plakatu (Poster Museum), the first of its kind in the world. Poles have excelled in the poster arts since at least the end of WWII.

Opening Times: Mon, Wed and Sat 9:30-18:30, Tues, Thurs and Fri 9:30-16:30, Sun 10:30-18:30 (May-mid-Sep); Mon and Wed-Sat 9:30-16:30, Sun 10:30-16:30 (mid-Sep-May).

Admission Fees: Yes (free admission to the park on Thurs and the palace on Sun)

Disabled Access: Yes

Unesco: No

Address: Ulica Wiertnicza 1, Warsaw, Poland

Telephone: 022 842 0795.

Website: http://www.wilanow-palac.art.pl 

Muzeum Pawilon-X (Block 10 Museum)

Housed in the Citadel, a solid 19th-century fortress northwest of the Old Town and overlooking the Vistula, this Warsaw museum was once used as a prison for political enemies of the Russian czars. The lucky inmates were shipped to labour camps in Siberia; the less fortunate were executed at Brama Straceń (Gate of Execution) on the prison grounds. The original cells are still standing and labelled with some of the prison's more famous residents, and paintings by Alexander Sochaczewski, a former inmate transported to Siberia with 20,000 other anti-Russian insurgents in the mid-19^th century, adorn the walls.

Opening Times: Wed-Sun 9:00-16:00.

Admission Fees: Yes

Disabled Access: Yes

Unesco: No

Address: Ulica Skazańców 25, Warsaw, Poland

Telephone: 022 839 2383.

Website: http://www.muzeumniepodleglosci.art.pl

Muzeum Powstania Warszawskiego (Warsaw Rising Museum)

The Warsaw Rising Museum is a must-see for those with any interest in history and tales of bravery and self-sacrifice. In order to get a taste of what life in Warsaw must have been like for Varsovians during WWII, this thoroughly comprehensive museum shows examples of how residents resisted the German forces through film footage, photographs, recorded interviews, life-size dioramas, soundscapes and informative plaques, written in both Polish and English. Cityscape pictures pinpointing the handful of buildings that survived WWII are located on the museum's elevated viewing platform; they are a grim reminder of the destruction wrought by the Nazis on Warsaw.

Opening Times: Mon, Wed and Fri 8:00-18:00, Thurs 8:00-20:00, Sat-Sun 10:00-18:00.

Admission Fees: Yes

Disabled Access: Yes

Unesco: No

Address: Ulica Przyokopowej 28, Warsaw, Poland

Telephone: 022 539 7905.

Website: http://www.1944.pl

Muzeum Więzienia Pawiak (Pawiak Prison Museum)

This eerie old prison symbolises the oppression that has dogged Warsaw over the last two centuries. Originally built in 1839 at the order of the czar, the prison counted among its inmates many victims of the Nazi reign of terror from 1939 to1944, when it served as the largest political prison in Poland. A third of the estimated 100,000 detainees never made it out alive. The Nazis tried to dynamite the evidence of their crimes as they fled but Pawiak and its exhibits stand as a testament to Warsaw's seemingly endless ability to suffer and survive.

Opening Times: Wed and Fri 0900-1700, Thurs and Sat 9:00-16:00, Sun 10:00-16:00.

Admission Fees: Yes

Disabled Access: Yes

Unesco: No

Address: Ulica Dzielna 24/26, Warsaw, Poland

Telephone: 022 831 1317.

Website: http://www.muzeumniepodleglosci.art.pl

Salonik Chopinów (Chopin Family Drawing Room)

Frédéric Chopin only lived in Warsaw until he was 20 years old, but he is the city’s most respected local boy. This drawing room or parlour, in his family's former home, is open to the public; the great composer’s heart is interred in a pillar at the Parish Church of the Holy Cross (Kościół Parafialny Znalezienia Świętego Krzyża) next door. His body, however, lies in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. There is also the new and very high-tech Muzeum Fryderyka Chopina, located in Ostrogski Castle, with exhibits on the different phases of his life and career.

Opening Times: Mon-Fri 10:00-14:00.

Admission Fees: Yes

Disabled Access: Yes

Unesco: No

Address:  Ulica Krakowskie Przedmieście 5, Warsaw, Poland

Telephone: 022 320 0275.

Website: http://chopin.museum/pl

Katedra Św Jana (St John's Cathedral)

St John's is thought to be the oldest church in Warsaw. Originally built in the Mazovian gothic style in the 15th century, St John's has been remodelled many times over the century. It was only upgraded from a parish church to a cathedral in 1798. Destroyed during WWII, the cathedral has been reconstructed in its original style and features major gothic art works by Wit Stwosz. The cathedral was used in 1764 for the coronation of the last Polish king (Stanislaw II) and for the swearing in of the Sejm (Polish parliament) after the constitution of 1791.

Opening Times: Mon-Sat 10:00-13:00 and 15:00-18:00, Sun 15:00-18:00.

Admission Fees: No (charge for the crypt)

Disabled Access: Yes

Unesco: No

Address: Ulica Świętojańska 8, Warsaw, Poland

Telephone: 022 831 0289.

Website: http://www.katedra.mkw.pl

Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie (National Museum in Warsaw)

The National Museum's impressive collection of artworks and other items dates from ancient times to the present day and total some 800,000 pieces. Highlights include Jan Matejko's monumentalBattle of Grunwald (1878), which celebrates the Polish victory over the Teutonic Knights in 1410, and the Faras Collection of early Christian and Egyptian art, which is unique in Europe. The collection of medieval art is also remarkable – if somewhat gruesome in parts. Unusually, there are also galleries of Polish and European decorative arts. Frequent temporary exhibitions bring prized international works (from Andy Warhol to Caravaggio) to Warsaw.

Opening Times: Tues-Thurs, Sat-Sun 12:00-18:00, Fri 12:00-20:00.

Admission Fees: Yes (free on Tuesdays)

Disabled Access: Yes

Unesco: No

Address: Aleje Jerozolimskie 3, Warsaw, Poland

Telephone: 022 621 1031 or 629 3093 (information line).

Website: http://www.mnw.art.pl

Pałac Kultury I Nauki (Palace of Culture and Science)

Varsovians are divided over this prime example of Socialist Realism. For decades, it was, at 231m (758ft), the tallest building in Poland and a reminder of Stalin's bravura - it was a gift from him to the city, built between 1952 and 1955. Detractors still reckon that the best views of the city are from the top of the structure since it is the only place in Warsaw where you cannot see the Palace of Culture and Science. The viewing platform on the 30th floor at 115m (377ft) does indeed give a terrific view over Warsaw. Besides offices, the building houses a concert hall, a multiscreen cinema, three theatres and two museums.

Opening Times: Daily 9:00-20:00.

Admission Fees: No (charge for the observation deck)

Disabled Access: Yes

Unesco: No

Address: Plac Defilad 1, Warsaw, Poland

Telephone: 022 656 7136.

Website: http://www.pkin.pl

Getto Żydowskie (Jewish Ghetto)

What is markedly absent from Warsaw contributes as much to its history as anything that has been preserved or reconstructed. Pre-war Warsaw had a Jewish population second only to New York. After the Nazi invasion, some 450,000 Jews were rounded up and forced into the city's so-called ghetto. A 3m (10ft) wall encircled the area, from the Palace of Culture and Science to the Umschlagplatz monument, at the corner of Ulica Stawki and Ulica Dzika. This stark monument marks the place from where Jews were despatched by train to the Treblinka concentration camp, following the Ghetto Uprising of 19 April 1943. Only three sections of the actual wall remain.

Admission Fees: No

Disabled Access: Yes

Unesco: No

Address: Jewish Ghetto, Warsaw, Poland

Synagoga Nożyków (Nożyk Synagogue)

This synagogue dating from 1902 is the only Jewish house of worship in Warsaw to have survived the war as it was used as a Nazi warehouse. Other places of interest that connect Warsaw to Jewish history include the Jewish Historical Institute, the Jewish Cemetery and the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. In a shady park just opposite the museum is the rather stern Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, which is on Ulica Ludwika Zamenhofa, in the centre of the ghetto. It was erected on a heap of wartime ruins in 1948.

Opening Times: Mon-Fri 9:00-17:00, Sun 11:00-18:00 (May-Sep); Mon-Fri 9:00-17:00, Sun 11:00-16:00 (Oct-Apr).

Admission Fees: Yes

Disabled Access: Yes

Unesco: No

Address: Ulica Twarda 6, Warsaw, Poland

Telephone: 022 620 4324 or 0502 400 849.

Website: http://www.warszawa.jewish.org.pl

Green Places in NYC

Find a right place so even a NYC hot summer can turn into a pleasant experience. Check my favorite places.

A morning walk along The Highline Park

Great park to just walk around and relax during warm weather. I've been here countless times before and every time I come here, I have yet to become disappointed. There's just so much to see. Equipped with everything from restrooms to food stands, the High Line was an old elevated freight train line that went through building in order to transport goods. The city decided to fix the abandoned train line and transformed it into the elegant elevated park it is today.
The trees and plants along the whole park add a different level of freshness to the park and the view of the West Side of Manhattan and the Hudson River upraise the value!

The High Line, once ugly, old elevated rail line has become a favorite place in the city for many people. The city did such a fine job with the plants, sculptures, modern-looking benches, and fountains. Some vendors set up shop for people to take a little break from the trail.

The Highline Park recently opened the last leg of the park after construction. The last part extends to the Jacob Javits Center in 34th street. It makes the park more available for those attending a conference and who want a well-deserved break.

The finished extension looks beautiful! You can go to the hide and seek area. Small children can enjoy the rabbit hole there.

Check for details

http://www.thehighline.org/about

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Line_(New_York_City)

http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/the-high-line

Map https://www.thehighline.org/fall-2014-map-1.pdf

Chill out anytime and in anywhere of the Central Park - the first landscaped Public Park in the United States build to establish international reputation. After three years of debate over the park site and cost, in 1853 the state legislature authorized the City of New York to use the power of eminent domain to acquire more than 700 acres of land in the center of Manhattan.

An irregular terrain of swamps and bluffs, punctuated by rocky outcroppings, made the land between Fifth and Eighth avenues and 59th and 106th streets undesirable for private development. Creating the park, however, required displacing roughly 1,600 poor residents, including Irish pig farmers and German gardeners, who lived in shanties on the site. At Eighth Avenue and 82nd Street, Seneca Village had been one of the city's most stable African-American settlements, with three churches and a school. The extension of the boundaries to 110th Street in 1863 brought the park to its current 843 acres.

http://www.centralparknyc.org/  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Park

Hide in Elevated Acre

You can reach this acre-long plaza by an escalator. It is lined with benches and foliage and boasting views of the Brooklyn Bridge. Home to outdoor movie screenings and office workers' lunch breaks, it's unassuming, attached to 55 Water Street.

http://www.rogersmarvel.com/projects/Elevated-Acre/

Explored the Heather Garden in the Fort Tryon Park

In 1935 the vaunted Olmsted brothers were tapped to design this three–acre park, one of the largest heath and heather gardens on the East Coast, located 100 feet above the Hudson River with views of the Palisades over in New Jersey. There are other flowers to be found here, too, from hydrangeas to irises.

http://www.forttryonparktrust.org/gardens/heather_garden.html

Consider a sunset in the Battery Park City which was created by land reclamation on the Hudson River using over 3 million cubic yards of soil and rock excavated during the construction of the World Trade Center, the New York City Water Tunnel, and certain other construction projects, as well as from sand dredged from New York Harbor off Staten Island. The neighborhood, which is the site of Brookfield Place (formerly the World Financial Center), along with numerous buildings designed for housing, commercial, and retail, is named for adjacent Battery Park.

http://bpcparks.org/

http://bpca.ny.gov/

The Midsummer Festival and NYC Tradition

On Friday, June 19, 2015 my family and friends attended the annual Swedish Midsummer Festival in Battery Park City in downtown Manhattan.

Happy, relaxed and a bit retrospective

https://plus.google.com/u/0/100969682108352971387/stories/3ccc08aa-df93-3a79-b31a-62f7cd3aa57214e1009db99?cfem=1

At this unique celebration, adults and children come together to picnic in the grass, decorate the midsummer pole, make flower wreaths, play traditional games and Polska dance to authentic fiddle music.

Read more https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polska_(dance)

Midsummer, also known as St John's Day, or Litha, is the period of time centered upon the summer solstice, and more specifically the Northern European celebrations that accompany the actual solstice or take place on a day between June 19 and June 25 and the preceding evening. The exact dates vary between different cultures. The Christian Church designated June 24 as the feast day of the early Christian martyr StJohn the Baptist, and the observance of St John's Day begins the evening before, known as St John's Eve.

In Sweden the Midsummer is such an important festivity that there have been serious discussions to make the Midsummer's Eve into the National Day of Sweden, instead of June 6. It may also be referred to as St. Hans Day.

Read more https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midsummer  

The program presented at the Battery Park featured traditional music by Paul Dahlin and fiddlers from the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis, folk dances from Barnklubben Elsa Rix and Swedish Folkdancers of New York, and pole dancing led by Scandinavian folklorist and singer Ross Sutter. Food stands offered delicacies from New York's finest Swedish restaurants and food purveyors.

June 19th 2015 – 130th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty arrival to New York Harbor

Statue of Liberty officially is known as Liberty Enlightening the World

Statue of Liberty facts for kids

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/engineering/statueofliberty.html

1. The Statue of Liberty is holding a tablet inscribed with the date of the Independence of America in her left hand and a raised torch in her right hand representing knowledge and enlightenment
2. Construction of the Statue of Liberty started on September 1875 and the monument was completed in July, 1884 and arrived in New York Harbor in June of 1885.
3. The Statue of Liberty was built by France to celebrate America's first 100 years as a nation and the tablet is inscribed with the date of American Independence. The monument commemorates the alliance between the United States and France during the Revolutionary War.
4. Bartholdi selected Bedloe's Island as the site for the statue because he considered it's location as the "Gateway to America." The island measures 10 acres (4 hectares)
5. Her spiky hat is symbolic. Yes, each of the seven spikes on her crown represent the seven oceans and the seven continents of the world. This is said to represent the universal concept of liberty. It’s not only about fashion!
6. She escaped her chains. Although you cannot see, at the statues feet there are broken shackles symbolizing the country moving forward from oppression and slavery. She is also moving her right foot towards a new, free era.
7. On February 22, 1877, Congress voted to accept the gift, and set apart Bedloe's Island for the site.
8. She was transported from France on board the French frigate "Isere". Whilst in transit, she was reduced to 350 individual pieces and packed in 214 crates. Its official presentation to the minister of the United States took place July 4, 1884.
9. The Statue was erected a large granite pedestal inside the courtyard of the star shaped walls of Fort Wood,  built for the War of 1812 against the British
10. The dedication of monument took place October 28, 1886 during the presidency of Grover Cleveland.  The Dedication celebration was a great event attended by President Cleveland, General Sheridan, the members of the President's cabinet and the sculptor Bartholdi together with thousands of people with parades, music, flags and gunshot salutes. Every bell in New York harbor was rung.
11. It would later become the iconic landmark for all European immigrants on the last leg of their journey from Europe to EllisIsland and a new life in the United States.
12. Liberty Island, with nearby Ellis Island, became part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument in 1984. A museum is housed in the base of the monument
13. Between 1984 - 1986 restoration work was completed and some parts of the statue had to be completely replaced with exact replicas of the original. It's centennial was celebrated on July 4, 1986.
14. Liberty Island was hit by the storm surge from Hurricane Sandy on October 28, 2012. It was closed for eight months Liberty Island and reopened on July 4, 2013. 

More Facts for Kids

http://www.kidzworld.com/article/2512-statue-of-liberty-fun-facts

To learn about the Statue of Liberty history we reached for a book “LILY AND MISS LIBERTY”, by Carla Stevens.

This historical novel for children is set during the time when the French people

presented the Statue of Liberty to America. The statue was ready, but there was no base on which to set it. The people of America had to supply the base for the statue. Even the schoolchildren helped and Lily did her part by making paper crowns and selling them.

Activities with the book http://gardenofpraise.com/lesson6.htm

PDF Activities Booklet

http://christineammirati2011.wmwikis.net/file/view/Lily_and_Miss_Liberty_Question%20Booklet.2011.pdf

More PDF activities http://www.teachingbooks.net/media/pdf/BF/LillyandMissLibertyBG.pdf

Emma's Poem: The Voice of the Statue of Liberty, by: Linda Glaser

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."

Every schoolchild in America has heard Emma Lazarus' poem and sees the State of Liberty as a beacon for incoming immigrants. But when Emma Lazarus wrote her poem, the Statue of Liberty, then being designed in France, didn't have anything to do with immigrants yet. This fascinating picture book tells the story of Emma's care for immigrants as well as the impact her poem would have on the new statue-and the people who passed under her torch.

http://www.christianbook.com/emmas-poem-voice-the-statue-liberty/linda-glaser/9780547171845/pd/171845?event=AFF&p=1026183&

"The Statue of Liberty", by: Lucille Recht Penner, Juda Rowland

Engaging, simple text presents the construction and symbolism of the skyscraper-sized "Lady Liberty," France's unique gift to the United States, who watches over New York Harbor.

http://www.christianbook.com/into-reading-level-2-statue-liberty/lucille-penner/9780679869283/pd/86928X?event=AFF&p=1026183&

Fun at 37th Annual “Museum Mile” Festival, NYC

37th Annual “Museum Mile” Festival took place at Fifth Ave from 82nd to 105th Streets on Tuesday, June 9th, 2015, from 6 to 9 pm.

The first festival, held in June of 1978, was an instant success.

New York City has officially designated Fifth Avenue from 82nd to 105th streets “Museum Mile” because of the vast richness and cultural diversity of the nine museums found there.

The Africa Center, 1280 Fifth Avenue (at 110th Street)

www.theafricacenter.org

El Museo del Barrio Museum, 104th Street and Fifth Avenue

www.elmuseo.org 

Museum of the City of New York, 103rd Street and Fifth Avenue

www.mcny.org

The Jewish Museum, 92nd Street and Fifth Avenue

thejewishmuseum.org/

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 91st Street and Fifth Avenue

www.cooperhewitt.org 

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 5th Avenue

guggenheim.org

National Academy Museum and School, 90th Street and Fifth Avenue

www.nationalacademy.org

Neue Galerie New York Museum, 86th Street and Fifth Avenue

www.neuegalerie.org

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 82nd Street

www.metmuseum.org

“Museum Mile” promoted public awareness through increased visibility, accessibility and attendance at all the museums, and brought many New Yorkers to upper Fifth Avenue for the first time.

See more at: http://museummilefestival.org/index.php/museums/#sthash.JbufvSoV.dpuf