Warsaw

 After a slight kerfuffle at the Budapest airport for our flight to Warsaw, which we thankfully managed to sort out with little difficulty, we had an uneventful one-ish hour flight back to Warsaw. We arrived mid evening and made our way to our hotel which was conveniently located in the old part of Warsaw. As we arrived in the old town we noticed a heavy police presence and tried to figure out whether it was just normal for a Friday night. We stayed at Hotel Verte, a boutique hotel set within the historic walls of a restored baroque palace with over 250 years of history. We had a very beautifully appointed, and spacious room facing the inner courtyard. We only had a short time in Warsaw, so we tried to make the most of it. The evening of our arrival, we found a lovely restaurant nearby that had only been open for about a year and we enjoyed a lovely Italian meal. After supper we decided to explore the old town a bit taking in the beauty of the "old" buildings and evening light. As we were walking around, we stumbled across a large crowd and what appeared to be a protest, which then made the heavy police presence make more sense. I was a bit hesitant to get too close, Z on the other hand was very curious and felt it was peaceful enough for us to approach the gathering. Given we don't speak Polish we really didn't understand what was being said or going on for that matter, but it all felt very important. We learned later it was a demonstration and remembrance of an international incident with another country where several politicians and their spouses were killed in an airplane crash with the offending country not allowing access to the crash site or remains. Turns out the leader of the political opposition party was speaking at this demonstration and that his brother was one of the deceased. It really was a peaceful demonstration marking a very terrible tragedy. 

The following morning, we joined walking tour that led us through the streets of the old town and we learned that Warsaw was pretty much wiped out during WWII and the "old" buildings we saw in the old town were reconstructed and only 40-50 years old but made to look like the original. We also learned about the 1944 uprising, Polish culture and cuisine. It was a very informative tour and afterwards we stopped in at Bar Mleczny, one of Poland's most popular and best milk bars for a traditional Polish lunch. Milk bars are known for their low cost, no frills traditional Polish dishes. We dined on a few different dishes and very thoroughly satisfied and full afterwards. It was a great way to end our trip in Poland. After lunch we were off to the airport to head home. 

All in all, while this was a quick trip, we managed to pack in a lot seeing not only Krakow, but also making it to Budapest and back to finish in Warsaw. We learned so much of the rich history of both countries, including the atrocities of WWII. We enjoyed the beautiful architecture in all three cities, dined on way to much good food and discovered some really good wines. What a great opportunity we had to experience this adventure. 

Until next time... to live is to travel... life is good!