In Pursuit of Chopin: Walking Warsaw's old town

Our first full day in Warsaw began with a huge breakfast (as will each day), followed by a walk through the sights in the old town. Our itinerary:

From the hotel, this was our view of the Stalinist-era wedding-cake building across the street.

Our first stop was a building that Chopin had lived in. As it turns out, there are several places in Warsaw that Chopin lived at one time or another, plus more in other cities. That's not his piano in the second picture; we had to wait a bit for that.

On the street outside, we came across one of the multi-media Chopin benches that are scattered around Warsaw. It plays Chopin's music. Jack and Andrea are recording it all.

Our guide telling us about Chopin's residences and the benches.

The statue of Christ outside Holy Cross Church, and the interior of the church.

Chopin's heart (just his heart) is buried here in the church; this is the memorial to him.

Of course, Warsaw was bound to have a memorial to Pope John Paul II, who was cardinal here before becoming Pope.

The entrance to the University area is almost across the street from the church.

A church with a lavishly decorated interior.

This memorial in the church has gone hi-tech: the "candle" in the sand in front of the memorial is actually an LED that blinks on and off.

Something unexpected on a Warsaw street: a car (a Jaguar, no less) with Maryland license plates.

Poland's President and many senior members of the government were recently killed in an airplane crash. This is the memorial outside the Presidential Palace; the photo on the easel is of the President and his wife.

The column supporting this statue of Mickiewiczowi still shows bullet holes from past fighting in Warsaw.

This apartment in the old town can be yours for "85m". Is that 85 million Zlotys? That would be about $31 million US, which seems a bit steep.

A madonna-and-child statue, with gilded crowns for both.

The Poles rebuilt the older parts of Warsaw using paintings by Canaletto as guides. At the time, they were the closest thing to photographic records that Warsaw had. He painted dozens of very detailed Warsaw scenes. The scene on the painting shown here has been reconstructed in the background.

The building on the right seems to be constructed of stonework, but it's just a paint job on a flat wall. The building is really part of the one to its left.

This little boy was being photographed by one of the horses that pull carriages through the old town.

This shot could be anywhere in the world: tourists having Coca-Cola, burgers, and hot dogs. Right next door there are lots of Warsaw souvenirs.

Pausing for a cappuccino.

We went into the St John Archdiocesan Cathedral to hear a marvelous organ concert. The cathedral is constructed of brick, mostly painted white. In the third picture, the dark lines that define the vaulting and the vertical lines on the columns are corners of the bricks that aren't painted. It's a striking contrast to most western European and British cathedrals, which are generally unpainted stone.

These photos of the organist playing the concert give an idea of how dark it really was inside the cathedral. The camera has brightened the previous picture considerably. The organ was impressive, with about 4,100 pipes and beautiful sound. It's a modern instrument, made in Germany.

We had lunch in the Honoratka Restauracja ("A. D. 1826"). As we've already come to expect, an excellent meal.

The last stop this afternoon was to the Chopin Museum, newly redone for Chopin's 200th birthday. Yes this actually is Chopin's piano. The museum's exhibits were decidedly high-tech, some unnecessarily so. A good portion of them didn't seem to work properly, even though the exhibit opened only a few weeks ago. More glitz than substance, really.

Part of the exhibit told about Chopin as a music teacher. Could you have met his exacting standards as a piano student?

More cappuccino. This is getting to be a habit.

In the evening, a real treat: A private piano recital just for us, given by Maria Skurjat-Silva. She's a fantastic pianist, and we heard Chopin's music as it was intended to be heard: in an intimate setting. Several of us bought copies of her CD, and one was purchased for the AllClassical library, so selections may be on the air before long.