Day 2 and 3: Second and Third Days in Warsaw

To start off the day we strolled from our apartment towards the old town square. The day was beautiful, so of course Isabel ended up getting a sunburn.

Along the way we saw a marker showing where the Ghetto wall once stood. With few remaining sections of the wall, these markers outline the Warsaw Ghetto which, during WWII, housed over 400,000 Jews within 3.4 square kilometers.






We then followed the "Royal Route" which follows two prominent pedestrian malls: Krakowskie Przedmieście "Krakow Suburb", and Nowy Świat "New World". Along the way we passed by the Presidential Palace...






...and the main gates to the University of Warsaw.






A brief detour from the Royal Route led us to the university's new library,
Biblioteka Uniwersytecka w Warszawie (BUW), which has an extensive roof-top garden
accessible to the public.






At the end of the Royal Route are the Łazienki Królewskie "Royal Baths". This extensive park has many beautiful buildings, winding paths, and ponds that are often visited by locals during the summer months. This is a large bronze statue of Chopin overlooking a fountain and flower garden.






This is the Palace on the Water in the park which we toured, both inside and out.








At the end of the day, we wandered through the Castle Square and Old Town which, thanks to poor weather, offered an excellent opportunity for some evening photography.






The next morning we set out on a trip to the Wilanów Palace, and on our way to the bus we passed by the old collections building of the National Library (left) and the Supreme Court (right).






The weather was less than ideal but an absence of other tourists made for a great walk. The palace exterior is very intricately decorated and painted bright yellow (not done justice in these pictures).

The palace gardens also made for a nice walk, even though most of the flowers weren't in bloom yet.






Many flower beds were arranged into fun geometric shapes and patterns!












Finally, at the end of our rainy day, the sun came out one last time for a beautiful view of the palace.