8th day - Monday (poniedziałek)

Published: 02.10.2017

The plan for today:

Walk down the Royal Route to the Sejm and see what happens. From the tower of St. Anne's Church, you can see what I mean:

In theory, you can walk 10 km south down the Trakt Królewski, but today is not an Iron Scout..

But first, a detour to the Old Town, because Warsaw also has a Rynek:

Everything here has been completely reconstructed after the destruction by the Germans. A small, no, a big miracle.

Otherwise, it's about as boring here as in Rothenburg ob der Tauber ;-) So let's go on directly.

Holy Cross Church (Bazylika Św. Krzyża)

Behind this marble plaque in a glass of 70% cognac swims the heart of Frédéric Chopin:

This is not a (he)art. The Master himself has decreed it so. In 2014, it was carefully checked to see if everything is still in order behind the plaque. It was.

Fryderyk Chopin University of Music

Now I want to see where the musical elite of the country is trained:

Hardly through the door, I notice a poster:

So a concert on historical instruments, that's what you can read there, and exactly today!

The Sejm

It used to be a girls' boarding school here, today it is a chamber of the Polish parliament:

A few hundred meters away, then this:

Polish flag, a man in camouflage, PL in the garbage can?

What kind of camp is this? I have to take a closer look:

'Citizens' Movement, Democracy' - Stop PIS

And right next to the Sejm! Interesting.

But now I have to quickly go back to Fryderyk Chopin..

There seems to be still Bilety available:

I say 'tak' and Miejsce 15 is booked. I can hardly believe my luck, the best seat in the hall, clear view of the performers:

So, you can go in already..

Let's get started. Maria Ludwika Gabryś on a Walter Flügel from 1795:

Next up is Jolanta Ewa Sosnowska with a violin from 1770 from Markneukirchen:

After the intermission, change of piano (not just in football):

Waiting is a Broadwooda, Londyn 1846

Maria starts, much louder than before. Jolanta, now on a Sámuel Nemessányi, Budapest 1870, shows everything. Chopin in the top left corner, watching out..

The musicians are celebrated..

..deservedly so!

With the feeling of having experienced something very special, I trample up Nowy Swiat, past the Presidential Palace..

..hmm, a demo or what, at this time of day?

The date on the banner quickly makes it clear what it is: Commemoration of the victims of the Smolensk plane crash - with a cross and rosary. You remember, don't you?

https://vakantio.de/schlesien2go/12-tag-freitag-piatek

Onward. But what is this? Endless chains of candlelight in many streets..

..even in my Dzielna:

On October 2, 1944, the Warsaw Uprising ended with the surrender of the Polish Home Army and the almost complete destruction of the city by the Germans.

Picture of the Day