A sign in the antique elevator of the Bristol Meridian Hotel in Warsaw where I stayed recently. 
I just spent a wonderful long weekend in Warsaw. I had not been there for 17 years since I left it in summer 1992 after a 53-month very memorable and sometimes difficult stay in that city. Perhaps that was why it took me 17 years to revisit it.
Much to my delight, Warsaw received me with wide, open arms. It was one of the best short holidays I have had in a long time. I caught up with my dear friends Karol, Ziutek, Mariusz, Michelle and Jurek, and Elizabeth (who had the most perfect complexion of any woman I knew who is more than 50 years old!!). I dared not call my other friends for fear I would be overwhelmed due to my limited time there.
The not-so-great weather (it rained everyday) aside, I thoroughly savoured Warsaw again – I roamed the Stare Miasto (the reconstructed old city), the now fashionable Nowy-Swiat, and of course the Sunday antique market in Wola and left with two beautiful old paintings (which will look like museum/gallery pieces when I am through restoring and framing them) and a beautiful pre-war bronze sculpture of two horses.
I just spent a wonderful long weekend in Warsaw. I had not been there for 17 years since I left it in summer 1992 after a 53-month very memorable and sometimes difficult stay in that city. Perhaps that was why it took me 17 years to revisit it.Much to my delight, Warsaw received me with wide, open arms. It was one of the best short holidays I have had in a long time. I caught up with my dear friends Karol, Ziutek, Mariusz, Michelle and Jurek, and Elizabeth (who had the most perfect complexion of any woman I knew who is more than 50 years old!!). I dared not call my other friends for fear I would be overwhelmed due to my limited time there.
The not-so-great weather (it rained everyday) aside, I thoroughly savoured Warsaw again – I roamed the Stare Miasto (the reconstructed old city), the now fashionable Nowy-Swiat, and of course the Sunday antique market in Wola and left with two beautiful old paintings (which will look like museum/gallery pieces when I am through restoring and framing them) and a beautiful pre-war bronze sculpture of two horses.
I again had the pleasure to go to the wonderful Warsaw Opera and enjoyed a spectacular performance of the ballet “La Bayadere” which reaffirmed my personal view that the Warsaw Opera offered some of the most beautiful and spectacular performances which the rest of the opera-loving would sadly miss out on.
There was festive mood in the city as exhibitions and manifestations took place in conjunction with the 20th anniversary of Poland’s shift towards democracy.
On Sunday morning, from my beautiful hotel room, ( in a heritage hotel built more than one hundred years ago, the venue of many important historical events and which accommodated many luminaries, but largely left abandoned during the later communist era and now beautifully restored and refurbished under the Meridian management) I saw a parade commemorating the event and it was touching that the heavy downpour did not deter a single person in the parade from walking on. I joined a luncheon hosted by my colleague on the occasion of the upcoming official birthday of His Majesty the Yang Di Pertuan Agong and it was pleasant to see some 60 Malaysian students there; they are the first group of Malaysians to study medicine in Poland.
There was festive mood in the city as exhibitions and manifestations took place in conjunction with the 20th anniversary of Poland’s shift towards democracy.
On Sunday morning, from my beautiful hotel room, ( in a heritage hotel built more than one hundred years ago, the venue of many important historical events and which accommodated many luminaries, but largely left abandoned during the later communist era and now beautifully restored and refurbished under the Meridian management) I saw a parade commemorating the event and it was touching that the heavy downpour did not deter a single person in the parade from walking on. I joined a luncheon hosted by my colleague on the occasion of the upcoming official birthday of His Majesty the Yang Di Pertuan Agong and it was pleasant to see some 60 Malaysian students there; they are the first group of Malaysians to study medicine in Poland.I had a chance to drive by my former residence on Ulica Smiala in Zoliborz and was pleasantly surprised how beautiful the house now look, slightly renovated and shaded by generous canopies of birch trees. I wonder if the owner Mrs Hetman lives there now. Driving away I passed a couple pushing a child on wheel and the man reminded me of Konrad, Mrs Hetman's son... ( see my posting Mrs Hetman's House)
So much had been said about the tremendous charges that had taken place in Warsaw since I left 17 years ago but I was pleased to register that the city still retained its old-world charm. Sure, prices had gone up tremendously but there were much more things available now and there was so much life and activities. My friends lamented that the current economic situation was badly affecting the Polish economy and their livelihood. But the people of Poland had always been survivors and I am convinced that they would continue to strive to make the courtly one of the most successful former Eastern European country - a label which had already been given to them a while back. 
I regretted time did not allow me to make trips to my favourite places outside Warsaw – Kazimirz, Puttusk and Zela-zowa-wola (Chopin’s village) but perhaps this was the perfect excuse for me to return to Warsaw again in the near future.
No comments:
Post a Comment