Wending to Warsaw

The Stalin Wedding Cake Building in Warsaw
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Today we left Vilnius on another full day of travel to Warsaw, Poland. It seems there are a higher proportion of crazy drivers on the roads over here with people madly swerving in front of the bus. For lunch we stopped at McDonalds of all places. It was very busy - maybe because it was Sunday today. I spent the afternoon snoozing on the bus with my head-cold in full swing.

I starting clicking pictures on the way into Warsaw, catching a glimspe of the only Stalin Wedding Cake building that is located outside of Moscow. There were also a lot of trams wizzing by, in both the standard red and yellow colour, but also bright orance, yellow and white.

More Wedding Cakes...

Warsaw Tram
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Once we arrived in Warsaw, we had a brief break before an optional Chopin recital. We were driven to the nearby Wazienki Park where there are a number of palaces. After a brief walk around for a photo of the large Water Palace (surrounded totally by water), and a battle monument, it was on to a smaller palace. Here we were led upstairs into a small room that contained two rows of chairs and a lovely Stienway and Sons piano. We were then introduced to one of Warsaw's leading pianists, who performed 11 Chopin pieces for us. In the first set, Joe and I were sitting against a side wall where we could not see her playing, towards the back of the piano. We could feel the vibrations from the play.

A plastic Palm tree in the middle of the city?!?
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During a brief break we were given a glass of champagne to enjoy, and provided the opportunity to purchase a CD of the pianists work. During this time we asked if we could move our chairs over the other side of the room so we could actually see the pianist playing. This was no problem, so when her second set started, we were able to see her fingers travelling softly across the keys. She did not play from sheet music, it was all done from memory, and it was interesting to watch her facial expressions as she played, as the music told its story. At the conclusion all agreed it was a fantastic performance. Back at the hotel we enjoyed a buffet meal before calling it a night.