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Warsaw: The Magical Nysa Tour
Thirty of us sign up for a Magical Mystery Tour around Warsaw, with a few surprise destinations. At eight o’clock on the dot, a Nysa 522, a former Soviet style school bus, rolls up to the entrance of the hotel.
We take one good look at the Nysa and laugh. This is one of those babies that would probably blow more exhaust into the cabin than out into the streets. In addition to the rows, it has an extra jumpseat to occupy the free space in the middle of the aisle. So off we roar into the Warsaw night, at the speed of a baby carriage, wondering where we will end up next.
The tour guides decide to knock off the serious stuff first, so off to the old Warsaw ghettos, the stage of some of the bloodiest war atrocities ever committed by man. The scene of the ghettos is one that makes you inhale deeply, no matter how cold the autumn night air might be. Not too long ago, I wrote about the Anne Frank House. This place is far more frightening, in that scores of people were actually butchered here. The only thing really missing is the ghetto wall. There is still the old cobblestone near this original building, the old eerie brick layered walls now covered by a cheap facade. It seems people are divided as to whether to keep the building intact or simply raze it or restructure it. Something tells me that, real estate prices being what they are, that they will go the money route, although I hope I’m wrong.
The tour guides decide to knock off the serious stuff first, so off to the old Warsaw ghettos, the stage of some of the bloodiest war atrocities ever committed by man. The scene of the ghettos is one that makes you inhale deeply, no matter how cold the autumn night air might be. Not too long ago, I wrote about the Anne Frank House. This place is far more frightening, in that scores of people were actually butchered here. The only thing really missing is the ghetto wall. There is still the old cobblestone near this original building, the old eerie brick layered walls now covered by a cheap facade. It seems people are divided as to whether to keep the building intact or simply raze it or restructure it. Something tells me that, real estate prices being what they are, that they will go the money route, although I hope I’m wrong.
As soon as we pivot in the nearby public square, there is the Empire State Building inspired, Russian built Bell tower, also known as the Palace of Culture and Science, formerly the Joseph Stalin Palace of Culture and Science, or the Pekin. Sorry, Warsaw, but I didn’t think much of it then, and I still don’t, even with its 3,200 rooms or so.
On to Constitution Square, the very place that would host the famous Soviet style parades while trying to block out the nearby cathedrals peering over the city center buildings. The tour guide describes each statue and picture on the walls, as well as the symbolism associated with it by the communists. You can cut the sarcasm with a butter knife. She lays it on a bit thick, but then again, I remember having lived relatively comfortably on the other side of the iron curtain, so who is to know? At the far side of the square a huge model gazes down from the wall pimping Hugo Boss. What was it they said about the new boss? Same as the old boss? All right, maybe not. The former Communist Party HQ is now a haven for banks and even a Ferrari dealership. If the former party bosses are no longer with us—rest assured, at least they are active, rolling and doing somersaults in their graves.
We pass the new super modern stadium along the Vistula, a retractable roof stadium that is famous for having been left open at a most inopportune time, thus being branded not only the great national stadium, but also the great national swimming pool. But the entire tour pales in comparison to the grand finale, a visit to the PRL museum, which exhibits everything typical of the Communist era. Here are Ivan and Ivana Socialist listening to records in their humble abode, nationalist pictures and music providing the background. There's the famous Frania washing machine, the antiquated Rubin TV set, the Lenin bust, or the propaganda posters featuring the late great Lech Walesa. The museum was erected, so the tour guides, to feel the 'absurdities' of everyday Polish life under the communists. We drink to that with shots of vodka. Nastrovya!
Hard to imagine there is a museum like this 25 years after the fall of the wall. I still think it impressed the visitors. Warsaw in the year 2014? Most assuredly a different and, yes, a better place.
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