Warsaw

Next to the front entrance to the castle is this square, which I've shot from a few different angles, this being one of my favorites. I'll probably upload more in the near future.

Built in the 14th Century, St. John's Cathedral is the oldest church in Warsaw, and has undergone many, many rebuildings over the years. The current version of the church was constructed after the devastating German bombing during World War II, leaving it far more spartan than before the war, albeit more accurate to the original plan.

Indeed, nearly the entire Old City of Warsaw, or Starego Miasta, was destroyed during World War II, and following the war a decision had to be made whether to make Warsaw into the ugly pseudo-modern ghetto that Berlin became, or to rebuild it as it was. Thankfully, the new Communist government of Poland opted for the latter, and managed to reconstruct the entire city, medieval streets and all, in only two years between 1951 and 1953. Upon completion, this plaque was erected to commemorate the achievement.

Marjensztat is a bit off the beaten path, and not technically in the Old Town, but I wanted to include it here because of this cool building clock that I found while wandering around. Like any proper historic city, even a reconstructed one, Warsaw has all of these cool little details around to keep your interest.

Bednarska is another street heading out of the Old Town, and is one of the sleepier ones. Nevertheless, I couldn't resist photographing it.

Here's another shot of Bednarska looking towards the New Town. Apologies for the skip. :-)

Here's the prettier side of Bednarska, with a pretty touristy streetlamp. It makes me want to throw up. Just kidding. :-)

I was originally going to call this "Pub Behind the Castle," but then I realised that this isn't the pub I was thinking of. Oh well. This is indeed the neighborhood behind the castle, however, with Marjensztat and Bednarska, among other streets, to explore.

If I'm not mistaken this street is Swietojanska, although I could be mistaken so I'm just going to call it a "street scene."

This IS Swietojanska, one of the many shopping streets in the old town.

This was just a random artistic (I hope) shot that I took while wandering around the old town in Warsaw. I'm not sure of the building that this tower is on, but such buildings can be found all over Warsaw.

This is the famous Old Town Square of Warsaw. Like the rest of the old town, it was rebuilt in 1951-1953 following its destruction in World War II, but it feels fully authentic to visit, with the right amount of weathering and wear and tear, as that WAS still 54 years ago.

Here I switched over to Tri-X for the remainder of my stay in Warsaw. I think the old town looks great in black and white, though. :-)

Here's the old town square from another angle, again in black and white.

Above the plaque commenorating the rebuilding of the old town is this very ornate clock. I don't know if it's a repro of an older one, but anyone familiar with Eastern and Central Europe knows that such clocks were very common there over the years.

Here's a shot looking back towards the new town, where I was headed next.

There is actually tram access to the Royal Castle, as there's a road tunnel under the Royal Square with tram tracks in it, and a tram stop on the castle side.

Here's an alternate shot to my other of the trams at the Royal Castle.