Sunday, January 4, 2015

New Years in Warsaw

One of my Christmas present this year was a trip to Warsaw with my boyfriend for the New Years weekend. I have never been to Poland before, and I love exploring new places, so I was super excited to go. The day before we left I actually got ill with a fever and I really didn't feel good. I was hoping that it would pass, but I ended up being ill for most of our trip, which sucked! We still did some exploring though, and managed to see a few of the things Warsaw has to offer!

I really liked the city. I hadn't really heard much about it before and I didn't know quite what to expect, but it definitely left me with a good impression! It was absolutely freezing the entire time we were there, so if I ever go back I think I would like it to be in a warmer season. That being said though, the Christmas decorations in Warsaw were some of the most impressive ones I've seen, and being a huge Christmas-lover, I thoroughly enjoyed that! They had the biggest Christmas tree with the most amazing decorations ever, and they also had huge presents and tree decorations along the streets + all of the trees had fairy lights on them. I'm pretty sure fairy lights, or Christmas lights (whatever you prefer, I just prefer calling them fairy lights as I would like to think that they're appropriate all year round!) are some of my favorite things ever. They just make me so happy!
There was also a really nice Christmas market with homemade treats, clothing items, decorations and everything else that belongs to a proper Christmas market.

Warsaw also has a lot of history, especially from the 2nd World War when a huge part of the city was a ghetto where the jews were kept. We went to see a part of the wall, separating the ghetto from the rest of the city, that is still left standing between some houses. I'm honestly not the biggest history enthusiast (you'd have to ask my boyfriend for more details), but being in a place like that really made an impact on me. The holocaust is such a terrible part of our history, and it was definitely special to be in a place where it actually happened.

Apart from the wall and the Palace of Culture and Science, we didn't see too many touristy things or go to that many museums. We actually tried, but quickly realized that most of them were closed over the new years weekend. We still had a lovely time though, just wandering the streets, looking at the surroundings and all the people, and then stopping at a cute little cafe for something warm to drink when we got too cold.

The view from our hotel room! 








The Palace of Culture and Science

Remains of the ghetto wall




Our hotel