June 6 Two more days to lift-off

It's nice to be back in Poland. Of all the countries I have seen on this trip I liked Poland best. Friendly people, good transportation, lovely sights, good food.

To be honest, when I reached the point of arriving in Warsaw, I just wanted to go home. What I had read of Warsaw was that it was a big modern city.

I have been very pleasantly surprised.

I am staying near the main railway station, convenient, but not upper class. You won't find one tour bus in this neighbourhood.

Warsaw is one of the most punished cities in the world. Over the years it has suffered many invasions, the plague, several times, flooding, you name it. The only calamity it has avoided was Rob Ford as mayor.

It suffered greatly during WWII. 85% of the city was completely levelled by the Germans; as they left they bombed and blew up whatever they could. Warsaw lost over 700 000 of its prewar population of just over a million.

It is absolutely amazing how the city has recovered.

One of the main attractions is The Royal Way. This is the road Polish kings used to travel to their palace. It has been rebuilt as a beautiful people-friendly avenue, full of boutiques, cafes, and beautiful architecture.

In 1778, the Italian painter Canaletto painted many parts of Warsaw. His paintings were used to reconstruct the Royal Way. As you walk along the street, there are several reproductions of his paintings, showing the scene in 1778, and as you look up what it looks like today.

The Old Town was completely, and I mean completely, flattened. It has been rebuild to look the way it did before the war.

Absolutely amazing.

I also saw a photo exhibit, taken in 1947, and beside it what it looked like in 1939. It is very moving to see how these people, and this city suffered.

The other thing I love about Poland is that it is the land of patisseries. I have never seen so many, sometimes two, side by side. I think you gain a pound just walking by one. What is really surprising is that that's the way it is everywhere in Poland, but nowhere else, none of the Baltic states, nor Russia.

The national sweet is a jelly filled doughnut, but there dozens of different tarts, cakes, pies, you name it, the Poles have it. Even more so than the French. I indulged today, had a cappuccino, accompanied by a donut, with a chocolate heart-shaped wafer, on top, while sitting at a cafe on the Royal Way. Decadent, but lovely.

As I said, Warsaw has been a very pleasant surprise.

I should mention one more item. In the centre of the city, near the railroad station is an immense structure. It looks like the Empire State Building. It is The Palace of Culture and Science. It was finished by 1955, and its purpose was to glorify Soviet achievement. At the time it was the tallest building in Europe.

It is referred to, locally, as "Stalin's Hard-On". The Poles do have a sense of humour.