thumbs up for warsaw!

I wasn't expecting much of Warsaw. I'd heard that it was pretty awful, drab, and very Soviet. Indeed, the city was 85% destroyed in World War II, and rebuilt in the Stalin period. As you see, it is pretty grey (well, white today) and industrial.

But grey and industrial can be cool--if anything, it reminds me of Berlin. It's full of well-dressed, English speaking young people, cool shops, and FABULOUS restaurants! Who knew? In fact, Warsaw feels totally European--except for the strange language around you, you'd barely know that you're not in Germany or France. The women don't dress like prostitutes, they have normal plumming, they plow streets and shovel sidewalks, people don't shove you or spit, and people ask if you need help if they see you looking at a map. Needless to say, none of these things apply to Ukraine.

Here's the fabulous Stalinist Palace of Culture. Even it somehow seems more cheerful than the Stalinist skyscrapers in Moscow, which just scare me.

Down the street from me, the Regional Solidarity Commission...

More pictures later in the week. I've only walked around a little; I spent all day in the library, which is also fabulous: friendly, well-lit, clean, and totally wired!