Warsaw

Polish capitol, sight of the Warsaw uprising, capitol of a country that ceased to exist for 120 years, birthplace of the Warsaw pact, center of the once biggest empire in Europe, empire that prevented the Ottoman empire to sack Vienna and Timmys first stop in Poland. A huge sprawl awaited me after taking a truly horrible night bus from Riga. Slept only one hour. The hostel I checked into is run by friendly Anarchists.

During the WW II 80% of all buildings were destroyed. Everything basically had to be rebuilt.

The Warsaw uprising happened during the period the Nazi were retreading and the red army advancing. The Polish resistance wanted to be in charge before the Soviets arrived, so the Soviets wouldn't be able to claim that they liberated Warsaw. Controversially the Soviet waited outside of Warsaw for 63 days and let the remaining German forces crush the uprising. After the Soviets were sure that any spirit of resistance was broken they marched in, claiming liberation and staring foreign rule for the next 45 years.

The Warsaw Ghetto uprising is another unique story from this turbulent time. Like in many other cities throughout Eastern Europe the Nazis built walls around the Jewish district and herded all the Jews inside. They basically let them starve or die of vicious diseases. Then the plan was to bring the survivors to extermination camps. In 1943 the biggest Jewish revolt during the Holocaust took place. They tried to fight back. But they were poorly armed and outgunned by the well equipped Nazis. They were slaughtered.

These days Warsaw is much friendlier. Skyscrapers are next to seemingly historic buildings. The old town is rather small, but neat. I went to the zoo and saw many animals familiar from Africa, but a bit more close up. Poland is going to host the European Championship in 2012 and the first game is going to be played in the stadium they are building at the moment. I went to the dentist the first time since I left Switzerland and found out that I have no issues. The woman didn't speak English, but gave me a thumps up. The equipment they used was old and they put cotton with liquid fluor into my mouth at the end of the procedure. But hey, it was cheap.