Good morning! Hello guys! Good morning from Warsaw, Poland. Dzień dobry as we should say. Dzień dobry! I’m slowly learning some Polish here. We just arrived here. We were in Canada with my family
and it is the middle of the night in Canada. It’s about midnight right now for us. No, I think it’s way later. It’s like 4 or 5 in the morning. Oh! I have no idea what time it is. He’s already checked out of Canadian time zone. Either way, we didn’t really sleep on the plane. No. I was hoping that the Gravol would help but it didn’t. I accidentally had caffeinated tea
so that also didn’t help. Yeah. So we’re on a caffeine jolt right now
so if we seem a little crazy, that’s why. But we are so excited to be in Poland. If you guys remember in 2017,
a couple of years ago, we were in Poland for the first time ever. We went to Wrocław. When we did the Christmas market tour and we weren’t even really planning
to go to Poland on that trip and then kind of added it on. And that was one of our favourite Christmas markets. It really was! It was a total highlight. If you watched our kind of
Christmas market awards show, you know how much we loved it. And we’ve always wanted to come back to Poland so the Polish Tourism Board invited us to come back
and we were like ‘Yes to the yes!’ Because we just wanted to explore more of Poland so right now we’re on a press trip so this is day 1 and in…oh we are a little bit…
okay we’ve got to go downstairs. Two minutes! We are getting a ride downstairs
very shortly to go to a museum. So we just wanted to kind of take you guys
around with us today and explore Warsaw. So let’s go. Here we go. Check for the key. We’re just downstairs in the lobby of our hotel
so I thought I would tell you. This is Motel One. It’s right across from the Chopin Museum
so it’s right in the middle of Warsaw and they just opened in, I think she said
like two months ago. And when we were checking in she was like, ’so far we’ve survived a Metallica concert
down the street and a soccer match between Poland and Austria’
so she’s like ‘we can handle anything.’ So I thought that was kind of cute. Anyway, it’s a beautiful hotel
and it has that like new car smell, if you know what I mean when things are really new. Smells so nice! Good morning! This museum is called the PRL Museum and PRL
in Polish stands for People’s Republic of China. China! #jetlag PRL stands for People’s Republic of Poland and this museum basically tells the story
of the beginning of Communism here in Poland to the end of Communism and all of the
life and history in between. So I just kind of want to show you around some of
my favourite parts because I think it’s really cool. This is one of my favourite spaces and it’s set up to look like a typical apartment
would have during the communist time in Poland. And apparently every apartment
looked pretty much the same so this is meant to look very typical. And it’s very small as you can see
so no space is wasted. There’s the kitchen. This is one of the washing machines. And then this is the bathroom. And that’s the shower head. And the shower is attached here. And so you would just literally stand
by the sink and this was your shower. Toilet paper was hard to come by at that time in Poland and otherwise you would just use regular newspaper. So if you were lucky enough to
get your hands on some real toilet paper, it was a real status symbol. So people would sort of, you know, wear it around the streets to show
that they had actual toilet paper. This is a soda water machine but it’s jokingly referred to as a
’tuberculosis soda machine’ because everyone would use the same glass. So it’s on this chain and you would
put your money in and fill it up and then everyone would use the same glass. Which is very eco friendly but not the most hygienic. This coffee maker is over 50 years old and apparently somebody just left it
on the doorstep of the museum and they were able to figure out how to get it working so Marc and I actually got to
watch them make coffee on this and then try it and it was delicious. This is a drink that everyone
apparently recognizes in Poland. And you can still get it. It’s really, really popular. We have just left the museum
and we are starving so lunch is the next stop. That’s where we’re headed now. So we’ve arrived at the place
that we’re stopping for lunch. This market hall I just want to tell you about because, you know how I feel about repurposed buildings
and that’s exactly what this space is. It’s called Koszyki and it’s a beautiful old building
with these perfectly preserved details and inside, they have closed it all in and the roof and there’s all these restaurants inside now. And the restaurant that we’re going to
is called Ćma...Ćma? Hope I’m saying that right,
which in Polish means moth. Because the restaurant’s open late at night like a moth. So that’s where we are going and I’m really excited. So let’s go inside. Why be still when you can sparkle? That’s right. It’s a life philosophy and a beverage choice. Looks like dill. Potato and dill. It’s nice and light. Mmm. Yeah? Mmhmm. Ryszard? What do you think? It’s very delicate. You’re a fan? Almost as good as my mom’s. Oh! Whoa. That’s high praise. That is high praise. That’s serious. We’ve finished lunch, it was delicious and we’ve come to a park to kind of walk it off
because we had a lot of potatoes as you saw. And this park is called Łazienki and in English that means like bathroom or bath house, which is kind of a funny name maybe for a park but it’s because back in the 1600s,
there was a nobleman who had this property and built his place to bathe here. So back then obviously
you didn’t bathe every single day but if you were wealthy than you might bathe
once a week or maybe every two weeks and so this was his special place to come
and have that whole ritual. And it’s so amazing to see the green space in Warsaw because it’s a city of like 2 million people
so it’s a big city and about a third of Warsaw is green space. So this is a big beautiful park and it’s really calm because in this particular park, you can’t ride a little scooter
and you can’t drive a bike so the pace here is just very slow and it’s very quiet and it’s just the perfect day to have a
post-potato lunch stroll. So that is where this park Łazienki gets its name. That…some version of that
was where the bath house was and it’s actually on an island. There’s a little bridge there and a bridge on the right and the last king of Poland purchased it and changed it
into what it is now and it was his palace. He actually lived there. But that’s where the original bath house was
that gives this park its name. Pretty, pretty nice place to bathe. I always…you know when you visit a new place
you kind of think like, ‘if I lived here where would I go? Where would I spend my time? Where would I get my coffee?’ Or at least I do that a lot. And walking around this park, which is more of a museum than a park, I feel like I would spend a lot of time here. The pace is really nice. It’s so green and lush and, of course,
it doesn’t hurt that I’m here on a perfect, like picture perfect day. But man, the vibe here is just so nice and I feel like I could just sit on this chair
for hours and hours. I want to show you this monument. This is of Chopin who was
one of my favourite composers. I always…I love listening to the Nocturnes,
especially it always makes me feel very calm. Anyway, there’s this monument to him
here now in the park. The original one was destroyed and it’s enormous. I don’t know if you can tell how big it is and there’s this beautiful pond in front
with chairs and all these benches because, I just found this out, every Sunday here they have a concert of some of
Chopin’s best known works and they have world famous pianists
who come from all over the world. And they set up the piano right underneath
the monument there on the right hand side and it’s a free open air concert at noon
and 4 o’clock every single Sunday. They get like 85,000 people every year
at these concerts and even if it’s raining, they still do the concerts. So…must, must do I would say if you happen to be in Warsaw on a Sunday. I think that’s absolutely amazing. I wish it was Sunday right now but it’s not so I’ll just have to use my imagination
and let the Chopin play in my head. Sadly we have left the park now so bye bye Łazienki and now we’re headed to the Old Town in Warsaw. And to get there we’re going to take a bus. And apparently the transportation system
here is really good. I’ve noticed a lot of buses and streetcars
and there’s also a subway system. So now we get to try it for ourselves. The Chopin tour of Warsaw continues. We just got off the bus and we’re making our way to the Old Town and there’s a church here where Chopin’s heart
is buried in the wall and I’d like to see it. You can actually see it’s in the wall but I’d still like to go in so we’re
going to head inside this church. I want to be quiet because we’re obviously in a church but just behind me right over there, there’s a big plaque and that’s where
Chopin’s heart is buried in the wall. Right there. Obviously I wanted to be quiet in there
because it’s a church. But I’m really glad we got to go in there. This is called the Church of the Holy Cross and I…I feel like I got to say thank you to Chopin
for all the wonderful Nocturnes that I’ve enjoyed. I gave a little thank you myself as well. Yeah so I’m glad we got to see that. That meant a lot. Okay more Chopin. Never enough Chopin. So this is a bench that plays music. I don’t know if you can hear that right now. And there are benches like this all along the route where he spent
a lot of his time when he lived in Warsaw. So this installation is from 2010 and this map shows you places
of significance in Chopin’s life and there are benches that play music
all along the way and give you a little history of the significance there. So good! So not only are there these benches
that play Chopin’s music but there’s an app you can download
called the Selfie with Chopin app and whenever you’re in close proximity
to these benches, you can take a selfie with Chopin. It’s the coolest best use of technology ever! I’ve got to show you this picture, just one sec. Here’s our selfie with Chopin. Man that is so cool! This church behind me is one of the only
churches that survived the Second World War. There were 63 churches at that time
and only 9 survived. This is a 17th century church and Chopin
actually played the organ here as a child. And it’s still in its original form
which makes it very unique considering 85% of Warsaw was destroyed so it’s just… it’s beautiful to see something that…
that survived still standing today. So we made it to the heart of Old Town but Old Town isn’t really old because it was… Just a baby by European standards. Yeah, it was destroyed almost completely
like 90% during the Second World War but then they rebuilt it in almost the exact same way so it looks just like it did beforehand
and finished the building by 1953. Except for the King’s Palace, which was 1984. Yeah because obviously it takes a long time
to rebuild something that’s completely destroyed. But it’s so beautiful here like
the buildings are brightly coloured. You’ve got all these like restaurants and cafes. Everyone’s sitting outside. It’s a good place to people watch. Super good vibes here. Yeah, really good vibes. Yeah, maybe one of my favourite
parts of the city so far. Yeah, yeah so far for sure. It’s just really pretty and everyone
seems like they’re very calm. Yeah. Just enjoying…enjoying life. Riding around on scooters. Yeah. It’s nice. This is something I wanted to point out. So this whole area is a UNESCO
World Heritage site now and the building, like all of this wall
like this entire building…this is all reconstruction. However, some of the elements are original and these are actually bullet holes
from the Warsaw Uprising. So these are original. And I think it’s really interesting that
they kept those authentic details and then incorporated them
into this larger reconstruction. So this is the Market Square
in the Old Town that was rebuilt and all of this is reconstruction except this side. This facade. We just saw an archival photo of General Eisenhower
standing right about here and you can see this facade
or what was left of it there. So it’s interesting to see how that
was transformed back into this. We’re making our way out of the Old Town now
down towards the river and I just had to stop because this hill… I don’t know if you can tell but I’m standing
like at the top of a hill. Basically translates to Crap Hill. Because from the 14th century
when the city was founded up until 1844, people dumped their garbage here. All of their crap and now it’s called Crap Hill. And of course now they’ve laid turf over it and it’s this nice like panoramic view
of the city down to the Vistula River. It is pretty funny that the name Crap Hill has stayed
for what is now such a pretty place in Warsaw. So we’re just walking along
what’s called the Vistula Boulevard and there’s people biking all along here. It’s about 6.5 kilometres long and we’re just coming up to a cafe, there’s boats that will take you across to an island
over there where there’s a couple beaches. Super good vibes here and it’s still being worked on. They’re going to add another kilometre or so to it so it would just take you all day
to walk from one end to the other. So we have walked…let’s see…15,025 steps, which is…just checking my FitBit…10.87 kilometres so I feel we have earned our dinner tonight. So we’re at this traditional Polish restaurant. The moment that I know I’ve been waiting for…
I believe you’ve been waiting for… All the way from Canada. Our pirogies have arrived
and it’s beige and it’s beautiful. We got two different kinds so this is
with spinach and smoked sheep cheese. Marc got the…what is it? With just potato and white cheese and it looks like some little caramelized onions here. Also beige and beautiful. Yeah! Warm cheesy carbs. The best kind of carbs. Do you good. Post-pierogi dessert now. Marc got the…here I’ll show you. The cheesecake. I can’t help but notice there are
two pieces of cheesecake. That’s right! In this single order. All for me. So good luck with that. Thank you! And then I have this delicious looking apple pie. Freshly baked! Freshly baked…it just came out of the oven. And look at that beautiful plate. And it has buttermilk crumble with vanilla ice cream. Ermagerd. I know. So we’re going to finish our dessert and I hope that you have enjoyed
coming along with us today on day 1 of Warsaw and hopefully
we’ll get some sleep tonight. Yes, I hope so! And if you haven’t already subscribed to our channel, make sure that you do for lots more travel adventures. And if you liked this video, give it a like
and we’ll see you in the morning. Bye!
