Warszawa Centralna

I think it would be cheating if I titled this post 'Warsaw', having spent only a few hours wandering around the area close to the central train station and not even making it as far as the old town square.  Despite that I have spent some time in Warsaw previously and seen a bit of what it's got to offer.  For me, in terms of my love affair with Poland, that is very little.

East meets West

Warsaw is, as capital cities tend to be, a very poor reflection on the rest of the country.  It's as big, rich and western as any capital in Western Europe, conflicting with the quaint, eastern feel to much of the rest of Poland.  Huge modern glass sky scrapers instead of high rise flats and massive junctions to replace the infamous Polish road system.  On Sunday I looked out of the window of my hotel and felt like I'd already left Poland.  How very depressing.

Don't get me wrong though, Warsaw is not a bad place.  There are certainly things to do and see there and I have it on good authority that it's an excellent place to live but I believe it's something very different to the rest of Poland.  Warsaw's Palace of Culture is a huge distinctive landmark smacking of Poland's communist past under Stalin's rule, but it is surrounded by so many western buildings, companies and influences that it's quite clear to see that the eastern feel is very much part of Warsaw's history.