Travels with Terri

Visiting Poland has been on our travel bucket list for years as both Rick and I have Polish ancestry. For my birthday trip last September, we went to Warsaw, Budapest (my grandparents were born in Hungary), and to Vienna. With limited time in Warsaw (only two nights), we decided not to take any tours. Instead, we attended an intimate Chopin piano concert, ate delicious Polish food, enjoyed the fitness center and jacuzzi at our hotel, and explored a lovely nearby park.

We stayed at the Regent Warsaw Hotel located south of the city center. At 409 square feet (38 square meters) their deluxe king rooms feature luxury bath products, fluffy robes, coffee and tea making facilities, a large desk, and a marble-finished bathroom with a bathtub and shower stall. The main restaurant, Venti-Tre, serves Polish and Italian cuisine and the Łazienki Lounge lobby bar offers light bites in the afternoon and dinner in the evening. During our stay, Rick took advantage of the well-equipped fitness center, and I thoroughly enjoyed a relaxing soak in their jacuzzi.

Just a short walk from our hotel, we visited the stunning Łazienki Park which is the largest park in Warsaw. Occupying 188 acres (76 hectares) of the city center, its flora and fauna include over 9,500 trees and populations of peafowls, red squirrels, peacocks, and swans. Impressive in both landscaping and architecture, it rivals many parks in Europe and is worth seeking out when in Warsaw. Most of the buildings were originally designed in the 17th century by Tylman van Gameren in the Baroque style. The park was eventually named after the bathing pavilion he designed, and it was designated a public park in 1918.

Unfortunately, the New Orangery was closed the day we visited the park. It was built by Adam Adolf Loewe and Józef Orłowski in 1860 to house a collection of orange trees that belonged to Alexander II of Russia. As Saint Petersburg was too cold for any tropical plants, they were moved to the Orangery where they thrived for many years. Today the building is home to a tropical garden and a restaurant.

Cover: Frédéric Chopin’s Grave at Père Lachaise Cemetery Paris, His Heart is buried in The Church of the Holy Cross (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

More about Frédéric Chopin: On our first trip to Paris in 2015, we visited Père-Lachaise Cemetery where many famous authors (Oscar Wilde and Gertrude Stein), actors (Sarah Bernhardt and Marcel Marceau) and musicians (Jim Morrison, Édith Piaf, and Frédéric Chopin) are buried. A child prodigy and musical genius, Chopin spent his childhood in Warsaw where he completed his musical education. At the age of 21, he settled in Paris where he supported himself by selling his compositions and giving piano lessons. In 1842, his health began to deteriorate and his output as a composer declined in quantity each year after. He died in Paris in 1849 at the age of 39. His final request to his sister Ludwika Jędrzejewicz was that she bring his heart back to Warsaw. As the story goes, Ludwika smuggled his heart preserved in a jar of cognac back to Warsaw where it rests inside the Church of the Holy Cross.

In my next blog, we visit the beautiful city of Budapest. Stay tuned!