As usual, when I travel with a tour, the day I arrive at the destination there's no group activity for we may be flying in from different cities. Naturally, I took a walk to the old town. Along both sides of the road, here and there I saw very artistic architectural designs. Many students just finished school. When I approached them and asked for direction, they were polite, helpful, pleasant and all of them could speak English. And most of the others that I did not speak to, were talking on a mobile phone. I was happy for them. They deserve to have what we have, after how much suffering their ancestors had gone through for centuries.

When I reached the Old Town (photo 12 - 33), it was cloudy, which suited the mood of the environment so perfactly. I looked at the Castle Square with admiration. The Old Town was devastated by the Nazis, at least 90% of it. It was rebuilt piece by piece without an original blue print to follow. Warsaw was nothing more than ruins after the war because Hitler was mad at the Poles, as the Polish civilians and soldiers joined together to fight his army for 63 days in 1944 and expelled them. However, they returned with stronger force and as a revenge, they smashed the Old Town block by block and executed numerous Poles. Eisenhower had said in 1945 that he had not seen another European city as destroyed as Warsaw.

Among the landmarks I have seen in Warsaw, the most impressive one is the Warsaw Uprising Monument (the last 4 photos). It's a group sculpture depicting the Uprising against the Nazi Germans in 1944. It may not be the best sculpture I have ever seen, but the most striking. When I looked at it through the viewfinder, I realised that I was not only trying to focus, but also looking at it with deep respect and emotion.

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