The skies cleared and the sun broke over John Paul’s beatification mass which amassed in the park across from our hotel as we walked out.

We walked through a park and started mid-city with the tacky over-the-top Palace of Culture and Science which apparently resembles a Socialist/Realist tower block. A gift from the nations of the former USSR, it was once the tallest building in Europe. To this day it provokes extreme reaction from admiration to demand for demolition.

Our next stop was the National Museum which had mounted a very comprehensive retrospective of a Warsaw favorite son Alexander Gierymski.
Apparently the museum has a vast collection of Gierymski’s work including his sketches and small drawings done in preparation for his major works. The show was very interesting, well supported by visitors along with us and although he was not well received in the art world in the latter half of the 19th century he is appreciated for his colorist work and his working class subjects.

The National Museum

Onward to the Lazienki Palace which is a park formerly owned privately as a royal summer residence but is now a museum in a vast 18th century formal park. Lazienki Park has the feel of the world’s most elaborate parks, Central Park included and it like the others was redesigned in about the same period. We join hundreds of families enjoying the beautiful Spring day and gorgeous setting.

About Lazienki Park

We are packing up to leave after breakfast. Apparently we are taking the beautiful weather with us because people below us on the street are shrouded in rain gear and heavy jackets.