Uprising museum & the oldest restaurant in Warsaw

11 hours of sleep and 11,234 steps

I went to bed at 8 pm last night local time, woke up briefly at midnight, and went to sleep again until 7 am! I can't remember the last time I slept so much. I lazed in bed for a while enjoying my rest.

Today I felt 100% great. I've never had such an easy jet lag transition. (Of course, who knows what will happen tonight?) But so far, it's been seamless.

I walked to the Warsaw Rising Museum about the 2-month long uprising in the summer of 1944 as citizens and insurgents tried to take Warsaw back from the occupying German army. It ended in defeat with over 200,000 dead, mostly civilians, and the complete depoulation and destruction of the city.

At the start of the war, Warsaw had 1,300,000 residents. After the uprising, citizens were forced to leave and the city was systematically destroyed, block by block, until 85 of the buildings were rubble. Only 1,000 people were left living in this city that used to have well over a million people.

I'm still stunned by the extent of the destruction. In some areas of the town, the German army systematically massacred entire neighborhoods, up to 65,000 in one day. Men, women, children, elderly, hospital patients--everyone was rounded up, shot, and burned. Those hiding in cellars were killed with grenades.

One of the museum exhibits was a 3D movie reconstructing the destruction of Warsaw based on archival photograps and movies. It was from the point of view of a small aircraft flying over the city. Think of any zombie apocalypse dystopia movie you've seen...and the level of destruction isn't anywhere near what happened to Warsaw.

So that was a sobering morning. I made a brief stop to the Jewish cemetery on my way home. Lunch was my breakfast that I had packed away for later--cold cuts, cheese, vegetables, and bread. I decided to stay in for the afternoon and do some work on my presentation and on the book manuscript that we're sending off to the translators.

Around 5:30 pm, I met up with our host/conference organizer and a group of midwives from all over Europe and the US who were presenting tomorrow. We walked around the Old Town (completely rebuilt after the war, although you'd never guess that the buildings were just 50-70 years old, rather than 300-500 years old).

We ate at U Fukiera, which claims to be Warsaw's oldest restaurant. I walked inside and said, "This is what I want my house to look like!" Old vaulted ceilings, a sort of Bohemian feels, old oak paneling and pews lining the walls that looked lifted straight from a monastery, rich carpets and tapestries, electic paintings and prints on the walls.

We shared an assortment of appetizers: pierogi (I had ones stuffed with duck and cheese), liver pate with horseradish and beet sauces, a platter of cured pork cuts, and a platter of goat cheeses. I chose Żurek, a sour rye soup for my main dish. It's made with a fermented rye starter. In the soup were a hardboiled egg, pureed potatoes topped with crumbled bacon, and homemade pork sausage. Delicious!