Warsaw travel diary: day 3

Thursday morning in Warsaw arrived without hangovers, so we were up and out by around 11am; armed with Apple Maps, we embarked on a half an hour walk through the city to find the Mausoleum of Struggle & Martyrdom. It wasn't the easiest place to locate, but we managed it and it was free entry, so in we went.

The museum was originally a Polish government building, and was taken over by the Nazis after the outbreak of World War Two to become the Gestapo Headquarters. It's now an exhibition, a small but important one - the prison cells, for the most part, remain as they were: inscriptions and bullet marks still visible on the walls. There's a short film to watch when you first get there, which describes some of the horror that took place at this site, and then you are able to walk up and down the two corridors of cells. There is a radio which used to be played at full volume to drown out the screams of prisoners, a recreation of an officer's room, and screens with information and photographs. If you're interested in WW2, I'd definitely recommend a visit here - it's only a little museum and takes up less than an hour, but it's worth it. If you don't fancy the walk, the nearest Metro station is Politechnika. 

When we left the museum we walked along Ujazdów Avenue, which is a huge main road with loads of embassy buildings on it and a park on the other side that eventually takes you to Nowy Świat. This is the road that is often recommended as a starting point if you've got a limited amount of time in Warsaw, and it's full of restaurants and bars. It was rebuilt to its early 19th Century appearance after the Warsaw Uprising, and it's lovely to wander along. We were heading that way to visit Holy Cross, the beautiful baroque church that now houses Chopin's heart, and we managed to check out the Copernicus monument too. Nowy Świat is quite touristy, but still not as bad as other capital cities, and we ate lunch in a Mexican restaurant called Frida - more on that in my upcoming 'where we ate' blog post.

After lunch we strolled back to the apartment - turns out we'd gone kind of full circle and ended up towards the back of the shops near where we were staying, so we had a bit of a chill in the afternoon after walking so far and eating so much. City breaks don't have to be jam packed; it's a common misconception that because you're staying somewhere that is so full of culture and things to do, you have to be busy all the time fitting it all in. But I think it's important to remember it's a holiday, too.

By the evening, we were raring to go again and we had our hearts set on the Hard Rock Café, so we made our way to Złote Tarasay which is a huge mall behind the Palace of Science and Culture - it was less than 10 minutes from where we were staying, but completely blocked by the palace itself. I popped into Bath & Body Works and picked up eight (8) (!!!!) Pocket Bacs in true old-school blogger style, and then we got a bit lost trying to find the Hard Rock. It was worth it in the end though, and we had a boss time there watching the Rolling Stones followed by Metallica on the screens around the restaurant, pointing out guitars and memorabilia from some of our favourite artists, and of course eating some boss food.

We couldn't pass up on another trip to Rock Friends, "just a quick one" on the way home ... three quad vods later and we somehow made it back to the apartment. I'm not really sure how, but I know I went straight bed and woke up the next morning feeling TERRIBLE. Tune in soon to find out how that day went.

Want to find out what we got up to on day two? CLICK HERE