Breakfast of champions

Many of the items of interest in Warsaw are in a narrow north/south corridor hugging the west bank of the Vistula River. I usually bike or take the metro, but decided to check out the city's swift little tram system today. 

In this video I am whisked quickly out of Zoliborz into Muranow, and then to the central district of Srodmiescie. The trip from Plac Inwalidow to Plac Konstytucji included 11 stops and cost 85 cents. It took 17 minutes, which is good because I have a pocketful of 20-minute tickets. It would take forever to do it on foot. There simply aren't enough hours in the day to walk everywhere you want to go.

The kielbasa is from Kielba W Gebie (Koszykowa 63) inside this terrific food hall called Hala Koszyki. I wish I had discovered it earlier. 

One of the gatehouses has an ox motif on its facade. Above it is the Warsaw mermaid.

Love the font.

You can get hot dogs everywhere here, but I've been looking all over Warsaw for white or smoked kielbasa with a casing that pops when you bite into it, on a warm, soft bun with onions and mustard. Even with the power of the internet I have been unsuccessful. Maybe you have to make it yourself.

A number of restaurants are in the U-shaped food hall, which hugs an outdoor eating area. 

Fueled up for my stroll up the Royal Route, I run into the In Side Pub, a dive bar accessed through a heavily graffitied tunnel. 

Goodness, this place is cheap. I got a huge liter mug of lager for under $2. 

On the way out, I really wanted a decent picture of myself, but the only person in the tunnel was a 14-year-old girl. I don't think she had ever held a camera that wasn't also a phone. She asked me to show her where the shutter button was. 

"Is it ... good?" she asked in English, wondering about the result. 

It was. 

"Thanks. You're a professional."

Some posters announcing shows this month.

A brush maker's shop.

A tailor.

Poznanska Street. I really like Srodmiescie. It's got everything.

A pedestrian tunnel under Marshal Street.

Goddamn hippies. ;)

A food deliverer for Wolt has two phones on his handlebars. As in Athens, Tallinn and everywhere in Europe, these guys are everywhere. 

I finally reach the base of Nowy Swiat (New World) Street, from here I'll walk north along the so-called Royal Route, which has medieval origins but today features a lot of neo-Classical 17th- and 18th century buildings built as summer residences by Warsaw's wealthiest citizens. Today they are occupied by cafes, restaurants, fashionable boutiques ... you get the idea. Religious orders also established a number of monasteries along the route.

The twin spires of Holy Cross Church stick up behind the walls of Warsaw University. 

The Staszic Palace, designed in 1820 for the Royal Society of the Friends of Science.

In front of it is the Nicholas Copernicus monument. To be honest, I don't think I knew the astronomer was Polish. The statue suffered so much wartime damage that it was almost reduced to scrap but fortunately was restored.

I take a quick look around the interior of Holy Cross Church as a service is about to begin. Chopin's heart is kept in a box in one of the side naves ... possibly this one?

Horse-drawn carriages known as dorozkas await those who wish to tour the Royal Route in style.

She peforms Kreisler's "Liebesleid," which cannot be an easy piece.

St. Joseph the Guardian's Church. Incredibly, it was never damaged.

A few details. The facade was finished in 1763.

On a tranquil afternoon, people on the street get a jolt as cops let a 4-year-old turn the siren on and off.

Boleslaw Prus (nee Aleksander Glowacki), who joined the 1863 Uprising against Imperial Russia at age 15 and went on to become one of Poland's leading novelists.

The Hotel Bristol. I've been reading Leon Uris' "Mila 18" while in Warsaw (such a tourist stereotype, I know), and the novel makes many references to this place as a pre-war journalist hangout. It was here they learned the Nazis had cut off outside communications in 1939 and were about to invade, setting off World War II.

The Presidential Palace. The statue is of Prince Jozef Poniatowski, a 19th century military commander. On this day there were a lot of people coming and going. A Warsaw school for the children of Russian diplomats was abruptly closed this week by authorities who termed it a "nest of spies." Moscow promised to retaliate.

The Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The 17th century Carmelite church's facade is surmounted by an orb.

Poland's greatest Romantic poet, Adam Mickiewicz, dominates this square. Some pretty intense wrought-iron work provides a border.

It is said that any marriage celebrated at St. Anna's Church will be a happy one. Though its facade is Gothic, the interior is Baroque, and the most magnificent I have seen in the city.

Speaking of Gothic, this tune outside St. Anna's was an absolute banger, and the crowd knew it, too. It's not every day you see a crank lyre and Polish-style koza bagpipes in action.

That's the Royal Route. I have enjoyed your company.