July 9 - A sobering last day in Poland 🇵🇱

We spent the day today at the Museum of the history of Polish Jews, a museum on the site of the former Warsaw Ghetto. The Hebrew word Polin means either Poland or “rest here” and relates to a legend about the arrival of the first Jews in Poland in the 10th century, more than 1000 years ago! It is arguably the best European historical museum. It is not a Holocaust museum, rather it traces the very rich Polish Jewish experience across the centuries and we managed to spend almost 4 hours there in what seemed like the blink of an eye. The museum‘s last exhibits trace step by step the escalation of the Nazi’s “Final Solution,” with a focus on events here in Warsaw culminating in the Ghetto Uprising, a desperate last stand in which the dwindling number of Warsaw’s Jews put up a valiant, but ultimately doomed, fight. Outside the museum is Ghetto Heroes Square, the heart of what was the Jewish Ghetto - now surrounded by bland Soviet-style apartment blocks, built on top of the rubble that remained after the Nazis completely burned & destroyed the ghetto, reducing it to dust, and annihilated its 300,000 former residents. The monument commemorates those who fought & died for the dignity and freedom of the Jewish Nation and for a free Poland. The statue features heroic Jewish men who knew that death awaited them. Flames in the background show Nazis burning the ghetto. It was a day, not unlike the day at Auschwitz-Birkenau, where emotions ran high and one can only question how humankind could execute such a horrendous plan. After touring we desperately needed a strong drink so we retreated to a cocktail bar in old Warsaw where a flamboyant mixologist whipped Debb up a coffee & whiskey masterpiece with artichoke foam and raspberry mousse which she claims was delicious. I had a refreshing Monkey47 gin & soda (a gin from the Black Forest in Germany with 47 botanicals)! As night fell, we walked back to the Bristol Hotel, pictured here with the Hotel Europe across the street.