My trip to Warsaw

Greetings from Warsaw, Poland! I traveled here with my friend Kara, who also took me to Hong Kong and Kansas. Poland is a big country to the east of Germany, and Warsaw is its capital city. Warsaw is a beautiful city with many old buildings, and I enjoyed my trip there very much. Can you find Warsaw on a map? What other cities in Poland might I want to visit in the future?

One of the most interesting buildings in Warsaw is the Lazienki Palace, which is known in English as the Baths Palace. That's because the Lazienki Palace is located in the middle of a park filled with baths and pools that were once used by Poland's royal family.

I visit an interior room in the Lazienki Palace.

Here is another room in the Lazienki Palace.

The Lazienki Palace has beautiful grounds filled with sculptures and gardens in addition to the many water features. I liked this statue a lot because a peacock was sitting on top of it. Unfortunately, the peacock wasn't looking at my camera.

Do you see the peacock on top of the statue?

After my visit to the Lazienki Palace, I wandered around downtown Warsaw. I was excited to have my photograph taken with this statue of Nicolaus Copernicus, a very famous astronomer who lived in what is now Poland in the early 16th century. Copernicus was one of the first people to realize that the earth revolves around the sun, rather than the sun revolving around the earth. The resulting heliocentric theory "revolutionized" the way we think about astronomy.

I pose with a statue of Nicolaus Copernicus.

Many of the buildings in Warsaw are very colorful. Here is a picture of my in front of some old buildings in the old part of the city.

Here is a street scene in Warsaw.

One of my favorite places to visit in Warsaw was the old Royal Castle, which was once the home of Poland's kings and queens. Poland was once a very powerful country – in the late Middle Ages, the commonwealth formed by Poland and Lithuania was actually the largest empire in Europe. Over time, however, Poland's power declined, and in the 18th century other countries began to take over parts of Poland. After that, Poland stopped being independent and its monarchs stopped ruling from the Royal Castle.

Over the years, Poland was invaded many times by many other countries. In World War II, it was invaded by both Germany and the Soviet Union. When the German army occupied Warsaw, the German cannons destroyed the Royal Castle. The castle you see today is actually a reconstruction of the destroyed original. But I think they did a great job in rebuilding it!

I pose in an interior room of the Royal Castle.

I pose in front of the Royal Castle.

Touring Warsaw was really tiring, so I was glad to get the chance to relax at Wedel's chocolate store, a very famous chocolate store near the Wilanow Palace in Warsaw. Behind me is a glass of liquid chocolate. Yum! Wedel's was founded in 1851, and it survived the Great Depression, World War II, and nationalization under communism to remain one of Poland's most famous brands. What a terrific way to end my trip to Warsaw.

I enjoy some liquid chocolate at Wedel's.

--Benny