It was our last day in Warsaw so we had a few things to get done.

It was rainy in the morning so we left with raincoats. We caught the train to near the Palace of Culture and Science – the huge building built by the Russians as a ‘present’ to Poland. 

But first we had to go for coffee and brunch. We found a cafe nearby – Radio Cafe. It was referring to the radio station that was run from Berlin to transmit messages about Poland and the outside world to the Poles. The communists banned anyone listening to it – and if you were caught you got 10 years hard labour in Siberia. This cafe was a little secret enclave listening and supporting it. 

There were many photos of notable people who had visited here.

We had crepes with cottage cheese and raisins – very delicious. 

We went to the front of the Palace building where Lisa and I went on our tour there. Glenn and Sean got tickets to meet us at the viewing platform at the top. 

On the tour we heard about the plans created initially by 15 Russian architects and then joined by 15 Polish architects. 

The lead Russian architect had already designed the Empire State Building in the USA so you can see the resemblance. He was a respected architect so was able to come and go from the USSR as he liked. 

Top quality building products were used. The base construction products were shipped in from Russia by train on thousands of wagons.  However most of the decorative items came from Poland including the glass items. 

The gold tiles on the wall were actually made from glass and steel. 

It took 1.5 years to build the structure and then 1.5 years to complete the inside. 

To get the space 170 apartment blocks had to be knocked down – when housing was scarce while the city was being reconstructed. 

A 50 metre tall Stalin statue was planned which would have dominated the 4 metre statues at the front of the building of the poet Mickiewicz representing culture and Copernicus representing science. Polish people were very angry about this as it was another statement about the domination by Russia. However Stalin died before it was created so they were all relieved.

It’s a few metres short of a similar building in Moscow at 237 metres. It has 3288 rooms. 

We saw ground floor rooms others are not allowed in. They were a grand restaurant and other rooms. All were covered in marble with chandeliers.

We went to the courtyard out the back where management and VIPs can park. There is a huge congress hall that was used as a concert hall when the Rolling Stones played in 1967. All the tickets were on the black market. Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan have also played here. Unfortunately we couldn’t get into the hall as it’s being renovated. 
We saw where the first telephone in Poland was located .

We then went up in the elevator to the 30th floor viewing platform. This is where the tour ended and we met up with Glenn and Sean. 

We checked out all the views. 

Coins had been thrown over the edge on the parapet. I hate to think what would have happened if one went over the edge. 

We then went down in the lift and checked out the merchandise – lots of small statuettes of the building.

The boys had to leave to go to the vodka museum. Lisa and I went shopping in TK Maxx and bought a few things. 

Lisa and I then headed to the old town to visit the Marie Curie museum. The museum was where she was born in 1867 and took us through the story of her life. 

Her parents were excellent teachers. This is them in the centre with other teachers in their school.

Marie had a great relationship with her father who was a maths teacher. 

She faced severe educational barriers because women could not attend regular universities in Russian-controlled Poland. To bypass this, she secretly studied at Warsaw’s clandestine “Flying University” before saving enough money by working as a governess to move to France in 1891. Once in Paris, she enrolled at the Sorbonne to complete her advanced degrees in physics and mathematics.

In 1895, she married fellow scientist Pierre Curie, establishing one of history’s most famous scientific partnerships.

Together, they investigated Uranium rays and coined the term “radioactivity,” which eventually led to their discovery of two new elements: polonium and radium. These groundbreaking discoveries earned her the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics alongside her husband and Henri Becquerel, followed by the 1911 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Pierre’s unfortunately tragically died when he fell under a carriage in 1906. She took over his role, becoming the first female professor at the University of Paris.

She had to deal with a lot of male criticism and scandal in the press – first by an English scientist claiming that radium didn’t exist – she proved it did. Then she was having an affair with a married man and one of the Nobel committee advised her not to come to Sweden to collect her second prize – which she ignored and was supported by hundreds of Swedish women who held a lunch for her. 

Later Life and Legacy

During World War I, she championed the use of mobile radiography units, later known as “Little Curies,” to provide life-saving X-rays to wounded battlefield soldiers.

She went on to establish the Curie Institute research facilities in both Paris and Warsaw to further study radiation therapy.

Her 2 daughters became scientists in the same field and 1 won a Nobel prize with her husband.

Decades of unshielded exposure to radioactive materials eventually caught up with her, and she died of aplastic anemia on July 4, 1934.

Myself and Lisa then made our way to the vodka museum to meet the boys. Glenn took a couple of pics there.

We took a few wrong turns trying to walk from the team but made it eventually. The boys were drinking zero beer after their 4 vodka tastings – that’s shutting the gate after the horse had bolted!

We had a beer and some chips as we hadn’t eaten since brunch. 

We then got back to the vans. It was very cold and rainy so we had Harissa salmon and couscous for dinner in our warm van. 

It was early to bed – everyone was exhausted.