WAW: Tall Towers and Soft Cows

 

So this week took me to Warsaw. The city has changed considerably since I last visited it more than ten years ago. It's very visible that the country is booming and hasn't been affected by the recent economic crisis. Big Ben's communist cousin, the Cultural Palace is still going strong and I had a prime view of this landmark from my hotel window.

 

This is what it looks like from closer up:

Entrance to the old Jewish Ghetto, with photos of former residents, pre-Holocaust:

Old Town in the evening, a thunderstorm looming:

I had less me-time than in the previous cities I visited, which probably was a good thing, shopping-spree wise, but was delighted to spot different varieties of my beloved soft fudge sweets with a cow on them. They bring back fond memories of my childhood and my paternal granny in particular:

There is a gigantic shopping mall a mere stone's throw from the Firm's WAW office and *somehow* I ended up there. I tend not to bother going into shops abroad that we also have back home, but when an "up to 70% off" sign beckoned in Benetton, I could not resist and bagged a pretty shirt in my favourite summer yellow for 64 PLN (15 €):

My real mission, however,  was a visit to Poland's famous make-up export, Inglot. I put together a mini-palette of some of my favourite shades and picked up two little gifts for MC and the Gazelle as well. At the airport, there was another branch and I bought a stippling brush. I had seen Inglot in Sydney, too (unfortutely, you can't get it here), but it was about 5 times the Polish price:

On Monday night, my boss and another team-member had dinner at a very stylish (think Hampton casual) restaurant that my boss couldn't stop enthusing about. Definite recommendation if you're planning to visit WAW and planning to take someone out to a nice place.