Warsaw After Dark

Warsaw's Palace of Culture and Science, in the light of dusk

 Well, not quite "after dark." I'm still recovering from the long flying day and I'm getting tired early. So this more "Warsaw at Dusk" than "After Dark."

And the stop on this tour is the Palace of Culture and Science, or "Pałac Kultury i Nauki." This building is the tallest in Warsaw and somewhat unpopular but it was a "gift" to Warsaw from their Uncle Joe Stalin.

But I like it.

It's not in that horrible Soviet Brutalist style inspired by those twin horrors of modern architecture, Bauhaus and the evil city-destroying Le Corbusier. It's art deco!

Who knew Stalin would build an art deco icon in the middle of the 1950's.

And on the grounds is this, the Monument to Janusz Korczak.

Who, you say? You got Google just like I do. I actually thought the statue looked vaguely "Mormon," with the man protecting his family with children. It could fit right in on temple grounds somewhere in Mormondom. Salt Lake, for example.

For dinner, I was not in the mood for heavy Polish food. Not tonight. So I decided to eat with Frida:

Frida Kahlo has a restaurant in Warsaw (she was a communist, after all), on the Nowy Swiat. Well, at least there is a Frida Kahlo themed restaurant called, you guessed it, "Frida," or, to be specific, Restauracja Frida. It claimed to have the best Mexican food in all of Warsaw. How could I say no!

Pictures of Frida everywhere, some with full unibrow!

I had the "nachos with jalapeno" is the appetizer:

It tasted like supermarket brand corn chips microwaved with shredded jack on top. Am I criticizing? No! I've made this variant of nachos at home and it is quite delicious. My mild criticism is "not enough cheese," but there was the red salsa on the side for dipping the un-cheesed chips, so it was all good.

For my main course I ordered the Burrito de Conchinita Pibil, a.k.a., the pork burrito:

Polish food is very pig intensive, so I figured that they would respect the pig in this Polish variant of Mexican food. I was not disappointed.

I had a choice of "mild," "medium," or "spicy." This being Poland -- Hungary really is the only country in Europe I am aware of where "spicy" means "SPICY" -- so I ordered "spicy." At my locale Thai restaurant, where you designate "spicy" on a one to 10 scale, this would be a "3." But it was tasty. Excellent flavor. Only tiny amounts of rice and corn inside as a filler. They did, indeed, "respect the pig."

So, with a full stomach, I walk back to the hotel in Warsaw. After dark.