Day One - Welcom to Warsaw

Kaja and Kasia picked us up from the airport. They are both our leaders/guides from the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. We hopped on a bus and went to the apartment of a very nice Polish graduate student named Daniel. He is very knowledgeable about the entire history of Warsaw as we are finding with most of the Polish people we are encountering. We rested up for about an hour and then took the bus to meet Kaja at a very exciting food festival located on the "royal route" in the heart of Warsaw. We ate some very strong cheese, and watched some very traditional folk music. The street is located near the old town and the architecture is beautiful. All the buildings are filled with history.
We passed a statue of Copernicus (the guy who suggested the earth revolved around the sun) and viewed a painting of what the street looked like centuries ago. We viewed Warsaw University and visited the auditorium where we learned about Adam Miskawitcz, the famous poet and symbol the complexities of Polish identity. Then we walked down to the new, state of the art library which overlooks a beautiful garden.
We learned briefly about John Paul II, the Polish pope who was extremely influential in ending communism.
We then had a welcoming dinner with a lot of people from the museum, Beit Warsaw, the progressive congregation in the area, and the Polish students with whom we will stay. Dinner was absolutely delicious and we already feel like we know a lot of people in this city, even though we just arrived this afternoon.