Europe Trip 2025 - Warsaw - Things to Do - Part 2

National Museum of Technology

An old technology museum located in the Palace of Culture - entry from the south-west corner. I visited it many times as a kid, and now it has many things I had at home as a kid. 

Pre-war poster "All of Poland listens to the radio" - the interesting thing is that the spelling of the word "radio" changed.

This little red TV was my first computer monitor connected to ZX Spectrum.

I had a Kasprzak tape player like the three here. I used it to load and save my ZX Spectrum programs.

This was our TV.

I slept on a folding bed like this one... with my brother.

My first car. The little one.

The frunk could hold one suitcase.

I didn't have this little tank. The Polish Army had hundreds of them, in 1939.

The general vibe of this museum.

Polish Army Museum

This museum moved from the location near the Poniatowski bridge to Warsaw Citadel. I looked at the outdoor exhibits only, this time, which were mostly tanks, troop carriers, artillery. The planes were still being moved from the old location and were behind a fence. The labels on the outdoor exhibits were only in Polish, so I would consider it not ready yet for foreign visitors.

The rusty red museum pavilion "South". Pavilion "North" is not built yet.

I saw this type of troop carrier in the streets in December 1981 when martial law was introduced in Poland.

This was an improved (larger gun) war-era T-34.

This looks like tank destroyer ISU-152.

Self-propelled howitzer 2S1-Gvozdika.

This was a post-war T-34.

I think this was the original T-34.

The Royal Castle Museum

I was disappointed with this one. It could be so much better. There are many fascinating stories to tell that the museum is not telling: why the capital of Poland was moved from Kraków to Warsaw, how come the castle looks like buildings in Sweden, why does it look very different from the Vistula side, how many times was the Sigismund column destroyed, the story of Constitution May 1791, what role it played in September 1939, why was it rebuilt so late, why it doesn't look like before it was blown up. Instead, we are getting a series of mostly boring rooms. My English speaking guests said that the audio guide content was also very bad compared to the one they had at Malbork Castle. It's expensive too. I would probably go again on the free entry day - most public museums in Poland do that: have one day a week free.

The western side.

The southern side.

The throne room.

Chopin Concert in the Royal Łazienki Park

Two free concerts every Sunday in Summer. Come early to get a good seat. Don't except any known pieces. Every concert is performed by someone else and it's up to them what they play. In our case, the artist decided not to play any of the known pieces, so you've been warned. You may be able to check the program before the event using the link above. Still worth it. I appreciate Chopin more the older I get.