Warsaw and Chopin

Today we toured the Old Town section of the present day city of Warsaw. Over 85% of the city was destroyed by the Nazi's in WWII. Over 800,000 Polish citizens lost their lives. The Polish Jews were all herded into one section of the city, and then loaded on to railroad cars to be exterminated in camps. The citizen that survived rebuilt the city, using bricks that survived the bomb blasts. Within 5 years most of the city was rebuilt.
Today the city has many modern skyscrapers and museums. Many beautiful parks and green spaces adorn the city. There is a strong cable car and public transit system. It is very hard to tell that the buildings are not original. Much of the restoration work was done by volunteer craftsmen, in exchange for receiving priority when housing was again available.
A typical apartment today costs about $400-500 a month to rent in American dollars. A small two room, one bath apartment runs about $150,000.00 to purchase. It is very difficult to purchase an apartment in the  Old Section of Warsaw, as the older residents who live here have inherited the property from the original family members and do not want to sell. They are a very proud people. On the rare occasion that an apartment becomes available, it would cost about $400,000 to $500,000 in American dollars.  We also visited a museum that was built on the site of the old Jewish Quarter. It is a modern architectural masterpiece.
This evening we were treated to a private Chopin concert with pianist Iwona Klimaszewska from the Academy of Music in Warsaw. It was performed at the Szuster Palace. The Szuster Palace, designed by E. Szreger was built in 1772-74. Originally it had of a small, classical villa and was the main edifice of the Mokotow garden. In 1845, famous Warsaw lithographer F. Szuster bought the Palace and expanded it significantly. The Palace was burnt by Germans in 1939, then was restored in the 1860s for the Warsaw Music Academy.
We also viewed the Gay Pride parade celebration in Warsaw early in the evening!