warsaw (warszawa), is poland's capitol. it's where i spent the first 10 years of my life. it's a city long intertwined in european history. it's also a city rebuilt after being turned completely into rubble by the germans at the start of world war ii. what i remember of the palace to the left was one standing wall section with two windows in it. everything else was absolute rubble throughout my childhood.

warsaw is in parts beautiful, sometimes a bit idealistically so, but the general sprawl of this large city is depressing and dirty, something that is the legacy of a system which depressed the population for 40 years.

below, scenes from "stare miasto" (old city), vilanow palace, the warsaw university, statues of important poles, copernicus, chopin (my favourite sculpture in existance), and pilsudski, more "stare miasto", chopin's home before he left for paris, the swiety krzyrz (holy cross) cathedral which houses the remains of many famous poles including chopin's heart (his body lies in krakow), mementos from world war ii, the apartment building i grew up in, and finally, 2 images of the real warsaw, which also shows the irony i saw throughout poland, rundown housing and lots of satellite tv.

shot on fujichrome astia and ektapress pj100.