FIRST TRIP TO WARSAW WITH ORBIS IN 1987ges)
In 1986 we made plans to go to Poland but the Chernobyl nuclear accident occurred and we decided to go to South America instead. Then, in 1987, we made new plans and we went for a two week tour of the country. At that time tours were the only way one could visit a communist country, and our daily activities were all planned with no optional trips. Everyone went everywhere with very little free time. All meals were also included. And three times a day we got delicious food but always with boiled potatoes. I couldn't eat a potato for months after we got home from Poland. We stayed at the Forum Inter-continental Hotel in the business center of town. At the time it was the best hotel in Warsaw. We visited the old part of the city twice: at the beginning of the trip and once more on the last day of the trip which is why some photos are dark and gloomy and others are bright and sunny. We visited the birthplaces of two of Poland's most famous citizens: Marie Curie who was Polish but she married a Frenchman and lived in Paris; and Frederic Chopin who also went to France to live. Chopin died in Paris, but his heart was taken to Poland to be buried there.
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