Toyama has many fish markets – but only one authentic fish market (like the famous Tokyo fish markets) where the Japanese visitors go to get their fresh yellow tail sashimi. Since we had a bit of time after work – we decided to head to the port area and see a few of them. We drove through some very picturesque rice paddy fields on the way there… one thing I have noticed about the Japanese landscape is that it’s almost impossible to get away from their power grid infrastructure when attempting to take pictures – it’s ALL above ground and it’s higgeldy piggeldty everywhere. 
This warning is sign says “water!”, but is presumably meant to be read more like “WATER!” to let hapless passers-by know that there may be water in the rice paddy fields? The roads are all largely built up on banks about 3-4 feet above the level of the rice/water but I imagine plenty of people end up driving into the drink with the way people habitually speed around here. There’s some legislative loophole here where the police can’t have speed cameras as it is illegal to film someone unless they are engaged in illegal activity. So the convention (ie: the internet) says that you can do up to 39km per hour over the speed limit in a 100 zone, and up to 29km per hour over the posted speed limit in a 60 zone before the cops will care at all; because that is the limit where disqualification of license is the penalty. The result of which is EVERYONE is doing 70 in a 50 zone and so on… 
This is the first ‘fish market’ we visited – the Shinminato Kittokito Fisherman’s Market. We did not stay long,… there were no workmen sorting and slinging about their fresh catch. There were no barrels and barrels of fish splayed out on ice waiting to be auctioned – so we determined it is a ‘tourist fish market’. A suspicion that was borne out when a bus load of Chinese tourists came in and started shoving each other out of their way to get to a large and very modern canteen. Not a bad spot if you want preserved fish products and souvenirs, but the place doesn’t even smell like fish and there isn’t any seabirds anywhere! 
There is plenty of shopping here to lighten your wallet, and it is redeemed a teeny bit by having an amazing little saké shop.
I had heard (read: saw someone raving about it on a YouTube video), about the famous shrimp flavoured ice cream here and felt that must be pretty weird so naturally had to buy one to try it.
Mr K said “That is the most Instagrammable thing I have ever seen you do – spend 350JPY on an ice cream because someone else on the internet did!” To which I replied, it’s only the most Instagrammable thing you’ve ever seen me do if I buy it, take a photo, post it on bloody Instagram and then dump it!” Which wasn’t my intention, but I have to say it tasted bloody ordinary, so most of it did unfortunately end up in the bin. Whoops! 
And he has the audacity to pick on me and my ice cream… exhibit A, if it may please the court:
Translated for your enjoyment:
Next we went to the Himi Port fish market. Now this one I knew was going to be the real deal. The only reason I knew about it is from seeing a Japanese man reviewing how he came all the way from Tokyo to have fresh yellow tail sashimi here and that the restaurant (singular) is always busy and it is through this obscurely signed door. I have no idea what the restaurant is called but it shows up as ‘地方卸売市場 氷見漁港’ on google maps. I’m sure the restaurant has a name – but I have no idea what it is. 
Yep! Okay, this is definitely a fish market. Fresth fishy smell -check. Wet concrete everywhere – check. Seabirds squabbling all over the place – check! We arrived around 1pm and all the auctions for the morning’s catches were over but the restaurant was busy as all giddy up – as promised. So we took a number and waited to be called. Which took about 20 mins given the time of day.
Inside was a modern hustling restaurant that seated about 60 and was half closed off (I think it’s off season now for visitors). Mr K liked the robot waiters, I was drooling over the menu. 
Some boring non-descript fish and rice for Mr K, which was served with a optimistically labeled bottle of ‘SAUCE’ that turned out to be ponzu. LOL.
Naturally, when there is no soft drinks on the menu (that one is able to decipher) saké is the go-to whether it’s lunch or dinner (hell, I’d probably have saké for breakfast if it was an option…). I have no idea what brewery it came from but it was very quaffable. 
And then… the main events! The mixed sashimi platter full of all good things.
And a yellow tail platter full of, well, yellow tail. BEST SASHIMI I have ever tried in my entire life. Quite five times better than anything Sono in Brisbane has ever served. *chef’s kiss* totally worth the mystery drive and the wait above the busy fish market. Don’t be taken in by Tourist Fish Market in Toyama, people!
We do however, decide to go for a drive to the other fish market that I had seen online, Himi Banya-Gai (mostly because it was barely three minutes drive from the authentic one). 
Himi Banya-Gai. This one is sooo touristy it even comes with its own tourist information centre, a government looking facilities block and about seven fishy canteens, a glass shop, shops full of pastries and preserved fish products – so much so you feel like you are in the food hall of a major department store.
This is what passed for premium fresh yellow tail here: some weird foil wrapped packets labeled 1st class, 2nd class and 3rd class yellow tail. And all for way more than what we paid at the port. 
The squidly products looked interesting, but without refrigeration to take them with us, they stayed in the shop. 
All pre-packaged fish products. 🙁 I’m sure it makes a nice trip out here if you live in the area to stop up on pantry staples, but I’m so glad we found the port restaurant for some super fresh offerings. 
Ah, finally some fresh fish – for you to buy and take home and prepare…?
“This is Himibozu-Kuhn- a cheerful Umibozu child from the sea of Himi. He is always carrying a fishing rod and catching yellowtail. Happiness comes when you pat his head.” 
After the fish market/s we made our way back to Toyama and on the way through town dis a blockie to have a look at the Toyama Castle. It was getting a bit later and closing very shortly so we decided not to attempt to go visit. It looks very much like other castles we have visited in Osaka and Aomori – I love the Japanese castle style.
The original castle was built in the 1500s but this building is a replica re-built in the mid-1800s after an earthquake, which is quite a common story with Japanese castles. 
From there it was back to our lodgings at the Dormy Inn Toyama and would you believe it? More saké was on the menu, and tonight a cheap and dirty take-away curry for dinner. Long day was long.
We like the Dormy Inn btw – it’s a fairly common chair here. Think something like a Rydges or a Novotel but with smaller rooms 🙂 It’s reliably clean, tidy and will have public onsens baths if you want to visit them and decent breakfasts.
There is even a Ferris wheel down here, an art gallery, a cafe and a gift shop (of course!)
Thankfully there is also a lift / elevator – if you do find the stairs difficult (and ffs when there is 187 of them, who doesn’t?) you can wait in line for the lift. The lift takes about 35 seconds to get from bottom to top and vice versa and fits only 7 people at a time, so during busy times you could have quite a wait. Thankfully for us, it wasn’t particularly busy this morning and the wait was barely two minutes. There is no mention on Trip Advisor or the website or any bloody google-able page as the existence of this lift… it’s kinda alluded to, but in a ‘you might be able to use it?’ kinda way. So it wasn’t until we got here that I discovered I’d actually be able to go in.
It sure looks pretty – pretty fantastical that is. The castle was originally designed for this site in the mid-15thC and was partially built between 1440-1446. Building continued on it in 1458-1480 and then there was a huge building spurt on the place in the 17th century and even more done in the 19th century – the result of which is a hodge-podge of ‘architectural improvements’ rather than any determined or cohesive intent to keep building a 15thC castle. 
There were the obligatory dungeons complete with torture implements which were very easily accessible right at the front of the castle, being directly off the portcullis entrance tower. 
I don’t know what it is about seeing dummies in medieval castles that immediately sets your expectations for a less than informative visit. That and people dressed in medjieval clothing – which this place had (one guy in Rus pants, a 14thC men’s shirt, a 15th Burgundian pouch and a seax on his belt… should have nabbed his photo). Anyway, it was still fun even if I knew the entire place had burned down in 1876 and the current castle is effectively a fanciful recreation of some modern architect’s idea of what it should look like. 
Gothic-Renaissance castle bits ahoy…
Turrets and gargoyles…
It’s lovely in here and I imagine it’d be great to hold events etc., but it is so bothersome looking around and knowing very little of it is original or even in keeping with the original plan for the castle. 
Now this looks like a perfectly SCA throne. 
We found a great little cafe for breakfast which wasn’t so easy given that many places were just not open this early – you know, about 0930. It was called Revel and was warm and cosy and served up the best €4.95 brekkie ever – a potato, bacon, onion and mushroom bubble and squeak type deal with an egg on top. I didn’t finish it, but it was a delicious start to the day.
Across the Square, the imposing War of Independence Victory Column is currently under wraps. It is a tall, usually well-lit plinth with an enormous cross on it. Usually, I try to crop the scaffolded buildings and monuments out of my photos, but this one struck me as a bit of a monument in its own right. It was only unveiled about a decade ago and already under scaffold… I think this piece is currently a monument to the: ‘They Don’t Make ‘Em Like They Used To’ field of civic building.
On the hill above the Independence Square was the marker for the Baltic Way – commemorating the 2,000,000 people that formed a human chain across the 675kms from Tallinn to Riga to Vilnius on 23rd of August 1989. The plaques were bestowed by the city of Vilnius, we will have to find the Riga one when we get there too, I think. The Baltic Way event occurred to commemorate the stunning peaceable act that was to protest against the Molotov-Ribbentrop protocols.
I am so totally in love with the autumn colours – we experience nothing like this in subtropical Brisbane.
Not far from Independence Square is the Kiek in de Kök – a restored cannon tower from the 15th century that is now a museum. The name, Kiek in de Kök, literally means ‘peek in the kitchen’ in German; the tower got its name from stories about how soldiers in the fortification could peek from the top of the tower into the kitchens of the town below. 
Nearby is the sturdy 14th century, Maiden’s Tower which is currently a cafe and small museum which oddly focuses on the culinary arts and the art of war – interesting combo. We thought we may double back around on these museums later if it started raining and we needed to take refuge indoors (it didn’t and we didn’t).
Up a small hill from the Maiden’s Tower is the decidedly pink Toompea Palace. The Palace/Castle was erected on the foundations of the crumbling eastern wing of the 13th – 14th century fortress that was on this site. The Baroque castle was built in the late 18th century, and is now the Estonia parliament, complete with carpark and (out of frame to the left) be-logo’d scaffolding, which I am now convinced is permanent, as it was here last year and isn’t covering or protecting anything, just being used as a visual divider between the road and the palace.
Across the street is the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral which is Tallinn’s largest and grandest orthodox cupola cathedral and is dedicated to Saint Alexander Nevsky, and the locals hate it. Apparently, the cathedral was built during the late 19th century as part of the efforts to Russify Estonia. It is so heartily disliked by many Estonians as a symbol of abject oppression, such that Estonia officials had scheduled the cathedral for demolition in 1924,. The only reason the cathedral is still standing is due to lack of money – it was going to be an expensive effort to destroy and remove the massive construction. After Estonia gained their independence, the Estonian parliament again started to discuss plans to demolish Cathedral in the 1990s! Seriously as recently as 30 years ago they wanted to demolish this beautiful building to extend the parking lot for the members of Parliament! 
I love these street lamps – I wish I could take one home for the front garden… it would only look a little out of place.
It was supposed to only get to 7°C today, but with the wind chill, feel more like 2-3°C and a high possibility of rain, so I wore my Fantastic Purple Jacket Of Warmth that I bought last year in Oslo on the end of season bargain shelves for €50 – only problem is as soon as you are indoors, you’re overheating like mad, so it’s on and off, on and off, with the jacket all day.
Souvenirs – the more I travel, the more I realise that I like to look at souvenirs and see what sort of things people make/sell to represent their towns and special places, but I don’t actually like to buy souvenirs. 🙂 They just clutter up the house and you do nothing with them. So far this trip, I have bought sweet stuff all other than my lapel pins.
Vikings – with horns or course.
I love these heavy felted fun wool hats – I’d love to be able to take half a dozen of them home for friends, but at €45-55 and knowing how little wear they would get in Queensland, it just doesn’t seem a sensible proposition. 🙂 
Around the corner is the Toomkirik or St Mary’s Cathedral. Originally dating from the 13th century, the medieval church has a Baroque bell tower and an amazing organ inside that someone was playing this morning.
The Toomkirik is the oldest church in Tallinn and mainland Estonia. It is also the only building in the Toompea area that survived a severe fire in the 17th century fire.
The interior is rather austere with these enormous high pews that congregants would sit in, probably as a family, quite pointedly separated from the people in front and behind them. yale for scale:
I can’t hardly see the altar over the pew… borys for scale:
After leaving St Mary’s we walked around to the first of several viewing platforms to see over the city – the Piiskopi viewing platform faces over more modern areas of Tallinn.
And there was no one here! Amazing… especially after still feeling swamped by tourists in Prague and Kiev.
As you move around the Toompea area, views of the Alexander Nevsky’s onion domes can be seen peeking through the buildings in the narrow streets – I can’t believe they would still want to knock it down!
The only evidence that Tallinn was once a major port for the Hanseatic Guilds are these signs outside of the souvenir shops – the Hanseatic Guild of Souvenir Shop Owners perhaps? They certainly seem organised or even unionised to keep their pricing on par. 🙂 
A little further around the town winding through the international embassies that are placed around Toompea near the Parliament buildings is another viewing platform, the Patkuli Viewing Platform.
This time facing out over an older section of the city and with a few visitors. 
I took some panorama photos here so will have to share those on FB using the 3D thing. Amber, amber everywhere – some of it lovely, some of it hideous. It’s hard to find just nice chunks of amber that you could do your own thing with them, and when you do, they are enormous with price tags to match. I bought some rough amber beads (strings of large chips?) when I was here last year and have done absolutely nothing wtih them, so was determined not to buy more!
Which amazingly had nearly zero visitors. The Raekoja plats or Town Hall has been here since 1322 and the town square next to it has been here ever since then as well. The hall was rebuilt from 1402 to 1404 into its current form. Every year since 1441, the town puts up a large Christmas tree display in the square beside the Town Hall in a tradition that is now over 570 years old. You can visit inside the Town Hall – between the months of June and August.
The Square is lined with restaurants, cafes and shops – most of which are fairly empty today. Some of which have signs out saying ‘Thanks for a great summer – see you next year!’.
The old jail which is right beside the Town Hall and is now a photography exhibit.
By this point we were looking for somewhere to warm up a bit – maybe some mulled wine and a light lunch. We saw this restaurant with the promise of mushroom soup on their chalkboard and were enticed inside. We had no idea what we were walking into – but rolled with it nonetheless.
Turns out it is the most touristy of touristy medieval tavern/cafe/restaurants in town! Complete with garbed waitstaff and a hearty, “Greetings traveller, can we offer you some fare to warm your gullet” type welcome. Oh dear. 
The entire hall is lit only by candlelight and the menu was really quite interesting.
We were unaware, but visitors were even able to dress in medieval clothing to enjoy their medieval lunch. Apparently, this place is a major draw for many visitors to Tallinn. and rates very highly on Trip Advisor –
Having only come in for a cider/mulled wine and some soup – we ended up trying lots of interesting food. Designed as an entree for one, we shared this ‘Neptune’s Platter’ which contained – Salmon eggs, Andalusian fish, smoke-grilled salmon, herring, anchovies, quail eggs, Castle’s fresh cheese, herb-bread with nuts, rye bread with smoked ham. 
yale ordered the 
Afterwards we had enjoyed the Neptune Platter so well, that we decided to not have a dessert but instead flip back to try the non-seafood version taster plate called the Reval’s Beef and Liver Pate Tasting Plate, which contained: Juniper-flavoured beef, orange tongue jelly, French royal poultry liver paté, olives, breads and caramelized onion jam. Also all very tasty. One thing about eating out with yale – I get to try all the things knowing he will finish them. 🙂 
I am not sure what this was about on the website of a different nearby ‘medieval’ tavern… is it lodgings for if you’re drunk and can’t drive home? Or are they offering ‘special services’ upstairs? 😮 
Back out on the street we went looking for the Town Hall Pharmacy also known as the Raeapteek which is the oldest pharmacy in Europe that has been in continuous operation in the same premises.
It looked a bit weird to see all the modern medicines in the old cabinets – but it is still a working pharmacy so you can go buy your panadol here.
There is a small museum of old ‘treatments’… dried toads, bats, hedgehogs?
No summer crowds!
It was lovely to walk through this space and have it all to ourselves, also to have time to check out some of the art studios that are here – though the woodworker seems to have packed up for the winter.
At the end of the passage, you can climb to the top of the Hellemann Tower to walk along the old 
The street views are spectacular from up here – and you can see how few people are visiting the town today.
The rickety staircase we claimed to come up with the bored octagenarian ticket seller who we just about had to wake up to take our €2.00 for tickets.
Finally, it was starting to rain on our parade – we did pretty well considering it was supposed to be raining all day. So we retreated back to the hotel with some caviar and some vodka for a bit of down time and a quiet evening in the warm.
First area we head towards was towards the Vilnius Cathedral where we first encountered Gediminas. I thought he was King Gediminas but apparently no, he was Grand Duke Gediminas of Lithuania (c1275 – 1341) which is a pretty fancy title imho. Gediminas is believed to have founded the political entity that was Lithuania and is credited with expanding its territories from the Baltic to the Black Sea. He is one of the most important persons in early Lithuanian histor – he built the capital, Vilnius, and establishing a dynasty that at one point ruled over parts of Poland, Hungary and Bohemia.
Nearby is the The Cathedral Basilica of St Stanislaus and St Ladislaus of Vilnius or the Vilnius Cathedral which is the main Roman Catholic Cathedral of Lithuania and considered the heart of the church and Catholicism Lithuania.
It is thought that the Lithuanian King Mindaugas (he first known Grand Duke of Lithuania and the only King of Lithuania) ordered the construction of the first cathedral on this site in 1251, after he converted to Christianity and appointed a bishop to Lithuania. Remains of an archaic quadratic church with three naves and massive buttresses were discovered beneath the current structure in the late 20th century. After Mindaugas karked it however, in 1263, that cathedral went back to being a place of pagan worship again. 
This being Europe and all, the cathedral has a convoluted history. Around 1387, Lithuania officially converted to Christianity, they started building a second larger Gothic cathedral with five separate chapels. This one burnt down in 1419 and they planned a new larger Gothic cathedral in 1429 for the coronation of Vytautas who was suppposed to become King of Lithuania. His coronation never happened but the walls and pillars of that third Cathedral have survived to today and it has three naves and four circular towers at its corners. In 1522, the cathedral was renovated, and a bell tower was built outside on top of an old castle defensive tower. Another fire destroyed the cathedral in 1530, so it was rebuilt again around1534 – 1557 and more chapels and crypts were added. The cathedral was burnt again, built again, fell to Russian troops, was destroyed and restored several more times by more famous dukes and kings… and all that before the Soviets got hold of it in the 20th century.
Chapel of Saint Casimir:
During the Soviet regime the cathedral was converted into a warehouse of all things, and masses were not celebrated here again until 1988. In 1989 its offical status as a cathedral was restored and it has been Vilnius’ main cathedral since that time.
In the square in the front of the musuem is a monument to King Mindaugas, the founder of the Lithuanian state.
Inside we discovered many antiques, antiquities and odd things, none of which seemed to have been curated with any real theme? intent? or cohesion? It was all very odd.
Urn, 4th century, Southern Italy:
Lithuanian sledge, c.1700-1750.
Sarcophagus received as a gift by Museum of Antiquities in 1899 from Prince Chlodwig Karl Viktor Hohenlohe, then German Chancellor. Originates from Egypt (obviously) but no mention of date, location or what tomb it came from?
Obelisk with samples of Russian materials, 19th century.
Maria Mnishek (1588-1614, wife of the Czars of Russia, Lzhedmirty I and Lzhedmirty II (did she remarry his brother? her son? his cousin? who knows?) Unknown artist, 1609.
Vytautas the Great, Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1401 to 1430.
Iron window bars, Lithuanian 16th century (no idea where from?).
Guild’s chest (which guild?!), Lithuanian 17th century.
Banner of the Immaculate Conception Fraternity at the Vilnius Bernadine Church, 1600-1650s… in bad need of conservation and repair.
Lithuanian pew, 1683
Chest with heraldic device of the Korff and Osten-Sacken families, Latvian c.1680.
Hook to Drag Plague Victims, Vilnius, earl 18th century… no other information about plague?!
Persian helmet, Turkey, 17th – 18th centuries.
Chair, first half of the 17th century. 
Tablet woven sashes, Lithuanian Minor and South-west Lithuania early 19th century.
Dowry chest, middle Lithuania, late 19th century.
Spinning wheel, middle Lithuania, late 19th century, early 20th century.
Toy musuem:
Recreated guest room in a typical Zemaicai house in the early 19th century. 
Kitchen/pantry:
Living/Dining rooms:
Wooden religious monument tops, various regions, 19th century.
St George…
St Florian…
It’s a seriously shitty climb.
Almost to the top:
The tower normally houses a museum exhibiting archaeological findings from the hill and the surrounding areas and has models of Vilnius castles from the 14th to the 17th centuries, and some armaments, and other iconographic material of Old Vilnius – normally. However, on this occasion, most of the complex is closed for restoration due to what seems to be a rather nasty landslide and part of the castle starting to look like it’s going to slide down into a river?
Towards the university grounds:
Gediminas’ Tower:
After we made our way through the castle complex, most of which was behind scaffolding, we clambered carefully back down the cobbled hill – because of course if you are going to go tits up, it will be while going downhill and went for a walk around the bottom of the castle tower base. I simply can not get over these gorgeous autumn colours. 
The tower from Cathedral Square:
Presidential Palace: This building is the central part of the former Governor’s Palace. The first palace was built here in the 15th century and used as the Vilnius bishops’ residence until 1795 when it was given to the governor-general. It currently holds the President’s official offices.
After this, we went hunting for a bit of lunch at a place called Būsi Trečias. Something local, affordable and hopefully not too far. Trip Advisor can be great for finding restaurants and it served us well last night, but sometimes it can be a bit hit and miss. We found a restaurant called and immediately ordered some disgustingly large ciders – because the alcohol is always cheaper than the soft drink or sometimes even the bottled water!
yale ordered what was called a ‘Village Pan’ and was full of potato, bacon and mushrooms, gherkins and god knows what else. It was okay in the end, yale more than happily assisted in polishing off the pork hock (well the chunks of it that weren’t fat and bone that is).
After lunch, we went for a quick wander down the main street of the Old Town to see what the other tourists are doing today. It was fairly quiet – I think that is the benefit of being here off-peak. Not many monument hogging selfie obsessed tourists around these parts.
Souvenir shops are the same the world over aren’t they? Full of stuff no one needs and hardly anyone wants. I collected my pins and we moved one.
I was trying to take a photo of this amazing building, and couldn’t find a good vantage point to capture the brickwork. It was only after I took about four pictures that I realised he was getting annoyed at me taking his photo (and not dropping coins in his hat I dare say), whereas the truth was, I’m standing there thinking, ‘Why has that guy plonked himself and his ugly purple trolley right in front of the only building in the street that I want to photograph!?’
Wine bar on the corner near our B&B.
We had decided to spend the last few hours of the day going for a drive out to the Trakai ‘medieval castle’. Was surprised to see hot air balloons up at 3pm in the afternoon – at home, it seems to be an early dawn activity.
Trakai is a very touristy village near the castle, that seems to have sprung up to serve the tourists that come to visit the place. Full of bright coloured buildings, cafes and gift shops.
Like so many of the other historic places we have visited this trip, the castle suffered several major catastrophes over the ensuing centuries including – an attack by Teutonic Knights in 1377 and a power struggle between Jogaila and Vytautas the Great for the title of Grand Duke of Lithuania after the assassination of Kęstutis. The castle was besieged by both sides of that spat, but soon after they reconciled and the major phase of construction started and continued until 1409, which was just before the Battle of Grunwald (between the Teutonic Knight and the Polish/Lithuanian Forces), after which the castle lost its relevance as a strategic military fortress.
The castle is mainly built out of red Gothic bricks. Stone blocks were used only in the foundations and for some of the upper parts of buildings, towers and walls. It has been decorated with glazed roof tiles, burned bricks, and (some very dodgy) stained glass windows. Its overall style after the second construction phase could be described as Gothic with some Romanesque features.
After the Battle of Grunwald, the castle was no longer of any military importance, so it was turned into a residence for the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. The caste was redecorated, frescos were added and foreign emissaries were welcomed in the Ducal Palace.
Grand Duke Vytautas the Great died in the castle in 1430 leaving it in the hands of Sigismund Augustus who used it as a royal summer residence until 1511, and it was redecorated in a Renaissance style. Later the castle served as a prison and during the wars with Muscovy in the 17th century, the castle was damaged, but this time was not reconstructed and it gradually fell into disrepair.
in 1888, the Imperial Archaeological Commission planned were made to rebuild the castle and in 1905, the Imperial Russian authorities decided to partially restore the castle ruins. During World War I, Germans brought in their restoration specialists, who made several attempts to rebuilt the castle and then between 1935-1941, parts of the Ducal Palace walls were rebuilt. Up until WWII, Lithuanian and Polish conservationists worked on castle project, but all work stopped when the war was raging all over Europe. After WWII, a major reconstruction project was begun in 1946 with actual restoration work started in 1951–1952. The major portion of the reconstruction was eventually finished in the 1960s with the goal of reconstructing the castle in a 15th century style to be a major tourist attraction, which has resulted in a cross between Hampton Court Palace and Bli Bli Castle. :/
… Some not so genuine, like these lovely c.1970s post-modern stained glass windows (thankfully the lime green diagonal design is not so apparent in these photographs).
Recreated stained glass windows that date all the way back to 2006.
Photos of the Castle before the major renovations started in 1940s.
Other areas of the castle contain collections that have been donated to the Trakai Island Castle for display. Collections of official seals, pipes, Russian enamelware, taxidermied animals, and all sorts of other crap* are stored here (*weirdly gifts that appear to have been given to Lithuanian government officials over the last decade are all on display… weird plates from China in 2012, and just weird shit that has nothing to do with a 15th century castle).
Still, it was quite a nice visit and it is so beautifully situation, it is well worth a look. I wouldn’t’ recommend checking it out in the middle of summer though, unless you were going to run in first thing in the morning or last thing in the afternoon and maybe get the place half empty – you can tell by the traffic flow that is set up, that it is probably a madhouse during peak season.
After this, it was back to Vilnius for the evening and another night at the crazy Bernadinau B&B. Vilnius has been lovely… didn’t find the G-Spot though.
The Warsaw opera house that was built in1825 to 1833, is known as the Grand Theatre in Warsaw or Teatr Wielki w Warszawieis. It is actually a large theatre complex consisting of spaces for the national opera company and the Polish National Ballet. It is one of the largest theatres in Europe can seat over 2000 people. 
Warsaw’s Castle Square, Zamkowy w Warszawie, is located in front of the Royal Castle and a seriously picturesque and popular spot. It’s surrounded by historic townhouses and cute little cafes.
The Royal Castle in Warsaw, or Zamek Królewski w Warszawie, is a castle residency that formerly served for several centuries as the official residence of the Polish monarchs, including Tsar Nicolas of Russia when Poland became part of Russia after the Napoleonic wars.
The complex has been the primary residence of the Dukes of Masovia since the 16th century and has been the seat of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, being for the King and for the Parliament, with fancy Chambers for the Deputies and Senate. In its long history, the Warsaw Royal Castle was repeatedly looted and devastated by the invading Swedish, Brandenburgian, Prussian and Tsarist armies. Seems everyone wanted a piece of this Castle at some point.
The Great Assembly hall is the biggest and grandest room in the Castle. This is where royal audiences, state banquets, ball and concerts were held. 
Audience chamber where the most important visitors were granted an audience with King Stanislaw August, including foreign ambassadors, papal legates etc. The Throne Room has been restored with much of its original decorations and furnishings, including doors, furniture and wooden panelling. The Polish eagles in hand embroidered silver bullion over the back of the throne’s canopy were all ripped off the original embroidery by Nazi officers in October 1939. The 86 copies here were modelled on one of these original eagles that was retrieved from the US in 1991.
Beside the Throne Room is the Conference Room or Monarchs’ Portrait Room, which was used as a parade chamber. Dedicated to the seven monarchs of Europe at the time, it is decorated with portraits that were commissioned of their likenesses. The portraits were painted by Jan Bogumil Plersch between 1983 and 1786. The parquetry is amazing!
The King’s bedroom as part of the residential King’s Apartment. Some pieces of the room were preserved before the Nazi destruction allowing the room to be recreated accurately.
Ceremonial sword of state late 1700s.
The Small Private Chapel off the Kings Audience Chamber.
The Marble Room was designed in 1640-1642 during the reign of King Wladyslaw IV and was little used until King Stanislaw August commissioned it’s restoration to famous architect, Jakub Fontana. It served as a second antechamber to the Throne Room. Thankfully most of the painting in this room were removed before the Castle was bombed in September 1939, and saved from the great fires that followed.
‘Girl in a picture frame’, Rembrandt, 1641 (and detail below).
‘Johann Baptist Lampi the Younger’, Antoni Jozef Lanckoronski, 1817 (and detail below).
‘Still Life with a Celestial Globe’, Carstian Luyckx, 1660s (and detail below).
‘Francis I, King of France since 1515’, from the workshop of Joos van Cleve, ca 1530 (and detail below).
‘Adam and Eve’, Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1520-1525.
‘Mystic Marriage of St Catherine of Alexandria’, Flemish School, c.1605. (and detail below)
‘Prince Wladyslaw Zygmunt Vasa’s Kunstkammer’, Antwerp School, 1626 (and detail below).
Polish Organ c. 1640.
All up we had a much more positive experience at Warsaw Castle than we did at Krakow Castle – no restrictive timed ticketing, more than one person actually selling tickets, staff were helpful and interested in making sure visitors found their way around okay and even pointed out seats to us in dimly lit rooms. They allowed us to take photography AND they had exceptional books in their gift shops. Bonus.
The Old Town and Castle Square is just gorgeous little area to stroll around. But alas, we had places to go and borders to cross!
Flight was uneventful. People cheered when we landed, and some were doing that Chinese thing where you run down the aisle before the seatbelt sign was off to try and get off the plane first, only to be told they had to wait for a bus to take us off the tarmac. yale looked quite confused, he’d never seen that before. Then when they did get us all packed into a standing only space bus, someone had left their passport back on the plane so we all had to wait another 10 minutes.
