Warsaw’s Old Town is not as good as Krakow’s, but they DO have a mermaid:
She is the symbol of Warsaw and you’ll find her image on pretty much everything.
According to Wiki,
The origin of the legendary figure is not fully known. The best-known legend, by Artur Oppman, is that long ago two of Triton’s daughters set out on a journey through the depths of the oceans and seas. One of them decided to stay on the coast of Denmark and can be seen sitting at the entrance to the port of Copenhagen. The second mermaid reached the mouth of the Vistula River and plunged into its waters. She stopped to rest on a sandy beach by the village of Warszowa, where fishermen came to admire her beauty and listen to her beautiful voice. A greedy merchant also heard her songs; he followed the fishermen and captured the mermaid.[134]
Another legend says that a mermaid once swam to Warsaw from the Baltic Sea for the love of the Griffin, the ancient defender of the city, who was killed in a struggle against the Swedish invasions of the 17th century. The mermaid, wishing to avenge his death, took the position of defender of Warsaw, becoming the symbol of the city.[134]
One of the interesting things about downtown is that it was totally leveled during WWII, so the Old Town that stands today has actually been recreated based on old paintings and such.
We went to the Warsaw Poster Museum which was a bit of a let-down; the entire exhibit was posters from 2008-2009. Some of them were good, but I thought it was going to be older posters, ones that made Polish poster art famous. But alas.
We also went to some palace next to the poster museum which was totally boring. But there was a cafe there where I drank hot chocolate through a straw for the first time in my life.
