Busy highways, train stations and fine dining restaurants indicate they're definitely on the right track. To dig deeper than Nazi and Communist times, go to the Old Town's spacious Zamkowy Square, where there is a statue of King Zygmunt Waza, the man who moved Poland's government from Krakow to Warsaw in 1596. Then walk the short distance to Rynek Starego Miasta, the market square. Carefully rebuilt painted mansions line the cobblestoned space. Originally merchants' homes, most are shops, galleries and cafes now.
Artists display drawings and watercolours, usually of Warsaw scenes.
Red and blue umbrellas shade tables where friends socialize over beer, tea or coffee. One of the big houses, No. 36, is the Historical Museum of Warsaw, where a video reviews city history. Back in the sunshine, it's hard to imagine the incredible labour involved in resurrecting the Old Town. This part of Warsaw was rebuilt in its old image after the German Nazis levelled it in 1945. Close to the old city walls, in Szeroki Dunaj, a monument to Jan Kilinski recalls the shoemaker who, with Tadeusz Kosciuszko, led an ill-fated uprising in 1794.