The peacocks are waiting! (Lasienki Park (Warsaw))

Member Name: dangaroo

Product:	Lasienki Park (Warsaw)
Date:	08/08/09 (21 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely gardens, nice buildings, some animals, free

Disadvantages: Can't bring dogs or bikes

Lazienki Park (Royal Baths Park) is another must see sight of Warsaw. The Poles use Lazienki in a similar way that the Americans use the word bathroom - so it's often jokingly dubbed "Toilet Park" in British English.

The park is located only slightly south of the centre and it's about 30 minutes from the end of Nowy Swiat on foot, if you've been walking around a lot already, you may benefit from hopping on the 180, as this is a bus line that goes past most of the major sights, it's indicated on the map inside the bus where you have to get off.

Lazienki Park was designed like many of its contemporary buildings in the Warsaw area by the Dutch architect Tylman Van Gameren in a baroque style for the Polish noble Stanislaw Lubomirski.

In 1764 King Stanislaw August gained control of the park and palace and made it one of his priorities to perfect the gardens, today you will find a combination of the former resident's owners ideas and the result is stunning. A mixture of woodland, gardens and a fish filled lake, it's a very nice place to have a rest and a walk around. Apart from the square and bridge around the main palace, the place isn't usually too busy, although it is frequented by groups on school trips.

The grounds are free to enter although one of the buildings often has an exhibition on during the summer, the rose growing competition is particularly well known. There's a restaurant and cafe which is open most of the year round, in the summer you can sit outside and have a beer and a cold ice cream, whilst in the summer you can go in the cellar like rooms and have a hot soup. The prices at this place are reasonable.

Whilst red squirrels tend to go about their business rather secretly, it's impossible to miss the larger than life peacocks who show themselves off and make a hell of a lot of noise, often going as far as jumping onto the stage on an ampitheatre to voluntarily strut their stuff. This adds to the special atmosphere!

Summary: A wonderful park