The Bridge of Sighs

Imagine there was a bridge upon this street. Those who were beneath it - had the right to live. Those who crossed it - did not. They were Jews walking between large and small ghettos in Warsaw during the II World War.The Chłodna Street (Cold St) was essential for a traffic in the city so the German occupation authorities decided to exclude it from the Ghetto and therefore they built the bridge that joined both parts of it. The Jewish called it: "Bridge of Sighs". The sighs for a normal life that went on under the bridge.
See more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_ghetto
Today the Cold Street is one of my favourite samples of Warsaw. It is all this city is about: tragic history, skyscrapers of glass, suspicious business and underground culture. It is peaceful and nostalgic. All cobbled with forgotten tram-tracks in it. Go there to see what a strange feeling it is when you cross a symbolic line of the Ghetto Wall in a pavement so easily while for the Thousands it was a dream that never came true.
In the corner of the Chłodna St and Żelazna St (exactly were the Bridge of Sighs used to be) there is the Chłodna 25 Cafe - a very important place in a cultural map of Warsaw with loads of good off -artists' concerts in the evening and aromatic latte in the morning (open daily from 8am till the last customer). You will find a mural of the Ghetto Bridge just opposite the cafe.
When you walk the Chłodna St towards the West you will have a chance to meet suspicious guys standing in front of dark "houses of games", lawyers and sellers of brushes (all these guys work in the same ruined pavilion).
If you go the eastern direction instead you will get to the bustling Jana Pawła St (the street of the Pope John Paul II) and to the old Market Halls of Mirów. There is a fantastic flower market in the front of it. It is open every day all year round.
Before you take a tram to the city centre have a good look. Would you believe all this area was completely flattened of bombs?