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Of all the long thoroughfares bisecting central Warsaw from north to south, the most important is the one often known as the Trakt Krolewski (Royal Way), which runs almost uninterrupted from plac Zamkowy to the palace of Wilanow. Krakowskie Przedmiescie , the first part of the Trakt Krolewski, is lined with historic buildings. Kosciol sw. Anny (St Anne's Church), directly below pl. Zamkowy, is where Polish princes used to swear homage to the king; founded in 1454, the church was destroyed in 1656 by the besieging Swedes, then rebuilt in Baroque style in the following century. All that remains of the original church is the Gothic brick presbytery adjacent to the nave and Baroque chapel dome. There's a fine view over the Wisla from the courtyard next to the church, though your enjoyment of it is somewhat marred by the traffic thundering through the tunnel below. By 1983, the second year of martial law, resourceful oppositionists had assembled a new flower cross to this courtyard after the authorities removed the huge one from plac Pilsudskiego. These days, the courtyard is filled with a busy outdoor cafe and a pizzeria that are at least as popular with Polish sightseers as the cross used to be. For an even better view, you can climb the belfry on the northern side of the courtyard (May-Sept daily 10am-5pm; 2zl). South of St Anne's the bus-congested street broadens to incorporate a small green. The Pomnik Mickiewicza (Mickiewicz Monument) stuck in the middle of it is the first of many you'll see if you travel round the country - he's a hero with whom everyone seems comfortable, communist governments included. It was unveiled on the centenary of the poet's birth, before a twelve-thousand-strong crowd (the Russians were enforcing a ban on rallies and speeches at the time). Just south of the statue stands the seventeenth-century Kosciol Karmelitow (Carmelite Church) whose finely wrought facade, complete with a distinctive globe of the world, is one of the first examples of genuine classicism in Poland. Next door in the Palac Radziwillow - Radziwill Palace; another building belonging to the Polish-Lithuanian aristocrats who also built the Palac Radziwillow on ul. Miodowa - is where the Warsaw Pact was formally created in 1955, at the height of the Cold War. Thirty-four years later, it hosted another equally momentous event in the spring 1989 "Round Table" talks between the country's communist authorities and the Solidarity-led opposition. In front of the palace's large courtyard is a statue of another national favourite, Jozef Poniatowski, nephew of the last king of Poland and a die-hard patriot who fought in the 1794 Insurrection. West of the main street on ul. Kozia, a quiet, atmospheric cobbled backstreet, is the Muzeum Karykatury (Museum of Caricatures; Tues-Sun 11am-5pm; 4zl; free on Thurs) at no. 11, a quirky but enjoyable setup featuring exhibitions of work by Polish cartoonists. The main feature for some time to come is likely to be a large display of work by the late Eryk Lipinski, the veteran cartoonist, honoured in a plaque on the wall, whose satirical portraits seem to cover just about every famous Pole you're likely to have heard of, and many more besides. The overall tone of his pictures is hearteningly irreverent - no one is sacrosanct, not even the pope or other national icons past and present. Back on Krakowskie Przedmiescie, two grand old hotels face each other a little further down the street: the Europejski , Warsaw's oldest hotel, and the Bristol . Begun in the 1850s, the Europejski was badly hit in World War II, and though the exterior has been restored well enough to preserve at least a hint of fin-de-siecle grandeur, the rooms inside have been eviscerated and lack character. After years out of action, the Bristol , a neo-Renaissance pile completed in 1899, is now back in business as part of the Meridien chain. Once owned by musician-premier Ignacy Paderewski and a legendary prewar journalist's hangout, it's now been transformed into a super-luxury hotel. Some of the interior charm has been retained, and this is probably the one hotel in the luxury bracket that's worth it. Even in a city not lacking in Baroque churches, the triple-naved Kosciol Siostr Wizytek (Nuns of the Visitation) stands out, with its columned, statue-topped facade; it's also one of the very few buildings in central Warsaw to have come through World War II unscathed. The church's main claim to fame, in Polish eyes, is that Chopin used to play the church organ here, mainly during services for schoolchildren.
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