What's new in Warsaw?

Last Sunday, I met my childhood friend Tomcio. Before that I told him to surprise me with showing something that was not in Warsaw before I went for Erasmus.
We met in the most common place, next to the statue of Charles de Gaulle or as somebody would rather prefer, in front of the Palm. Tomcio asked me: Did you know that we have Starbucks in Warsaw since April? He must have noticed disappointment on my face and added quickly: Don't worry I have another thing as well! I was just checking your reaction! After walking all the way along the Royal Route to the Old Town, it turned out that the surprise was as I expected, truly adequate to Tomcio's profession, which is HISTORY.

The place which he wanted to show me were newly renovated Arkady Kubickiego (eng. Kubicki's Arcades). Actually, it's one of the lower parts of the Royal Castle that is located between the Castle and its gardens.

The story of the arcades is that even though they were designed and party built in the XIXth century, they were never really completed. After the November Uprising they were taken over by Russian army that converted it into a horse stable and since the end of the IInd World War they had fallen into ruin. In the middle of 90's somebody came up with an idea of renovating them. I'm looking forward to see what will be in the interiors in the future. Perhaps restaurants or galleries wouldn't be a bad idea.

(the picture was taken from Flickr)