drivers throughout the day . But it 's the older Warsaw -- faithfully restored and full of churches , palaces and parks -- that seems to attract the most visitors . See more photos of Warsaw 's places and people '' To get a feel for the city that was known as the Paris of Eastern Europe before World War II , stroll down Nowy Świat Street , lined with restaurants , cafes , bookstores and small shops . It 's part of what 's known as Warsaw 's Królewski Trakt , or Royal Route . On a recent visit , the music of Frederic Chopin wafted down from an open window of one of the elegant apartments occupying the upper floors . The street is also home to a sweet Warsaw tradition . Blikle , one of the city 's best-known confectioners , has been serving up cakes and pastries since 1869 . It 's probably most famous for perfecting the Polish version of the donut : Fist-sized balls of sweet , fragrant yeast dough fried until they 're golden-brown and covered with icing . But it 's what 's inside that gives them their unique taste : A
WARSAW , Poland -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- In Poland , it 's polite to bring flowers when you visit someone 's home , so there 's a flower shop on virtually every street corner in Warsaw . Crowds flock to Rynek Starego Miasta , Warsaw 's Old Town Market Place . But the city is now realizing flower power on a bigger scale . There are buds and blooms adding color all over the capital , from the quaint Old Town to the bustling city center to the massive concrete apartment blocks left over from the communist era . It 's Warsaw in bloom , in many ways : A city thriving , growing and blossoming six decades after much of it was destroyed during World War II and almost 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union brought many radical economic and social changes . Modern Warsaw is a mix of shiny new skyscrapers , tree-lined boulevards , ornate prewar buildings and somber concrete communist relics . Hamburger joints and pizzerias compete for customers with restaurants offering traditional Polish fare like pierogi . Expensive new cars share the road with crowded buses and trams . Traffic jams frustrate