There is a super shopping centre slap bang in the middle of Warsaw, beside the main train station (Warszawa Centralna) and close to the Palace of Culture and Science.

It's called Golden Terraces (Zlote Tarasy) and is huge (more than 200,000 square metres) with a bubbly domed roof. There you'll find Levi, Reebok and Nike, the usual suspects, and some very familiar faces to visitors from the UK: Marks and Spencer, Next, Wallis... You could be anywhere quite frankly - Kent, Kildare or Faro.

In fact, the only traditional shop was E. Wedel's cafe and chocolate shop. I say "traditional". Wedel was a state-owned chocolate maker, which is now half-owned by Cadbury, but it has a local resonance.

The souvenir to pick up there is a large, round, chocolate-covered praline wafer (Torcik Wedlowski) that you cut like a cake. It comes in a round white box with a navy-blue ribbon.

But if you really want to get the pulse of the city, go underground, through the tunnels that connect the many street crossings. There, in the warm and sometimes heavy air, you'll be bumped and jostled by Varsovians on their way to and from work. You can buy anything underground or so it seems: shoes, clothes, jewellery, coffee, magazines and newspapers, kebabs and burgers, beer, chocolates and giant heart-shaped lollipops – and there are several little units that sell the most delicious Polish pastries. The best doughnuts in the world are here.

Pączki are round and filled (traditionally) with a marmalade made from fried rose buds, covered with icing and topped with orange zest. They cost about one zloty each and are baked fresh in the tiny shops.

It's easy to get lost underground if you don't know exactly where you are going. A word of warning for mums with buggies. You will find it very difficult to get up and down the steps on your own, but the black-clad security officers and very friendly locals are happy to help.