After Berlin, we decided to visit Poland. Yay, the motherland!! For those of you who didn't know, my family is Polish on my mom's side. Dad is Irish and Italian. I've visited Italy, now I just need to find a way to get to Ireland... Family trip, please?
But actually getting to Poland was going to be a different story. Our train was scheduled to leave at 6:37 am and arrive in noon in Warsaw. Perfect timing for finding the hostel, lunch, tours, and winding down. Perfect. Awesome. We were out of the Berlin hostel by 5:45, got breakfast, and sat by the platform. The minutes ticked by, but still no train. Finally, 6:37 am... But still no train. While we were waiting, we heard an announcement about a train strike, but it sounded like it was only affecting in-country German trains. Since we were international, we thought we'd be fine. Nope! Our train was delayed 140 minutes! Yay... We could've taken a train to Frankfurt, but we would've had to wait there for 2 hours before our Warsaw train arrived there. We figured we would go and wait in the waiting room on the first floor. As soon as we reached the landing to the bottom floor, another announcement stated that our train was arriving! So we ran back upstairs with our gigantic backpacks up to the platform and saw the train arrive around the bend. Well, there was no need for us to hurry because when we took our seats, we discovered that the train wasn't leaving until after 9 am. Apparently, the strike only took place from 6-9 am (rush hour). No wonder our tickets were so cheap...
Anyway, we got to Warsaw much later than we expected. During the "strike" as well as the rest of the 6 hour ride, I slept, wrote things up for the blog, played games, and watched the Poland countryside zoom by. Once we got our bearings straight after leaving the train, it took us 20 minutes to walk to our hostel, which was right in the middle of everything! Huzzah! It was about a 10 minute walk from the Old Town, which is the historical district of Warsaw. But since we got to the city later than we wanted, thus missing any sort of tour, and not really knowing what sort of museums to go visit, we decided to take it easy for the night; no sightseeing, no crazy walks, just a night to catch up on blog posts, laundry, errands, etc. We did get dinner though and I had my first Polish dinner: PIEROGIS! I was so excited to start eating some wonderful Polish food, and the pierogis (filled with meat and cabbage) were a great first start.
We got up pretty early the next day because we had a full day of walking. First walk of the day: back to the train station to buy our tickets to Krakow for the following days. The woman did not speak any English, and this was proving to be one of the most frustrating train purchases we've encountered. Granted, we both should've learned how to say some basic phrases in each of the countries that we would be visiting. This is just a lesson learned for Thailand, and all future travels! After much back and forth making sure we had a ticket for the next day and not THAT day, we finally had our ticket.
We started towards where the free walking tour was. It was just about a straight shot back towards our hostel, so about a 30 minute walk altogether. We were supposed to take a left at the fake palm tree in Warsaw (symbolizes Jewish occupation, believe it or not) and continue up to Sygmunt's Column. Whoops... We completely forgot to turn left and started walking towards the outskirts of the city! I randomly took out the map to figure out how much longer it was to the column, and thank goodness I did! The one problem was that it was now 10:40 and the tour began at 11. We immediately turned about face, picked up the pace, and darted to the Old Town. However, as we started to make our way into the area and figuring we were going to miss the tour, our pace lessened and we began to marvel at the beautiful buildings. Such magnificent colors, amazing detail, and pure elegance. The Poles reconstructed the area beautifully after everything was pretty much bombed during the World Wars. We arrived at the column and saw that the orange umbrella that marked the free tour was still there! They had just started, and it was 11:15. Corinne and I jumped right on in. Like mentioned before, the majority of the Old Town was destroyed by Nazi occupation and both World Wars, but the history is still well alive! The best part of the tour? Our guide brought us to a little bar where he told us about the beginnings of vodka, which supposedly was created in Poland, not Russia. He told us funny stories, how to properly drink vodka, and how a Polish wedding is the best kind of wedding. He taught us the British equivalent to "Cheers!" which is "Na zdrowia!" He then proceeded to offer us half a shot of vodka followed by a piece of bread topped with gravy and a pickle! Needless to say, that was a great moment.
We ended our tour by the Sygmunt Column and started to wander south of town to Łazienki Park. Corinne had found that there were free classical piano concerts right next to the Chopin Monument every Sunday. So we purchased some cheese, crackers, and salami, laid out on a blanket, and waited with anticipation to hear some of Chopin's music.
This, without a doubt, has been one of the greatest moments of this trip. The sun was brightly shining, the beautiful park that surrounded us was alive with fellow audience members, and the Chopin statue reflected in the pool before it. The park was mainly completely silent as the 18-year-old magically performed some of Chopin's music. It was a magnificent hour that I will always remember. There's something remarkable about music that connects us all. Whether it's a poetic story (like Billy Joel), with a beat (looking at you Nicki Minaj), or something completely up to interpretation (like classical), music influences us and moves us in numerous ways. Some of the most memorable moments in my life involve music, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
The sun was starting to set and we found ourselves walking back toward the Old City. The area really came to life at night! Street performers aligned the sidewalks, painters caught the sunset's reflection off of the building, and children played in the fountains. With the sky a magnificent baby pink, we found a restaurant where I had goulash! Finally! But what made the dinner complete was dessert: a towering ice cream cone that was popular amongst locals and tourists. The night wasn't complete without a beer with a new friend from our hostel, who taught English in Moscow and was now traveling. Warsaw treated us well.
Everyone said Warsaw is an awful, dirty, disgusting, and expensive city. I found it to be the complete opposite. Our last night ended with a bright full moon, violin and guitar players, fire dancers, and great laughs. People say that Kraków is the better city, and you'll have to stay tuned for the next post to see if that's true :)
But actually getting to Poland was going to be a different story. Our train was scheduled to leave at 6:37 am and arrive in noon in Warsaw. Perfect timing for finding the hostel, lunch, tours, and winding down. Perfect. Awesome. We were out of the Berlin hostel by 5:45, got breakfast, and sat by the platform. The minutes ticked by, but still no train. Finally, 6:37 am... But still no train. While we were waiting, we heard an announcement about a train strike, but it sounded like it was only affecting in-country German trains. Since we were international, we thought we'd be fine. Nope! Our train was delayed 140 minutes! Yay... We could've taken a train to Frankfurt, but we would've had to wait there for 2 hours before our Warsaw train arrived there. We figured we would go and wait in the waiting room on the first floor. As soon as we reached the landing to the bottom floor, another announcement stated that our train was arriving! So we ran back upstairs with our gigantic backpacks up to the platform and saw the train arrive around the bend. Well, there was no need for us to hurry because when we took our seats, we discovered that the train wasn't leaving until after 9 am. Apparently, the strike only took place from 6-9 am (rush hour). No wonder our tickets were so cheap...
Anyway, we got to Warsaw much later than we expected. During the "strike" as well as the rest of the 6 hour ride, I slept, wrote things up for the blog, played games, and watched the Poland countryside zoom by. Once we got our bearings straight after leaving the train, it took us 20 minutes to walk to our hostel, which was right in the middle of everything! Huzzah! It was about a 10 minute walk from the Old Town, which is the historical district of Warsaw. But since we got to the city later than we wanted, thus missing any sort of tour, and not really knowing what sort of museums to go visit, we decided to take it easy for the night; no sightseeing, no crazy walks, just a night to catch up on blog posts, laundry, errands, etc. We did get dinner though and I had my first Polish dinner: PIEROGIS! I was so excited to start eating some wonderful Polish food, and the pierogis (filled with meat and cabbage) were a great first start.
We got up pretty early the next day because we had a full day of walking. First walk of the day: back to the train station to buy our tickets to Krakow for the following days. The woman did not speak any English, and this was proving to be one of the most frustrating train purchases we've encountered. Granted, we both should've learned how to say some basic phrases in each of the countries that we would be visiting. This is just a lesson learned for Thailand, and all future travels! After much back and forth making sure we had a ticket for the next day and not THAT day, we finally had our ticket.
We started towards where the free walking tour was. It was just about a straight shot back towards our hostel, so about a 30 minute walk altogether. We were supposed to take a left at the fake palm tree in Warsaw (symbolizes Jewish occupation, believe it or not) and continue up to Sygmunt's Column. Whoops... We completely forgot to turn left and started walking towards the outskirts of the city! I randomly took out the map to figure out how much longer it was to the column, and thank goodness I did! The one problem was that it was now 10:40 and the tour began at 11. We immediately turned about face, picked up the pace, and darted to the Old Town. However, as we started to make our way into the area and figuring we were going to miss the tour, our pace lessened and we began to marvel at the beautiful buildings. Such magnificent colors, amazing detail, and pure elegance. The Poles reconstructed the area beautifully after everything was pretty much bombed during the World Wars. We arrived at the column and saw that the orange umbrella that marked the free tour was still there! They had just started, and it was 11:15. Corinne and I jumped right on in. Like mentioned before, the majority of the Old Town was destroyed by Nazi occupation and both World Wars, but the history is still well alive! The best part of the tour? Our guide brought us to a little bar where he told us about the beginnings of vodka, which supposedly was created in Poland, not Russia. He told us funny stories, how to properly drink vodka, and how a Polish wedding is the best kind of wedding. He taught us the British equivalent to "Cheers!" which is "Na zdrowia!" He then proceeded to offer us half a shot of vodka followed by a piece of bread topped with gravy and a pickle! Needless to say, that was a great moment.
We ended our tour by the Sygmunt Column and started to wander south of town to Łazienki Park. Corinne had found that there were free classical piano concerts right next to the Chopin Monument every Sunday. So we purchased some cheese, crackers, and salami, laid out on a blanket, and waited with anticipation to hear some of Chopin's music.
This, without a doubt, has been one of the greatest moments of this trip. The sun was brightly shining, the beautiful park that surrounded us was alive with fellow audience members, and the Chopin statue reflected in the pool before it. The park was mainly completely silent as the 18-year-old magically performed some of Chopin's music. It was a magnificent hour that I will always remember. There's something remarkable about music that connects us all. Whether it's a poetic story (like Billy Joel), with a beat (looking at you Nicki Minaj), or something completely up to interpretation (like classical), music influences us and moves us in numerous ways. Some of the most memorable moments in my life involve music, and I wouldn't have it any other way.
The sun was starting to set and we found ourselves walking back toward the Old City. The area really came to life at night! Street performers aligned the sidewalks, painters caught the sunset's reflection off of the building, and children played in the fountains. With the sky a magnificent baby pink, we found a restaurant where I had goulash! Finally! But what made the dinner complete was dessert: a towering ice cream cone that was popular amongst locals and tourists. The night wasn't complete without a beer with a new friend from our hostel, who taught English in Moscow and was now traveling. Warsaw treated us well.
Everyone said Warsaw is an awful, dirty, disgusting, and expensive city. I found it to be the complete opposite. Our last night ended with a bright full moon, violin and guitar players, fire dancers, and great laughs. People say that Kraków is the better city, and you'll have to stay tuned for the next post to see if that's true :)