Warsaw - Warsaw, Poland

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Warsaw, Poland

The breakfast at the hotel this morning was fantastic! The hotel had a massive spread and everything was very tasty. We even got bacon! After breakfast we got onto the bus, and toured the city with our local guide Jacek. Jacek was an older man and an amazing tour guide. We were driven around the city, and our first stop was the Chopin monument. We walked into some beautiful gardens and then stopped for a bunch of photos with the monument. When we walked out we went past a demonstration of the Warsaw nurses. Apparently the nurses in Warsaw were on strike and they were camped in tents all along the road. There were also a bunch of policemen there... and are the Polish police ever handsome!
 
The next stop on the agenda was the Warsaw Ghetto monument. After reading Mila 18 last fall I was looking forward to coming to Warsaw and seeing the Ghetto. (By the way, Mila 18 is an amazing novel about life in the Warsaw Ghetto during WWII written by Leon Uris.) Since the war everything has been re-built, and you don't see many reminders of what happened there less than a century earlier. I took a look at the monument and then wandered off in the park behind by myself. I wanted some alone time to contemplate what had gone on during the war, and the ten-minute walk I had in the park by myself was exactly what I was looking for. After the Ghetto we saw the Warsaw Uprising monument. The Warsaw Uprising began on August 1, 1944 as part of a nationwide rebellion with the objective to drive the German occupiers from Warsaw. During the urban combat approximately 25% of Warsaw's buildings were destroyed. The uprising lasted for 63 days, and following the surrender of Polish forces on October 2, German troops systematically burned the city, block by block. Together with earlier damage suffered in 1939 and during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising over 85% of the city had been destroyed. Even now, all over Warsaw, you can see a symbol that looks like an anchor with a handle at the Top.  The anchor combines the letters "P" and "W" which are the initials of Polska Walczacd, or Poland Fights.

After the ghetto, we were brought to the Old Town. Jacek brought us through the streets and to a church and then finished our city tour at St. Anne's church where we would meet later for the Chopin recital. Then was had free time, and the first thing we wanted to do was eat! Che had talked about a Polish delicacy that none of the Aussies had heard of... perogies!! I couldn't believe these people had never eaten a perogi before! But even some of the Americans hadn't ever had one. I was shocked! Kristy and I wanted to eat in the Old Market Square, and everyone else was just standing around and fiddling their thumbs. Finally we started walking away and I yelled out that we were going to the Old Market Square for lunch. Everyone turned and followed us, and Kristy and I laughed at how all they needed was someone to decide something! We made it back to the Square, looked around and found a place where all of us could sit together... and a place that had perogies. Laura and I had talked these up, so everyone had to try some... and they sucked! I think the place was a fancy place, because the perogi choices were Partridge or Sauerkraut and Mushrooms. And they weren't even as good as the perogies I make! And I'm not a good cook! Laura and I tried to explain to everyone that these were not as good as normal perogies, but I don't think anyone cared!
 
After lunch we wandered around and shopped at some of the stores near the Old Market Square. Unfortunately it was a Monday, and all the museums were closed for the day, so there wasn't much to do other than shop and wander, which we did! Then we wandered towards St. Anna's Cathedral. Kristy and I were planning on going to see the castle nearby, but somehow had spent too much time shopping, so we just went to St. Anna's and climbed to the top of the cathedral. It was a long way up, but we all made it, and were rewarded with some fantastic photos! Then we headed back down, and had a little bit of time to wander through the markets.

 Then it was time to meet up for our Chopin recital. We got onto the bus and were brought to a beautiful palace. We sat down and got to listen to Chopin being performed just for us! It was very relaxing... although considering I was pretty tired I don't think I really needed to be relaxed! At intermission we had some champagne and then listened to the last half of the recital. After the recital we went outside and were able to look at the grounds and the peacocks before wandering back to the bus.

We were bussed back to the old town, where most people headed back to the hotel. Donna had told Laura and Tammy (who didn't go to the recital) that she would meet them at the bus drop off, but since we were half an hour early they weren't there yet. Kristy and I had decided to stay in town, so we sat beside St. Anna's and waited with Donna. Around 6:00 Laura and Tammy showed up. Donna had wanted to head back to the hotel, but none of the rest of us did, so she left to catch a bus and the rest of us wandered back to the Old Square. Laura and I walked past a Perogeria and were both intrigued. Tammy wanted to find a new pair of flip-flops, and Kristy wanted to shop, so the four of us split into two groups. Laura and I checked out a couple restaurants around the area, and then ended up walked back to the Perogeria, where we had some amazing perogies! They had a huge assortment of different kinds of perogies, and you could choose a mixed plate, which is what we each had. I chose cottage cheese, meat, spinach, and potato and cheese, and Laura substituted the cottage cheese for mushroom and sauerkraut. The food was amazing! And even though neither of us was hungry when we walked in, we both polished off our plates.

After we finished we walked back to the bus stop and caught a bus back to the hotel. Initially we were supposed to meet everyone at the hotel lobby at 8:00 or the swinging bench bar at 8:30, but it was already 8:10 and there was no way Laura and I were going to make it to the benches (a 10 minute walk) in time! Luckily we ran into Donna and some other people on the way, and told them we'd be there at 9:00. We asked Donna if Tammy and Kristy were back yet, assuming we were the last, but they hadn't been seen. We quickly walked the rest of the way to the hotel, and checked Tammy and Kristy's room, but there was no sign of them. We each headed off to get ready, and shortly after Tammy knocked saying they had just gotten back and would be ready to leave at 9:00, but had run into some other people heading to the benches and told them we'd meet them by 9:30... only an hour late! In the mean time I was actually almost ready, so I did some laundry and re-packed my bag, and also attempted to look nice for the night. Shortly before 9:00 I headed to the lobby and ran into Reky who had been waiting for about half an hour. Apparently he had mixed up the message and thought it was 8:30 at the lobby and was slightly irritated thinking everyone had ditched him! The rest of us made it down, and we headed to the bar, arriving around 9:15. Once there we took a couple photos, and met Kosta, who was on the Eastern Road tour that was in Warsaw the night. Kosta had actually been on the Scandinavia tour, and had hung out with Ryan, Nicole, Steph, etc. Che had been sitting with the Eastern Road tour (in the same bar), and came over to say they were heading to a bar he knew about if we wanted to join... although there was no guarantee that we would be able to get in with so many people. Even though his invite was appealing (note sarcasm), after the Propaganda incident, and considering we only had a couple days left together, we decided to hit a bar Kristy had found in a tour book.

We ended up going to a bar called Folksal, which was on Folksal street... cunning, isn't it?!? On the way over to the bar several people really had to use the washroom, as we hadn't gone at the last place since it wanted to charge for the use of the facilities. Tom in particular had to go, so when we got in he made a beeline for the basement and the toilets. Ryan was right behind him, followed by Donna, and myself and we watched Tom take a quick left and enter a washroom, followed by Ryan. Then Donna and I walked up and saw the sign that said "ladies". We both followed Tom in, and Donna pulled on a door handle. The door opened... and Donna got to see Tom... mid-stream! Donna was not impressed as she didn't enjoy the view, and there were only two stalls in the ladies room, both of which were being used by men! Finally the guys finished and I got a nice photo of the guys and I in the ladies room! I actually hadn't needed to go to the toilet, but instead, I needed a sink because I got dirt or something under my contact lens. This had happened just outside the bar, and was mildly comical as several people thought I was crying (my eye was watering quite badly), and I lost the lens and had it in my hand and was subsequently having vision issues! Lucky for me Tammy had eye drops with her, and within about ten minutes I was able to see correctly again. At Folksal we enjoyed some drinks and enjoyed the evening. They even had mock-tails for Reky to enjoy! (Yhea Tammy for being one of the most thoughtful people in the world!)

After a while the group decided it was time to head to the next bar. We got to the exit, and saw that it was raining, but Kristy ensured us that the bar was just around the corner. We all dashed outside, down the street and around the corner, then hid in an archway while the navigators tried to figure out where the bar was. Then we dashed from archway to archway, down the street, losing Tom in the process. Rhian and I ended up an archway behind everyone, and then with Kosta, Nicole and Steph. The five of us dashed around the corner of the street we'd seen everyone head down only a minute earlier, but there was no one in sight! We figured they were in an archway ahead, so we slowly kept dashing down the street. Eventually we lost Kosta, Nicole and Steph, as they had more energy than we did (I'd given up on 'dashing' arches ago and was limiting myself to a quick walk). After about 15 minutes going down the block Rhian and I figured we would never find the rest of the crew. We didn't know the name of the bar we were trying to find, and it had started pouring rain, so we attempted to get a cab back to the hotel. Oddly enough, earlier when we didn't need a cab they kept stopping for us, but now that we wanted one, none would stop! Finally we got one and headed back to the hotel looking like two drowned rats! The next day we found out that the bar everyone had gone to was just around that first corner, through a courtyard and in a basement, with no sign. So no wonder we didn't find it!!  As well, everyone assumed we'd taken a cab back to the hotel, so no one looked for us. Apparently the bar was a good time, although the owners were strict about not taking photos and Jenn's camera was dropped and assumed broken for some of the night.