Warsaw

We decided last night that we would travel to Warsaw. I used my early morning time to decide how to get there and where to stay.

There are many trains leaving for Warsaw throughout the day. Time varies by the type of train and if it a direct to Warsaw route or one that has stops. It took some time but I was able to book the train and a hotel in Moscow. There are 3 stations in Warsaw and we are getting off at the Central Station. The hotel is within walking distance of the station. The train is direct and it is a high speed train that travels at a top speed of 200mph.

We packed our backpacks with enough for a few days. The train station in Krakow was about a mile walk from our apartment. It is next to a very large shopping mall. The Galeria Krakowska. We left a few hours early to check out the mall and have lunch. The mall was huge. 3 floors of thriving businesses. It reminded me of Lakeside or Fairlane back in the 70s. We do not have malls like this anymore. Anyone know why? We found a nice place to have some lunch. Delicious.

We found the platform and track and the train just pulled up. We were about an hour early and staff was busy on the train cleaning and no passengers were allowed in. I thought boarding might begin 30 mins before. No such luck. The train doors opened 10 minutes before the train left. We went to our car, found our seats, sat down and the train was off. To compare it to air travel isn’t fair but I will do it anyway. We didn’t stand and line and show id. No clothes had to come off. Nothing was scanned. There was no gate to wait at. When we got on the plane there was no safety demonstration. No seat belt. No slide to get off the plane. No scraping the knees against the seat in front to you. No one in front of you moving the seat back so the coffee on your tray table ended up in your lap. This is the way to travel. 2.5 hours to Warsaw.

We rolled into Warsaw right on time. We grabbed our backpacks and walked to the hotel that was less than 1 mile away. Check in was easy, we put our bags in our room and went to explore Warsaw.

Anyone see this as a relic of communism?

We walked to the old section of Warsaw. The “old” section was completely destroyed in WWII and was rebuilt using foundations, old brick and drawings and paintings of the buildings to guide the reconstruction. We started a walking tour and then found a nice little restaurant to have dinner in. I have been trying to have pierogi every day. Today I had pierogi filled with cottage cheese and buckwheat. Wow. I have only had buckwheat flour in my pancakes back home. I have never tasted the seeds that the flour is made from. Spectacular! I also had a beer that had fruit in it. Grapes, pineapple, and other goodies. The beer also came with a straw.

We passed some charity on the way back from the old town that was distributing hot meals and Terri took a few photos.