Vilnius-Warsawa train and or update - no pix

---

Poland - train to Warsawa - MONDAY 7 Sept.09

sitting on a Polish train which is roaring along at a decent clip as we move towards Warsawa where I will spend 2 nights in the rapidly collapsing remaining days. Its going on 7pm - and as we have moved into Poland the clocks have gone back an hour - which explains the rather long journey - we left Vilnius at high noon - will take 9 ½ hours and end at 8.30pm. Which of course means it will be dark when we arrive - and I (may) have that problem of arriving like in Vilnius and having difficulty in finding a hotel ata reasonable price - lets hope not and that like most of real Europe - or the one I am mostly familiar with (but this is Eastern Europe said the woman at the hotel in Vilnius warning me about the perils of late night walking)- you just leave the station and there are cheap hotels for the asking - along with more expensive options of course. The LP however (the cheapo Poland chapter from its simplified and curtailed eastern Europe section) does not exactly say this is so we will see what we shall see.

What of Vilnius? - well I awoke with a start at 9.45am this morning after not that good a night's sleep - rubbish bins seemed to wake me ard 6 or so - and thought - jeepers, better get down to breakfast or there won't be any. There was no else down there - other than the woman who offered me my choices of eggs - omelette this morning madame. I had hoped to go to the station first, to assure the ticket - had though of doing this last night, but it was a bit late to do so. Then a dash down to the Museum of Applied Sciences to pick up the Art of the Balts mini-catalogue which I missed out on getting on Sat. when I viewed it - but decided this was crazy as just did not have the time. So I uploaded the blog and some pix I meant to do last night.

And dinner last night? (AA Milne disguise adopted). It was Sunday so limited places open. There were 2 places of interest in one street - Lokys (the bear - it has a big carved wooden one outside) with the choice of Lithuanian cuisine on my last night here - which went to game and stuff - like bear supposedly and beaver stew etc! - it was actually quite expensive - the In Your Pocket guide gave it plus marks for authentic descriptions of the food but not so great on the execution. So decided on the LP hot pick - Bistro 18 just along the street, even though it was European bistro rather than national cuisine. Decided on those long lslender yellow chanterelle mushrooms sauted with bacon and cream. Some of the mushrooms were a little chewy but that was OK - I found the sauce a little heavy with them and did not really get the delicate flavour of them unfortunately which was what I was looking for, but served with some roasted potatoes. To give you an idea there was also a prosciutto and pea risotto in small and large sizes which might also have been nice. The the continuing duck contest - duck breast cooked 'rose' with sauted vegetables and crushed potatoes - a little nest scattered with parsley. This was not as good as the one I had in Riga which won out - grilled veges were nicer there and these veges lacked pizazz and were just saute veges. A glass of Alsace riesling to start - a small glass of a Spanish red - it was the end of the bottle so she gave it to me for free. No sweet dessert whites which surprised me given the place's aspirations - and other wine selections by the glass - I sampled a French pinot gris which she said was as close as - so agreed to that. No coffee - are you mad? meal cost with tip just over $55 AUD. I still half fell asleep - must have been the wee Chivas Regal I had before I went out!

Back to a.m. time - I was panicking a bit about getting to the station and getting ticket etc - so got the hotel to call me a taxi (her estimate 20Lt which was a bit scary! - no idea I would suggest). He was there promptly - only turned the meter on when I prompted - then I think turned it off. I do not think it was a 10Lt ($5) fare - its not that far - but was grateful to get there in plenty of time to buy the ticket and get some food and water for the train. It was hardly a major thing - the simple (unreserved and pretty empty) 3 carriage Lithuanian train goes to the border town of Sestokai and you just cross the small platform and hop on the Polish one - which only had 3 carriages (but reserved cars/seats) - but it stopped an hour or so later and I could see by leaning out the window that we had added another 4 carriages I think.

The bloke sitting behind me on the Lithuanian train - who I thought was Russian when he spoke to me in English - instead proved to be Italian. As I claimed a little Italian he then regaled (mostly In Italian) me in a long and convoluted story about his amateur history bent which seemed to involve the Order of St John and the Catholic Church and history since the 16th century etc etc etc - maybe he thought he was the new Dan Brown or whatever and was writing a Da Vince Code type expose. Whatever it was very hard work for me concentrating on the Italian flow of his explanation when I would frankly rather have been having a bit of a nap!

Tues. 8 Sept. Warsawa - Hotel Ibis

just about to check out of here at noonish. With the abovementioned Luigi struck out together in search of a hotel - the international hotel language is Englis, and altho he spoke English it was nowhere as good as mine and I would have to try and explain in italiano (a bit Abbot and Costello really). In downtown Warsawa down the main avenue nr Central station where we arrived all the big brand name hotels - and no apparent side streets with hotels in them. Big brand name prices too - more than 500Zl ( div. by 2.4=AUD) for the likes of Marriott and Novotel. So I asked a couple of waiters in restaurants - got vague directions from one and from another to a “reasonable” hotel that was also 500+ (not the 200Zl she thought). So asked an English speaking taxi driver - (had earlier been told some sort of Airbus conference on in town so everything full). He said the hotel Ibis was cheaper - ard 200Zl - 4kms away and close to old town/city - so he took us there - and very generously charged us 40Zl for the privilege! (at least it was almost worth the fee for “services”- mind you it was a very nice S600 V12 Benz limo taxi!) So this cost us each 289Zl + breakfast for 29Zl - so we had a whisky together and agreed to rendezvous for b'fast at 8am. Some day! - long train trip, just as well I had something to eat from Vilnius on the train as by the time we got to hotel it was 10pm and nothing doing then! Have used the phone in the room to ring a few places - and am finally going to the Oki Doki (yes, thats the name) hostel for a twin room, shared bathroom for 170Zl, which is more than the 145Zl quoted in the LP - but at least somewhere closer to Central Station for train to Berlin.

The net in Poland is nowhere as progressive as other countries I have been - however oki Doki is indeed OK and has free wee fee - not to mention 3 free computers - so this is wee fee'd to youse.

this is very late at Okee Dokee - so no pix this time

---

Comments

[Beer budget]

get it right
AA Gill not Winnie the Pooh - he only eats honey

[mr mink]

get it right! - AA Gill (not Milne)
there I was posing like a real food writer and I have been using the wrong nom-de-plume! - must have that AA Milne honey on the brain - thanks to Barbara who put me off in that direction in the first place.