Warsaw - Day 1

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Well... i was right about one thing... it was the bus ride from hell. Russians yelling, bus had more stops then a datsun with unleaded in it, crappy seats and no sleep. Arriving in Warsaw at the friendly time of about 5.15am. No money (atms did not like my card for some reason, deutesch bank must be after that money from 2004 still), no ones speaks english and I seem to lose the ability to navigate through the night. But its April fools days so here goes nothing.

Catch a train to the centre of Warsaw and walk for 20 mins to the hostel which is open 24hrs a day except the one hour that we happen to arrive. So decided to eat a few snacks just outside and wait for something to happen. Eventually they open up, we ditch the bags and head off on our walking tour towards the old town.

Warsaw was completely destory in world war II due to the Warsaw uprising in Aug to Sept 1944. The soviets and the allies both did not provided adequate support and subsequently the uprising was crushed after two months. Hitler gave the order to literally level the city and the silly soviets just sat on the far bank of the river and watched. Nothing was left.

So everything in Warsaw has practically been built since 1945. The old town has several nice areas and I spent most of the day enjoying the sun shine (it was the first time I had not needed to wear a jacket in months).

Remembering in was April fools day I decide to play a trick on the dear old family at home and basically hinted in several texts messages that I may have lost my passport and a few credit cards and asked what should I do? Even had my dutch friend ring up and pretend he was the Australian embassy in Warsaw. Well it was quite funny from my point of view - my mother still disagrees and I believe has acquired a dumpster to which she is discarding all my possessions. Lucky Dad and Kym have a sense of humour. (I have never heard my mother swear so much in my life!) My phone battery went dead before she could finish lecturing me.

After the whole walk around headed back to the hostel for a shower and to rid myself of the smell which i believe was me. Meet some actors and I got taught a card game called "shit head". And the rules are as follows;

1 - 3 cards are dealt face down to each player
2 - 6 cards are dealt to each player, from which they select 3 cards to place face up on the 3 cards in point 1.
3 - the object of the game is to get rid of your cards by placing them on the pile, however you must place a higher card down or you pick up the entire pile.
4 - The are special cards in the decks eg: 2 restarts and can be placed on anything. 3 is an invisible card and can be placed on anything, 7 means the next card played must be lower and can be played at anytime, 8 is skip the next person but must be played in order, 10 clears the pile.
5 - You can play any number of the same card at the same time.
6- Four of the same card clears the pile

Last one out is shithead and has to wear a pot on their heads - photos to be uploaded soon.

Had a few drinks in a pub down the road and called it a night.

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