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Published: June 29th 2011
Fresh off the bus
with Stalin's "Palace of Culture and Science" in the background.Right, where was I before my new hectic London life rudely interrupted my travel blogging? Ah yes, I was last on a flight to Warsaw. Or Warszawa as the locals call it.
I arrived in Warsaw with my sleep tank on empty, but my sense of adventure at full speed ahead. I find it exhilarating to arrive in a foreign city on my own, and I remember thinking I was quite the international man of mystery at the time; There probably wasn't a soul for miles who I had ever come into contact with in all my life! For all they knew I might as well be a professional hit man, or maybe a mega rich business tycoon on the job (though that illusion was ruined when I had to ask a stranger for some loose change to feed into a particularly anal bus ticket machine!). I'd love to blame my lack of sleep and encroaching Latvian hangover for these flights of fancy, but it seems to be a common theme when I'm travelling alone.
I got out of my bus in central Warsaw to be greeted by another of Stalin's wonderfully hideous "Birthday Cake" towers, like a behemoth
Heaven in a Hostel
Our funky 7th heaven themed room overlooking the city. I'm pretty sure Stalin was compensating for something when he plonked these things all over the place. Perhaps in defiance to this bygone era, Warsaw central seems to be quite Westernised, with McDonalds & Marks & Spencers amongst others making an appearance (Albeit it being the largest Maccas I've ever seen - it had the side of a 3 storey mall dedicated to it!).
Even though I was ready to fall into bed upon arriving at my hostel, I still had enough energy to flirt with the hostel check-in girl. I was quite impressed too - she responded to one of my hassles with a rather bad impersonation of my accent, and I replied "You're subtlety mocking my accent aren't you?", to which her immediate response was "Flight of the Conchords!". Yes, even Polish people are now watching kiwi TV. Choice!
I also have to mention the room. While any bed at this point would have seemed like heaven to me, this bed actually
was in heaven! Or at least 7th heaven, as was the theme of the room, with sky blue colouring, painted clouds, and a fluffy white chair stuck on the wall. I
chuckled to myself at the perfect absurdity of it all as I literally fell asleep for some serious power napping.
I awoke an hour later and started my own walking tour to get a feel for the place. Being the built up city that it is, it certainly lacks the charm of Gdansk or Riga. Apparently during WWII 80% of its buildings were destroyed, though you wouldn't know it by looking at it. I headed off in a completely random direction, not knowing what I would find. On my travels I passed a single fake palm tree, Nowy Swiat Road (a touristy road leading to the old part of town, with a ton of outdoor cafes which I love), and out of the corner of my eye spied a MiG-27 jet fighter plane just sitting innocently behind a fence. Curiosity got the better of me, so I investigated further and found myself at the Warsaw Military Museum. I'm glad I did too - The photos will speak for themselves, but there was an incredibly impressive array of Russian army vehicles including Migs, Helicopters, missile launchers, and at least 20 or so tanks. What an awesome find!
My lone
travels ended later on as I was once again reunited with James & Hannah, and heard all about their travels to Belarus over the previous 2 days. James reckons it was like being backstage at a Victoria Secrets photoshoot, with beautiful women running wild all over the place. I'll have to compare it to Riga someday! We ended the day with dinner at one of the restaurants on that Nowy road I'd passed earlier, and a shot of Bison Grass Vodka (or Żubrówka) at a local nightclub, which came in at a close second behind Latvian Balsam as the worst shot in existence. I flatly refused the opportunity of another big night out as we left Hannah to paint the town red for us.
The next day we managed to get to the top of Stalin's tower - the "Palace of Culture and Science" - for some 360 degree city views on the way to the old part of town. It was definitely a more scenic route than I'd taken the day before, with all the expected narrow avenues and cobblestone streets, as well as a Royal Castle to explore.
It didn't take long before Hannah's time was
up - she'd chickened out of joining us for Chernobyl, instead going for the girlier option of watching the royal wedding in London. We said our goodbyes before I continued on with James to our night-bus - Destination: Ukraine!
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Peter
non-member comment
Warsaw museum planes
Nice photos of Warsaw, but you have the planes wrong. The Mig is a Mig-29 and not 27. The Suchoi is probably a Su-23 and not Su-27.