WARSAW February 8, 2007

(Morning)

It seems ages ago since we left Riga, but it was only yesterday morning! We took a last trip down to the market to get some felt innersoles (45 cents a pair!) to try them out in my walking boots back home. It was snowing gently and very cold. I took off my gloves at one stage to take a photo and my fingers never really recovered.

We checked out at noon and had a good ride out to the airport. It is a tidy little place and everything went well, although of course we were very early. I tried to change my Lats to Zloty but the exchange could only give me about Z280 (about A$126). We had a few coins left which bought us a coffee each.

I knew the plane was going to be a small one and we went out to it by bus. I don’t recall the make, but it was one I’d never heard of. Not much room but a comfortable flight and a very nice hostie. A clever little marketing point was that the top of the lunch box was a detachable postcard.

The luggage flew off the plane and as we got to the baggage collection point, it was there. (SwissAir in Zurich has been the only other airline to have achieved this for us – in Zurich) As we walked out of the airport building a bloke asked us if we were looking for a taxi. Lord only knows why we said “Yes.”, but he said he could take us into town. We started walking with him but when it became apparent that we weren’t heading for the taxi rank, we turned tail. (Rab's version of this foolishness is marginally different. In her version, her husband was the mug and it was only her perspicacity that saved us from a fate worse than death.) The local guide books warn strongly against these blokes.

The view from our room

Stalin's Gift

 We caught a Mercedes taxi at the rank and had a very comfortable and reasonably priced ride – Z25 (about A$10) to the hotel, which is terrific. We did push the boat out a little on this one but are paying 50% of the rack rate of €240 (about A$400!). the hotel was originally built in 1913, managed to avoid being damaged during the war and was refurbished a couple of years back. High ceilings and marble everywhere. Our room faces one of the main squares where the Science Palace stands – a gift from Stalin, it has 40 million bricks and more than 3,000 rooms and towers over everything else. We were going to go up to the viewing platform today, but it is snowing this morning so we’ll give it a miss. Apparently it snowed yesterday morning too, but was quite warm (+2°C) when we got here so it had all melted on the ground leaving a surprising number of dirty puddles.

I had been receiving SMS messages all day from pals all over the place and when we went around to the Internet café last evening there was a lot of e-mail those who hadn’t SMSed. Steve and Judy also gave me a ring at the hotel, although they had a bit of difficulty in getting through.

Happy Birthday indeed!

We picked out what sounded like a good Polish place to celebrate and for our first meal in Poland – Folk Gospoda. We had to catch a taxi over there – everyone and all the guide books are adamant that only recognised taxi companies should be used and strongly recommend that they should be booked by phone! Anyway, the concierge got us our taxi here and he dropped us off at the restaurant at about 19h15. It was full of happy customers, many of whom seemed to have been there since Happy Hour some hours earlier. We were fascinated to see tables sharing s 5litre “tower” of beer – a glass  cylinder with a tap at the bottom. The manager said they were fully booked but could squeeze us in if we could eat within an hour.

We agreed to this and had a wonderful meal, albeit it one that would have the medicos in a froth – bread and delicious dripping and two excellent main courses with potato, dumpling and sauerkraut plus some excellent beer and all for about A$35! We duly phoned for a taxi and while we waited in the street for it to turn up were approached by two other taxis claiming to have been called by us – but they didn’t know the magic word – my name.

(Evening)

I had a bit of a disturbed last night as Rab started on a cold (presumably caught from the couple who sat behind us on the bus and sniffed and snorted for five and a half hours, never having heard of a handkerchief or tissues, apparently). Anyway, she was barking a bit, plus the duvet supplied by the hotel too small so every now and then one of us would lose coverage and get chilled. That’s been resolved for tonight as we got another duvet from housekeeping. So Rab slept in quite late – about 07h40 and  when we opened the curtains it was snowing! Not too hard, but steadily. And gradually everything was turning white – just what we wanted. The snow continued throughout the day which made for terrific vistas everywhere.

The whitened square

 The breakfast was a wonderful surprise. Even thought the hotel brochure said there were over 200 items, seeing was believing. There was everything anyone could ever want. I settled for some excellent fresh fruit  - watermelon, melon, pineapple and mandarin -  which Rab also had, plus a couple of kiwi fruit that I had overlooked. She had cereal (add your own nuts, raisins etc to a basic muesli) with yoghurt while I had a bit of the cold smoked fish and cheese with very good rye bread. I followed that with a bit of Polish sausage, bacon and scrambled egg while Rab had a small sample of the excellent and very wide selection of cheeses.  What will we have tomorrow?

Breakfast done, our friendly doorman ordered a cab and we set of trough the falling snow to the Uprising Museum. Oh! Before I forget, we were fascinated by the woman at the next table at breakfast. She looked Japanese but spoke good English. On her fruit plate she had a croissant, some lettuce and tomato, grilled mushrooms and a selection of fruit. Once that was gone she went off for seconds and this time she had a piece of cake, some dim sims, a couple of chicken wings, a pancake, a bit more fruit and some cheese – an interesting selection indeed.

Anyway, back to the museum. We trudged through the snow to the office to buy our tickets (Z20 each – A$9) and then back to the snow to the entrance. We handed in our coats – the admission price included this service – and picked up an English spoken electronic device each for Z5. the museum was very well done and gave us an excellent view of what must have been an awful time for the people of Warsaw while their city was demolished. There were some outstanding newsreels shot during the Uprising which really got you right into the action. A truly moving experience.

Excellent ice cream - with fresh fruit

We collected our coats and called a cab and waited on the pavement outside for it. The snow was still falling although it wasn’t really cold like Riga on Tuesday or Wednesday (That’s yesterday!! Seems like last week!) we got the driver to take us to Arkadia – the biggest shopping mall in these parts which Rab enjoyed looking around. We had some delicious local food at the food court - ironically the biggest queues were at McDonalds and KFC -  and some really excellent ice cream, made with real fruit.

Back to the hotel for a rest and then on to an evening meal at the Strauss Restaurant (casual) at the hotel – Rab had spaghetti a la olio and I had an excellent local soup with white sausage.