Warsaw

June 3, 2017

For Cindy’s Birthday Week, she usually selects a city in the USA for us to visit and play. Given that we ended the cruise in Iceland and would already be halfway across The Pond, she chose Poland since neither of us had ever been there. We spent two days in Warsaw and three in Krakow and we had a fantastic time.  These are very different cities in many ways but each had something very special to offer.

Warsaw was destroyed in WWII and therefore relatively new in terms of buildings. Lots of high-rise apartment buildings and offices, wide avenues and lots of rush hour traffic, mostly on foot, in the morning and evening. We were staying at a modern Marriott directly across the street from the central train station and could observe the comings and goings of the ‘working class,’ mostly young professionals jumping on trams or buses or just walking to work. We tried to buy train tickets for our trip to Warsaw but there were enormous lines of people lined up at the counters. It seems there was a three-day weekend and everyone was getting out of town.

Upon arrival we did what we always do: Walk and walk to get a feel for the area while keeping an eye open for good restaurant choices.  We had been given a recommendation of a spot close to the hotel that specialized in genuine Polish cuisine and after several hours of walking it was getting on to eight o’clock and we were fortunate to find a table for two in this restaurant. After about fifteen minutes someone came and took our drink order, returning with the wines ten minutes after that. We were seated right next to the bar so it wasn’t so much a matter of distance as it was being understaffed. When the young girl came to take our order she informed us that it would take perhaps another forty minutes since they were very busy. We demurred, paid for our wines and decided to go elsewhere. There was a couple next to us from Britain and they said they had waited forty minutes for appetizers and were now told they would wait another forty for dinner.  Not the best start to experimenting with Polish cuisine.

It was now after nine and we were quite tired and in no mood for more walking so we headed back to the hotel and ended up having a marvelous little meal with fantastic wine at the Italian restaurant on the second floor of the hotel. What made the meal even more delightful was our waiter, who was a native "Varsovian" who provided us with all kinds of information on the city, the history of the city, and suggestions for us for the next day. Having salvaged the evening we happily hit the hay and slept very well indeed.

The next morning Cindy ran around this marvelous building called the Palace of Culture and Science that Stalin build as a gift to the people of Warsaw in 1955. It is an exact copy of buildings in Moscow that are called the Seven Sisters. It appears that half of Warsaw wanted to rip it down after the end of communism and the other half wanted to keep it as a reminder of communism. It is now a hub of culture housing museums, theaters, a ballet company and is a focal point for fairs and carnivals. After breakfast we went across the street to meet our hop-on/ hop-off bus, which gave us a lovely overview of the city with some interesting commentary. Most of the time the commentary was on things we had already passed (an issue with the timing on the recording!), but we enjoyed it nonetheless.  When the bus dropped us off, we started walking for another four hours to revisit the places where we wanted to spend more time, which was mainly in the Old Town Market Square.   This was built around a castle, parts of which can still be seen, and is a labyrinth of narrow cobbled streets and old shops, bars and restaurants. It was great fun but exhausting since it was also rather warm.

We had every intention of going out in the evening to try yet again to find an authentic experience with Polish cuisine but our plans were dashed by two factors. The first was that we were plum tired of walking and we would have had to walk a distance to get to the row of restaurants we saw on our walks. The second factor was most delicious. We went to the club lounge to have a glass of wine before setting out to find dinner, and lo and behold, it was Polish night and the chafing dishes were filled with Polish delicacies. Pierogi stuffed with meat or cheese or spinach, all manner of Kielbasa, farm cheeses - some smoked, others fresh - cold meats and patés, fresh breads and pastries … well, you get the picture. We settled in for our first Polish dinner courtesy of Mr. Marriott and it was swell.

The next morning after our walk/run,  we threw our clothes into the suitcase and headed across the street for our first class train to Krakow. The train is one of the fastest in Europe and is extremely well equipped for comfort. As we pulled out of the station we zipped past the suburbs of Warsaw and soon were in the middle of rolling farmland which was absolutely beautiful. We experienced another spring with lots of flowers, flowering trees, and green, green grasses and young plants. An attendant came by offering coffee and tea followed by a light lunch, a marvelously civil way to travel.  Two hours and twenty minutes later we were in Krakow, refreshed and ready for another adventure.

More on Krakow later, Cindy and Wm