City Post: Warsaw

The transition from Berlin to Warsaw was a shift from Western to Eastern Europe and the start of a bit of an unfamiliar culture. We've been to Prague before, but is had so many people (and tourists) and was pretty much untouched by World War II that we didn't feel like we had made a major shift. Starting with Warsaw, we would be in Eastern Europe for quite some time. Lucky for us, it wasn't as bad as we thought. Honestly, people are people everywhere, especially in cities. They go about their lives and businesses, and any cultural differences or faux pas are really minor differences (like greeting a shop keeper in Paris or asking to be seated in Vienna).

Our fist order of business upon arriving in Warsaw was to buy train tickets to Krakow. The attendant didn't speak English (a luxury we had grown accustomed to at this point), but Google Translate came through for the win, and we quickly had tickets. Then we headed over to our hostel in the city center. We didn't realise when we booked it that it was right in the city center, but that was a pleasant surprise...as were the stairs we had to climb to get from the bus stop to the main thoroughfare. We had dinner at an Irish pub nearby, because travel days take it out of us, where we had some of the most disappointing nachos we've ever had. The price you pay when you're from Texas and order nachos in Eastern Europe!

The next day, we did a bit of sightseeing. We saw the Royal Castle first. Unbeknownst to us, it was free that day, so that was quite the pleasant surprise, and we decided to splurge and get the audioguide. The castle itself is ornate on the inside, but reminds you of most any royal residence with paintings, tapestries, and rooms styled in the fashion of their time. The cool part about it was the restoration story. The Nazis razed Warsaw after the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, reportedly on direct orders from Hitler himself, and the castle was no exception. The Nazis bored holes, filled them with dynamite, and then detonated the castle (but not before looting it first). Starting in the 1970s, the community started a crowd-funded renovation to restore the castle, and has made substantial efforts to recover any looted artifacts and return them to Warsaw. This restoration was undertaken solely using photos and written and oral records from before the war, which makes the restoration even more impressive.

After the castle, we wandered around a bit exploring the historical city center (which was also restored after the Nazis razed it in 1944). It was honestly a lot smaller than we thought it would be, and it didn't take us long. We did grab pierogi for lunch (or as Jack called them, "Polish empanadas"), which is basically a filled dumpling that is either boiled or fried (with boiling being the traditional way).

The second day, we went to the Warsaw Uprising Museum. As its name suggests, it covered the aforementioned Warsaw Uprising of August 1944. It was quite expansive. It walked us through the Nazi occupation, the buildup to the uprising, the uprising itself, and the aftermath and Nazis' retribution on the city. According to some of the Poles who were there, they realised just before the Uprising that it was doomed to fail, but there was so much momentum behind it that to stop it now would be seen as an even greater failure. Damned if they did and damned if they didn't, they charged ahead. The result was a razed city and post-war oppression from the Soviets, who viewed the Polish Home Army as a threat. There was an exhibition at the end which showcased British and Polish air force attempts to drop aid from the sky to the city, but these only lasted so long, because the Soviets wouldn't allow the flights to take off or land in the Soviet Union, so they had to fly 12 hours over night. The pilots said they knew when they were coming on Warsaw, because it was the giant, fiery glow on the horizon in the black of night.

We tried to go to the Vodka Museum after the Uprising Museum, but unfortunately it closed early (and unexpectedly), so we relaxed at the hostel that afternoon (we had a bullfight to watch on Onetoro.tv after all!). We did manage to get to it the next day, though! It is a small, locally-owned museum, but it was quite cool to learn about the Poland's vodka history. From square bottles to family dynasties to advertising and film, it was certainly worth the visit. They also have tasting options of different vodkas that you can sip during the visit, and the man running the place was super knowledgeable about all things vodka.

Speaking of alcohol, we found a place that had mulled wine...allegedly. Now, Jack didn't know what that was, but Jo loves it, so we stopped in for some one evening. The nights in Warsaw were a bit chilly, so a nice, warm drink was welcome. Funnily enough, apparently we had different definitions of mulled wine, because the place we went to literally put wine in a pitcher and frothed it with the milk frother from the espresso machine. Nonetheless, it was warm. Jack didn't have any, though, because he's not a wine person, but there was this hot chocolate place a couple of shops down that he partook in...a few times...a day...

We did have a bit of an out-of-character habit in Warsaw. In the mornings, Jack normally gets up for breakfast and coffee, and when Jo gets up (she's not a breakfast person) we go out for our day. In Warsaw, we spent quite a bit of time at a coffee shop downstairs from our hostel reading. We were both reading "The Sun Also Rises" at the time, and we enjoyed the change of pace and just relaxing. We'd been going hard the past couple of months, and our unexpected change of pace in the mornings was something we both needed.

Leaving Prague for Krakow was simple enough. The train station wasn't far from the hostel (by tram), and it was only a two ish hour trip, so we took a bit of time getting up and ready. We'd be at Auschwitz the next day.

Jo's Favourite: Vodka Museum

Jack's Favourite: Warsaw Uprising Museum

Google Photo Album