After Cyprus, I was debating whether to head to Malaysia or Eastern Europe, and it came down to flight costs when choosing a winner.
My flight wasn’t supposed to land until after midnight, so I knew I wasn’t going to get to a hotel until around 1 a.m. I decided to just book an airport hotel for that night so I could get in easier and then figure out the rest of my lodging the next day. However, my 9 p.m. departing flight was delayed a couple hours, and after arrival at 2 a.m., my bag was the last to come off the plane (which was fine - I'd rather it come off the plane than be lost in the baggage ether). I had read that there was a hotel shuttle, and although they stop regularly running at 11 p.m., you could go to the hotel stand and call it after hours. So I went outside to the deserted arrivals area to find my hotel stand. The taxi line was just on the other side, and one of the drivers kept trying to tell me that the shuttle doesn’t run at night and he could take me for seven euros. I said, "Thanks, but I don’t think that’s correct," and he said "It’s only seven euros." I replied "Or ... I could go for free via the shuttle." He finally walked away when he realized that I wasn’t wavering. Seven euros for an airport hotel less than five mins away? Yeah, that’s a rip-off. So I called the number on the hotel stand, and they sent someone right away to get me. It was 3 a.m. by the time I rolled into the hotel. I think they had initially cancelled my reservation, but they didn’t give me a hard time, figured it out and actually extended my checkout to 2 p.m. so I could get more sleep (props to Airport Hotel Okęcie).
In looking for my next lodging, I saw that most hotels were completely booked or incredibly expensive. Warsaw is an interesting capital where hotels are most in-demand during the week and the weekend is cheapest. For lodging, I switched back to using Airbnb because I was not willing to pay the exorbitant hotel costs. It must be the business travelers because generally, Krakow is more the golden child for tourists in Poland. In World War II, Warsaw was flattened, so in comparison to Krakow, it has a much more modern feel to it. That said, Warsaw has still done a nice job with its Old Town. With every turn of a cobblestone corner, you’ll come across a different troubadour or have the option to watch a street dance team in the main square.
To get some of the historical beat to Warsaw, I made sure to head over to the Warsaw Uprising Museum while I was there. It details the 1944 fighting of Polish resistance for independence against Germany. The museum was absolutely worth of a visit but had a lot of information to digest and was not laid out in the most linear/chronological floor plan. I toured it without a guide, and there was information everywhere - on the walls, on the ground, look up, look down, left, right - which way to go? No idea. There was a map, but the numbers on the map didn’t align with the numbers on the wall that the audio guides used. It was confusing, but I read as much as I could out of order and got the gist. One area of the museum that most people miss is actually outside. There is a large memorial with long walls listing all the names of those lost during the uprising, and then there is a break/hole in the dark wall that leads to a colorful garden where photos from the war line one side. The photos have been reproduced from black and white into color to give them more life, and on the other side of the garden, the wall has street art. To me, it was a mix of life and death - or maybe how the uprising failed but the resistance truly lived on.
Moving on through the city toward the waterfront, I strolled by the Museum of Modern Art, with some funky and thought provoking pieces scattered outside, and the Planetarium. While on the other side of the water you can see the city's major stadium. In the summertime, there is also a man-made beach at the stadium that locals and visitors can enjoy. The waterfront feels “fresh.” The wood for the boardwalk is the light-yellow color of wood that hasn’t seen many feet or many seasons of yo-yo weather yet. It also has that smell of young wooden planks, that ripe wood - know what I mean? I spent a lovely hour parked on a bench facing the water, going back and forth between reading and people watching. Some parts of the waterfront also appeared to be near the end of construction, so I think in a couple years, this is going to be a very popular area. It’s already a great area for walking, jogging, biking or parking your rear end on a bench to do nothing. Something for everyone!
My nightly wrap-up in Warsaw would usually be just sitting in the square with my ice cream cone from the closest "Lody" and watching some of the dancers, singers and people watching in general. During one of these nightcaps, though, I was sitting on a brick wall across from some guitar players and had the whole wall to myself - I’d say about 10 feet. Out of the corner of my eye (as I’m focused on my ice cream cone), I saw a man stop, start heading my direction and then proceed to sit next to me. Remember all that space available around me on the wall? And he plopped right next to me. I thought, “Ok, here we go.” He attempted to begin a conversation, but unfortunately, I didn’t know the language he was speaking. It turned out he knew four languages, none of which were English, so although he kept switching languages in attempts to converse, I still didn’t know what he was saying. Through the humorous broken languages I figured out that he was asking for my phone number and Facebook info so he could come visit me in Chicago. Although I’ll give him credit for not being shy, I scarfed down my ice cream and said that I had to go. It was by no means a safety thing - it was just a plain awkward thing. I'm all about meeting and chatting up new people but, I'd barely known him long enough to eat an ice cream cone, let alone make plans for an international visit. So without giving any info (I may have said that I didn’t have a Facebook account … the lies!), I said goodbye and quickly maneuvered the crowds to the other side of Old Town, where I found another brick wall with another band to listen to, but I wouldn’t permit myself another ice cream cone.
