Warsawa

we arrived in Warsaw exhausted after a 11 hour train/bus ride from Vilnuis. we were met at the train station by our CS hosts Pawel (Paul) and Cait (a really nice, young Polish couple who lived just outside of downtown). As we scarfed down kebab, Pawel drove us all to a park somewhere in the city centre, where we watched Pulp Fiction al fresco. It was in English thankfully. But this was no problem for Paul and Cait, who both spoke really good english---in fact Paul had spent several months in the US.

the next day Paul and Cait went to work and we headed downtown to do some sightseeing. i think this is a good point to mention that Warsaw is nothing like you would expect...a fact that struck both stewart and I immeadiately when we stepped foot out of the train station the night before. the first thing one sees it modern sky scrapers (at least they scrape the european sky...they would probably look small in Vancouver) made of tinted glass and steel. i dont know what i was expecting...i suppose just drab communist concrete structures glalore. the boulevards are wide...the city actually reminded me a lot of Boston, strangely enough.

warsaw skyline

anyway, the first stop on our sightseeing was the Warsaw Rising Musuem. it was incredible.

defintitely one of the best historical museums i have ever been to.

acutally it was probably THE best. i had never even heard of the warsaw rising before. For those who like me, had never heard of it, it was a desperate insurgency against the Nazis that commenced on August 1, 1944. It was made in a vain attempt by Polish nationalist to establish soveriegnty of their own country before the Soviets arrived. The first 3 days of the insurgency were a amazing success and the Polish civilan army took like 80 percent of Warsaw. Unfortunately then the Nazis decided to fight back feriously. In fact, the Nazis decided to make an an example of Warsaw as a warning to other European cities. In one particular neighbourhood the Nazis murdered 40,000 civilians in one day. The eventuall result was the descruction of 95% of Warsaw.

If you are interested to read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Uprising

After the musuem we stopped for lunch at this restuarant right in the old town square. blatant tourist trap. We ordered lunch which cost like 60 zlotti for 2. we had some beers --- like 30 zlotti for 2. when the bill came we saw that they had slapped on a 40 zlotti charge (like $12 Canadian) for a bottle of water we ordered. convientently, the price was nowhere on the menu. a pretty animated argument ensued between myself and the waiter, during which he admitted that he had purposefully screwed us because we where tourists. I told him we werent going to pay water...so he said he was going to call the cops. i called his bluff and told to him to "call the F*#@ing cops because your trying to rob ME". eventually we just walked out, although he tried to block our path.

warsaw old town square

that night we went out and partied with Paul and Cait. we went to this really cool Spanish cocktail bar, where we took requiste shots of Polish vodka. then we headed to this really cool underground club.

the next day we were all really hung over so just chilled at home and watched Paul's collection of Beverley Hills Cop. What a classic series.

that night Paul took us to this really cool Polish restaurant. we had delicous perogies and saugages and this incredible homemade juice.

the next morning we got up and had a nice home-cooked Polish breakfast prepared for us by Paul and Cait. Then Paul graciously agreed to drive us to the train station, where we jumped on a train to Wroclaw