The beginning of the trip went very smoothly. Kasia and I were able to catch our bus on time, and despite traveling to Chicago in rush hour traffic, made very good time to O’Hare airport. During the trip, we found out that the bus driver had been in Poland for business before the fall of the iron curtain and had a few interesting stories to tell us. Airport security at O’Hare was interesting to say the least; everyone in front of us seemed to be in a wheelchair, walker, or stroller and had no clue as to what was allowed/not allowed to bring through. Once we cleared that hurdle, we were on our way.
Both the flight to Copenhagen and the connecting flight to Warsaw took off and landed on time. SAS did a great job of service on both flights. The in-flight entertainment included movies, music, games, flight cameras, and flight maps which were all excellent. Dinner and breakfast were both good and filling. I only wish there was a little more leg room; I was not able to get comfortable the entire flight and got very little sleep.
We landed in Copenhagen while most everyone in Wisconsin was just waking up. The Copenhagen airport was very nice compared to most US airports; hardwood floors lined all the corridors, and most people were very friendly. The security line went very fast, and customs took all of 30 seconds. There was a wide variety of kiosks near the terminals themselves, and there was a very large mall area in the middle of the airport...it felt that we were walking through Mayfair Mall to catch a plane.
The flight to Warsaw was on a smaller jet and took just over an hour. We had to board and deplane by climbing steps on the tarmac. On landing in Warsaw a bus met us on the tarmac and took us to the terminal building. It was somewhat confusing to find where to get our luggage but we found it eventually (of course it was the last of the baggage claims areas). Customs was basically non-existent.
The first thing I noticed was how clean the air smelled. We met Kasia’s friend Marcin and were soon on our way to his flat to drop off our luggage and to head out for a night on the town. The drive to his flat took about 20 minutes through heavy traffic. Polish roads are not equipped to handle the volume of cars that are present today; most roads were built pre-WWII or during the Communist era. To complicate things, there are bus lanes on the right as well as train lanes on the right or left that both merge into the traffic lanes.
We started off in a restaurant that was famous for its old style, authentic, Polish menu. An order of fish, potato pancakes, and assorted varieties of stuffed perogies washed down by un-pasteurized beer was what was on the menu. The building that housed the restaurant was full of old world charm, and the staff was in traditional dress in accordance with their job role.
After supper we headed out to walk around town. I noticed the older architecture of the buildings, some of the creative ways people parked in Warsaw, as well as the high number of shops and restaurants that had English names. We soon stopped for coffee before heading towards the New Town area. We walked by a number of famous buildings, including an old residence of Copernicus (with monument in front), the Polish Presidential Palace, and the church in which Pope John Paul II prayed during his time in Warsaw.
An interesting side note in regards to the Presidential Palace was the small Catholic service that was being given in Latin just outside the gates of the palace. The service was in remembrance of the death of the last Polish president (Lech Kaczynski) and other government officials that occurred on April 10, 2010 (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8612825.stm).
One other notable sight was Chopin’s benches. There are 15 of these, each playing one of his most famous scores and offering information about the composer (http://chopin2010.um.warszawa.pl/en/multimedia/walking-around-chopin-s-warsaw-chopins-benches).
We stopped in at a Vodka bar for, of course, Vodka. As the name indicates it only served Vodka and a limited number of appetizer choices. There is no seating for anyone, which did not seem to hamper the mood of the elbow to elbow crowd that we encountered there.
After a little more walking, we came across what appeared to be a very old part of the city, called New Town (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_New_Town). This part of the city was destroyed during WWII by the Nazi’s and rebuilt to its present form after the war. It was getting late so there were not many people around. In the squares located within New Town, there were various restaurant and beer gardens that were still humming with activity. One business that seemed extremely out of place here was the Subway restaurant, which was one of the very few establishments still open in the area.
Towards the end of our walk that first night we came across a photo taken of the area on which we were standing that showed the after effects of WWII (some of which can be found here: http://architecture.org.nz/2011/03/05/rebuilding-warsaw/).
The threat of rain looming, we began to head back towards home for the evening. We found and purchased train tickets and were soon on our way back to Marcin’s flat. Once we arrived, Kasia and I began to freshen up while Marcin headed into the night in search of piwo (beer). Upon his return, we enjoyed a couple of beers before turning in for the first sleep in over 30 hours.
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