We came, Warsaw, we conquered

Warsaw was an unexpected pleasure! It's very pretty and very cultured with great tourist information at the station, easy bus system, great signs and info everywhere. The central part of Warsaw (the Old Town) was easily negotiated on foot for the two days we were there - when we arrived at our hostel there was a jazz concert going on in the main square, and throughout our stay there could be found frequent musical interludes in the streets around the old town.

Things Jennie Will Remember:

• The main square in the old town and the woman who sat down next to us on our bench and proceeded to throw bread into my sandals to feed the pigeons (needless to say we got up and moved after being attacked by loads of them)

• Singing benches. There are benches that play Chopin and have information on the buildings near to them on a trail around the city.
  
• Arkadia Pub. We spent an interesting night in the cellar bar. We were first in. Then a few others, notably Johanna and Michael (sorry for spelling!). We were then joined by Tomas (aka Gumar which means Rubber apparently - @Jacek, by all means comment please on our very bad Polish). He was blind drunk and didn't believe we didn't speak Polish. He also had one finger missing and, most disturbingly of all, really fancied Sean. Johanna and Michael helped translate what they could of his drunken rants/chat-up lines. We then were visited by a homeless lady who had a very strange stare and very wide eyes, who had a cup of hot water in the corner with tea bags and watched the ongoings with Tomas. Afterwards Johanna and Michael invited us to catch up and drink on with two of their friends (Alice and Caroline - again, sorry that we know in advance this is not how you spell your names!), but before we could do that we had to lose Tomas in the cobblestone streets of the old town by hiding behind cafe stalls. Much fun indeed!

• That Chopin's heart is buried here:

• The railway trip from Warsaw to Kiev with the woman who did nothing but either eat berries, snore or talk on her mobile (literally all three of these in 40 minutes cycles for the entire 18 hour journey). And of course that wonderful 3 hour Ukrainian border crossing with passport control and the track change (this was very loud and during this period there was no air into the berths so was very hot - all at midnight when you're trying to sleep so you can imagine the weird dreams)
  

And speaking of Kiev, we will, in the next entry...

BT2_Warsaw 17-19 July 2010