Day 7: Another Day in Warsaw Before The Guided Tour Starts

[Friday, June 14]

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Today was mostly another free day for us, but we would be meeting our guided tour in the evening. I knew once the tour started, we'd be very busy with them and, when not with them, tired. (As it turned out, we were right. I am writing this now a full week after our free day in Warsaw!) We decided to take it easy. I went for a run in the morning. From the hotel to the Saxon Garden was a half-mile jog on city sidewalks. Then I ran around on the park pathways for about 2 miles or so before heading back to the hotel.

View of the Water Tower at the Saxon Garden in Warsaw

After breakfast, we needed to do laundry. We calculated that if we did some today, we'd be good for the rest of the trip. About a quarter mile from our hotel was a modern laundromat. I later found out that laundromats are relative newcomers in Poland. so almost all of them are new, modern, clean, and have huge machines. We were easily able to do all our laundry from the last 6 days in one load. We probably could have done more. It wasn't cheap, though! It cost over $20 to wash and dry one load! The last time we used a laundromat was two years ago in South Dakota in a run down old campground. The machines there were all old and more than half of them didn't work. We had to do multiple loads and the dryer was barely sufficient. It cost a lot less then, but...trade-offs. 

The machines were easy to figure out, and the laundry came with soap added by the machine itself. There was little too much scent in the detergent. Vicky had to go back to the hotel and so I finished the laundry and folded and packed up the clothes. While I was doing this, a woman who spoke almost no English asked me to help her figure out the laundry machines. I was proud that with my very minimal Polish I was able to help her. Meanwhile, a strong-voiced woman came in and started yelling at a guy who was sitting in the laundromat. He yelled back at her and then left. I quickly found out from the woman that I'd helped out that the loud lady was the boss and was there to open up the dry-cleaning pick-up service window. The guy, it turned out, was someone who regularly comes in just to sponge off the Wi-Fi.

After laundry, we decided to take a walk in the environs of the central train station about a half-mile from the hotel. Since the city was nearly completely destroyed in World War II, Warsaw has a mostly modern skyline, with many skyscrapers, including the Varso Tower (completed in 2022), at 1020 feet the tallest building in the European Union. The second tallest building, at 778 feet, is the Palace of Culture and Science. A "gift" to Poland by Stalin and completed in 1955, this Soviet monstrosity is very much associated with the old skyline of Warsaw. Locals have many nicknames for it, including "Stalin's Penis". It is controversial, expensive to maintain, and there is a movement afoot to demolish it.

Warszawa Centralna, the train station

A mix of old and new visible from the train station

Rondo 1 Tower near the train station. Warsaw has some of the tallest buildings in the EU.

Juxtaposition of Stalinist and Capitalist "Culture". 

There is a large, multi-story shopping mall next to the train station. We went in to have a look around. The mall is in some ways similar to what US malls were like in the 80s: full of shops and places to get junk food, and full of people. The mall was more crowded than I've seen any American mall in 30 years.

Inside the mall next to the Warsaw train station

We looked around for some zapiekanki, a Polish street food, but couldn't find the place recommended by Google (Google Maps has a hard time locating places inside a multi-story mall). So we decided to stop for lunch somewhere along the way back to the hotel. (We tried zapiekanki later in the trip.) We took the "back way" to the hotel (away from the main street) and stopped at a cafe/pub with outdoor seating. We were going to be having dinner in a few hours, so we had a light lunch. I had śledź, or herring. You can get it pickled or preserved in oil. Mine was served with small, soft potatoes, radish slices, and some soft farmer's cheese, with a little olive oil for dipping the potatoes, and a garnish of star fruit. Vicky had some pierogi.

Śledź with small potatoes, radish slices, and farmer's cheese

Pierogi served with sour cream

After lunch, we went back to the hotel for a nap. At six, we went to the hotel lobby to meet our tour guide and tour companions. We were part of a group of about 40 who would be touring together for 11 days. Our Tour Manager was Jolanta (pronounced 'Yo-LAHN-ta') Postrzygacz (forget about it), a sturdy, middle-aged Polish woman with a strong voice and great organizational and herding skills. After a brief ice-breaker and some instructions we had dinner. During the icebreaker, we learned a bit about each other. Most of the group was from the US, with a few from Canada. Most spoke English only, though a few spoke Polish with varying levels of proficiency. One man, who now lives in Canada, was born in the northeast corner of Poland near where we had visited the Masurian lakes.

The first course of the dinner was żurek, a traditional soup, usually served at Easter, made with fermented rye flour, herbs, and containing pork. It's got a sour taste. We then had a buffet of a mix of Polish food (including pierogi) and international food. (There would be many opportunities for full meals of traditional Polish food.) All the food was prepared by the hotel cooks and was pretty good.

After dinner, Vicky and I stepped out for a stroll and had a cocktail at Munja, a bar and restaurant near the hotel that always seemed to be packed when we went by it. The bartender made me a very good Old-Fashioned using Woodford Reserve bourbon. She was entertained when I showed her a photo of my family when we toured the Woodford Reserve distillery when we were in Kentucky some years ago.

Munja was always crowded.

Back to the Beginning

Day 6

Day 8