Bitched Up in Warsaw

Well this our seventh night in Poland but time seems to have flown, probably because Christmas and the accompanying festivities took up so much of our time.

But after crossing two borders (and Lithuania without so much as a sideways glance out the window) we finally arrived in the most beat up bus station of the trip. It was another two trains before we arrived at our travel oasis, Oki Doki Hostel, in Warsaw. We immediately noticed the change from Russia with people stopping to help us, checking our maps for us, smiling and generally being friendly.

After we got over our shock and unpacked we spent the afternoon getting haircuts and browsing a couple of Warsaw's historic streets. Our hostel had a bar in it with a happy hour that meant you could buy two pints for about $3!. You know what happens next.

The next day we visited the reconstructed Old Town, destroyed during the war and the Warsaw Uprising , and visited the Royal Palace. Signs of palace fatigue were evident though as Kate and I waltzed through the state rooms, looked at each other and said "It's not really the Hermitage is it?"

Then after visiting a couple of Uprising sites, including an awesome monument, we headed back down town to finish Christmas Shopping en route to The National museum where they had a fair to middling collection of Netherlandish and Flemish art.

Later that night we met an American who was on holidays from his job as a research assistant at a Washington law firm as well as an assortment of Aussies. The pattern established the previous evening at happy hour was repeated.