Warsaw, Poland

We took an "express" train from Krakow to Warsaw on Monday morning. Interestingly, "express" does not mean that the train does not stop, but rather that nobody gets on or off. We boarded around noon and set off through countryside that I could have easily mistaken for parts of western New York. Well, almost. I did see a really large, glass encased statue of Jesus in sombody's front yard, which I probably wouldn't find just anywhere in the U.S.

On the train we met some Canadians who were doing more or less the same trip as us through Eastern Europe, with the exception that they went to Budapest first. They seemed like really nice folks, but not great travellers. Their suitcases were so large that they wouldn't fit through the train's hallway. For a moment I considered myself a light packer! They also got off at the wrong station in Warsaw, but it's hard to say if it was intentional or not.

We arrived at Warsaw Centralna where we had arranged to meet Gosia, but like an idiot, I didn't ask where! I don't speak polish and it turns out that not so many polish people actually speak English or want to. Needless to say, their signs were rarely written in a language I know, so it took a bit of work to buy a phone card, figure out that the first phone I tried just wasn't working and eventually get Gosia on the line. It took us about 30 minutes to actually find each other there. Boy, was I glad to see her face!

She got us to the taxis where we were refused by the first for having too much luggage, but the second one grudgingly took us. In a few minutes we got to the place we would call home for the next two nights.

Time flew by as we chatted, watched british comedy (that I actually found funny!) and saw very little of the city. It turns out I wasn't very interested in seeing Warsaw (and neither was Dan). We saw the old town, but knowing that everything had been bombed and then reconstructed it felt more like walking through a Disney park (pretty as it was) than an old city. Frankly, though, I was here to see a friend so that's what I did.

So now it's time to go. Dan and I opted for the 9 hour bus rather than the 24 hour train (which goes through minsk and might, consequentially pose some visa problems) to Vilnius. It's impossible to "look forward to" a bus, but we are looking forward to Lithuania. Here's hoping it lives up to our expectations!