Warsaw

We arrived in miserable weather into Warsaw's truly hideous subterranean central train station. Above the platforms is a warren of dark passageways which smell like the bottom of a rabbit hutch. Through luck, rather than judgment, we managed to pop out next to the right bus stop for the old town. From the bus stop we had our first view of Warsaw's most striking building - the Palace of Culture and Science - Stalin's "gift from the Soviet people". Yes it's extremely sinister (Socialist Realist architecture apparently), but I rather like it, and when I'm supreme ruler of Earth, I'm having something like it as my headquarters.



Our hostel was on Castle Square (Castle Inn - a fantastic place) . The old town, together with most of the rest of Warsaw, was reduced to smoldering rubble following the abortive uprising in 1944. The entire old town was painstakingly restored over many years to its prewar appearance - a photo exhibit outside St Anne's church shows photos taken in 1945 alongside contemporary views from the same location. The two images are photoshopped together for poignant effect.



We started our first full day in the (totally rebuilt) Royal Castle. If you like very grand palaces, with plenty of old painting and no expense spared on the decor, then this is the place for you; frankly after the third gold leaf ornate ceiling, I get a bit bored. The old town itself is delightful to walk around - and if it wasn't so cold and raining, would be a great place to sit and watch the world go by.

Rain or not, we headed back to the Palace of Culture and Science, to visit the viewing platform on the 30th floor. Predictably enough this gives excellent (and very windy) views over the city. Also on the 30th floor was possibly the worst interactive physics exhibition I've ever seen (and these things are normally quite bad). It billed itself as an Einstein exhibit - he'd turn in his grave.

It seems that there are two ways to get to Vilnius - a night bus, or a train changing at Sestokai (I don't know where it is either). While the bus saves time and money, it's apparently not very civilized, so we queued for an hour in the dimly lit ticket hall for train tickets- I'll let you know how the train works out.



Our second morning was spend in the Uprising Museum - this does what it says on the tin, and very well too. Only hunger drove us out (they've missed a trick not having a cafe here), and into Burger King in the ultra modern, curve glass roofed mall, next to the train station.

Late afternoon was spent in truly lovely Lazienki park. This park has red squirrels which are rather shy, as opposed to the crack-addicted gray ones you get in Bethnal Green (and squat in your attic). Again we needed for more time for this than we allowed ourselves, but don't miss this on a visit to Warsaw.

We finished off Warsaw with a nice curry at Namaste - possibly the best best Indian in Poland!

My final thoughts on Poland: lots on nuns and lots of Chopin.

Kirsten's Flashpacker Review:
Castle Inn by Oki Doki, Warsaw (http://www.castleinn.pl/) - This place is amazing! Although marketed as a high-end hostel it is definitely more of a (budget) boutique hotel. Located next the the Royal Castle it couldn't be better located for exploring the old town. Each room is decorated in a different style. As we extended our stay by a night (yes it was that good), we got to see two different rooms. The first, the Cartoon Room, which was a really good size had black and white cartoons covering the walls. As this was apparently an upgrade from what we paid we were expecting the second room, Metamorphosis, to be a disappointment. It wasn't – again it was a great size, spotless bathroom and as you can see from the picture it even had a round bed! Stylish and original decor, great location and the luxurious extras (fluffy pillows, bathrobes, slippers, free WiFi in all rooms and chocolates) make the £60 price tag per night per room seem like a bargain. (Tip: we booked through www.hostelworld.com which might be cheaper than booking directly.)