At first, I felt a little apprehensive about our trip to Poland because the weather was starting to worsen as the day of our departure approached. As we ate lunch before the flight, we watched news reports of our several people had recently died in Poland because of the cold. Of course, the alternative would be to stay in Spain, where the entire holiday week was going to be rainy and cold so it didn’t seem to be too bad of a deal to trade rain for some snow. Our flight took off around 3:30 in the afternoon on Friday and the weather was beautiful in Spain. The flight was nice but around the time we should have been landing, we noticed that we seemed to be flying in circles. This turned out to be the case as the airport in Warsaw had closed due to strong wind and snow. We were diverted to a local town 300 km away called Poznan, where we would refuel and await the abatement of the bad weather. It worked out that we were able to take off and land in Warsaw that night, only ending up being three hours late. Our couchsurfing host picked us up from the airport and took us to their lovely house just outside the center of the city. We ate some dinner they had prepared for us, chatted a bit, and went to bed.
The next day when we woke up, the temperature was around 16 degrees Fahrenheit. We layered ourselves in tons of clothes, took some maps, and headed for the city center. Luckily, we were able to ride with one of our hosts, as she had some shopping to do. She dropped us off just outside of the large palace at the center of the city. The palace was built shortly after WW2 as a gift to the people of Poland from Stalin. It resembles the Empire State Building but on a smaller scale. Inside, there are several theaters, big shopping stores, and offices. It was built over a three year period starting in 1952 and was the site of a Rolling Stones concert in 1967, the first ever of a western band in the eastern bloc. We were told that some of the people wanted to tear it down because of who built it and the association of that with the past but that others felt it was a nice building to have in Warsaw. The area around the palace is quite open and modern looking as newer buildings have been built. A lot of Warsaw(80%) was destroyed during and after the war. We walked around the square out front, being careful with every step so as not to slip on the icy ground. There was a foot of snow all over Warsaw and some of it had been melted with salt, which of course only turned it into a slushy consistency for a short time and then it froze.
We walked up the main street towards the Old Town. After a short distance, we came to the park. Of course, there was no way of telling if it was a park because it looked like everything else, a white blanket of snow. We followed a path towards a large open square. Along the way, there were lots of statues that adorned what promised to be a nice walk in the summer months but for now, only provided a slippery and crunchy walk over a foot of snow. Izzy had some slight trepidation about walking out into the large square because the concrete was quite slippery. I ventured out to take some pictures of the buildings around the area and to see the tombs of the unknown soldiers from both World Wars. Two soldiers stood guard next to a constantly burning flame. I felt bad for them, 16 F and this was what they had to do. Ouch. We walked around the area near the square because there were some impressive looking buildings. One of them was a theater and the other a museum. From there, we wound our way through some side streets and found ourselves on the road into the Old City.
We passed more theaters and the famous Warsaw University. The campus wasn’t very big but we walked around the perimeter of it to take some pictures of the buildings. Afterwards, we headed for a coffee shop to have something hot to drink because the cold was getting to be too much. As we thawed and had some coffee and tea, we listened to some kids chatting at the next table in English about world politics. It seemed as though the guy was merely trying to get a date with a couple of Polish girls by impressing them with his knowledge of world politics. In the end, he did get their phone numbers. We left the coffee shop and continued walking up the street. We passed the Presidential Palace. It seemed a bit odd that the palace was just tucked away on the street like some normal building that belonged there. While it was gated and fortified somewhat, there was nothing else that really denoted this building was the home to the most powerful man in Poland.
From there, we entered the old town near a Christmas Market that had lots of wonderful cheeses, meats, and other Christmas decorations. There was a giant tree and they were setting up a stage for a concert to be held later that night. We walked up some of the side streets, trying not to slip and fall from all of the snow that was becoming ice quickly in the cold temperatures. We eventually found the main square of the Old Town and the mermaid statue. She was almost hard to find because of all of the Christmas stalls, the trees, and the snow. We tried some delicious doughnut type dessert and followed it up with fresh grilled sausage and a shish kebab.
We meandered through the streets of the Old Town, occasionally entering a place to warm ourselves a bit. The buildings are really nice and they seemed to be kept in nice condition. Later that night, we met up with our hosts and they took us to see a film slide show, one of the oldest in Warsaw. In fact, it was operational during the wars and gave lots of people some entertainment during that time. That night, we had a lot of traditional Polish meats and a concoction of warm beer mixed with spices like cinnamon and honey. We were also made to try some home made vodkas that had different flavors and were delicious. All in all, our first day in Warsaw was a success even though we seemed to freeze to death. We ended the night having some drinks at our hosts’ apartment and chatting with them and their friends about how much Poland has changed since the days of communism.
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