We catch the metro to make our way to the Moscow train station and catch back up with Joan and Ron for the overnight train to Warsaw. This train is much cushier than the Siberian train - *two* bathrooms in our car with a small shower. We even have a little sink in our cabin. We're living it up now!
Another 4am border crossing - this time from Belarus to Poland. Another 20 officials tromp through our train car checking documents and baggage. Plus we get a bonus surprise inspection by the feds after we're into Poland. That should be our last difficult border crossing since the remaining countries are all part of the EU.
It's a short stay in Warsaw so this will be a relatively short post. Before we started our research for this trip, we didn't know much about Warsaw. In the big logistics chain of the journey, we thought it would just be a quick connector stop to link Moscow and Berlin. But as we started researching, Warsaw sounded like a very cool city. It is! And now we're bummed that we only had one day to whirlwind through the sites. Add Warsaw to the list of places to visit again on the next trip.
We arrive in Warsaw early morning and I instantly have a good vibe of the city. We relax in a cozy next door cafe to plan out the day until our room is ready. We scored again with our hotel room: great clean room, excellent location. Notice English is already being written and spoken more often - that makes traveling a bit easier.
We find everything in Warsaw that we hope to find when we visit a European city. There are cobblestone streets, statue-filled parks, lots of pedestrian courtyards, cool old architectural-style buildings, cultural museums, outdoor cafes and interesting bistros with unusual (for us at least) food. The only bummer for us is that we still can't shake the cold front following us. The cold drizzle definitely dampens (ha! get it) our cafe lounging hopes. Brian buys a scarf and I increase my cold weather wardrobe options by 50% when I buy a long sleeve shirt. Look for our new outfits in future pictures!
As interesting as that architecture looks, Warsaw's cool Old Town Market Square is just a re-creation. The real thing was bombed to nothing during WWII and so what you see now is a reconstruction based on old photographs and paintings. I guess you don't need buildings that are hundreds of years old to enjoy interesting architecture. All you need is a little style, a little vision - and a good amount of money.
Having our fill of old (looking) buildings we turn our attention to filling ourself with Polish food. First up is some famous Polish chocolate. What?, you say? You didn't know Warsaw was famous for chocolate? Nope, neither did we. But they have an AWESOME chocolate cafe with a full menu featuring chocolate in almost any way you can think of. We restrain ourselves and opt for a small(ish) box of bonbons. Every single one was OMG delicious. Grand Marnier, coffee truffle, hazlenut liquor, pistachio, blackberry liquor, rose hips and on and on. Good thing we were only in Warsaw for one day or we would have become regulars at this place. This is my happy bonbon face...
And now vodka! Evidently there's a big rivalry about whether Russia or Poland makes better vodka. So time to do some sampling here in Poland. We book a guide to walk us through several local vodka tasting bars and we learn that there are rules to drinking vodka. She ran through the list after we were half way through the tastings so I'm not sure I remember all of them.
1. Never turn down an offer to drink vodka. The only valid excuses are "I'm pregnant" or "I'm driving"
2. Always fill your guests glasses first. Serving the vodka is a man's job - not to be done by the ladies.
3. Always toast to health. Nastrovia!
4. Always eat food with vodka. This was our favorite rule - and definitely a great idea with any drink.
5. Never drink vodka by yourself. If you do, they use the phrase "you're drinking with the mirror"
6. Never start drinking vodka before 1pm. Our addendum: unless it's in a bloody mary
7. Never mix vodka with soda or juice. Only teenagers do that.
8. When you drink vodka only drink vodka. It doesn't play well with beer or wine.
9. Sip warm vodka. Shoot ice cold vodka!
The total damage for the night was 7 shots and a vodka cocktail. I was a little surprised how smooth they went down but there's no way I could hang with a serious Polish (or Russian) drinker. We had no problem walking home. I think the key is to always be eating little snacks along the way (and be lucky enough to have your hotel at the end of the bar crawl).
Our guide also shared a a few interesting Polish traditions. First, adults celebrate Name Day instead of birthdays. You have your Name Day party when your name matches the name of the saint on the Catholic calendar. Another tradition is that young couples personally visit their guests to invite them to their wedding. Of course these visits are celebrated with vodka and food so it takes them about six months to invite all of their wedding guests. I imagine they're saving on postage but are paying for it with six months of hangovers. Wedding guests are also presented with a bottle of vodka as a parting gift. Vodka is obviously very much in their culture!
At the Warsaw train station we say "auf wiedersehen" to Joan and Ron as they continue on to Paris.
They had originally planned on heading through Eastern Europe like we are but changed their plans to head west due to the Serbian refugee crisis. We're sticking with our original schedule... hopefully we won't run into a bunch of issues. Next up is exploring Berlin, Germany. Do you think there might be some beer in our future?
"Travel is the ultimate teacher of other cultures." - unknown
Polish Food!
Potato gnocchi with mushrooms and garlic. Maybe not typically Polish but mushrooms and potatoes are so I'm going to count it as local'ish.
Baked pumpkin soup with wild rice. Had a very interesting spice going on that neither of us could quite identify (maybe garam masala). Tastes like fall!
Pork trotter aspic - it's kind of like cold meat jello. Definitely an acquired taste. Paired with vodka.
Lard and crackles to spread on brown bread. Paired with still more vodka.
Paczek (jelly donuts) and other tasty-looking baked goods. There just aren't enough calories in the day to make a dent in all the pasteries here in Warsaw.
We make a huge culinary mistake and miss out on the famous Polish pierogi (more dumplings!) We just weren't here long enough and there just wasn't enough meals to fit them in. Put it on that ever-expanding 'Next Time' list.
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