Warsaw, Poland

 

Poland is a place I’ve always wanted to visit, just never got around to it till last month.

I found a cheap flight deal to Warsaw and stayed there a week. In hindsight I should’ve planned the whole trip better and travelled around Poland, but maybe if I’m lucky I’ll get to see other parts of it in the future.

Anyway, back to Warsaw, I flew  in on a Wednesday, and when I got Into the city centre, the place was like a ghost town (I subsequently found out that it was all saints day, kind of like a national holiday, but mainly for families to remember their loved ones).

It kind of reminded me  of home i.e grey, wet and cold.  Although the internet was a bit pissy in the place I was staying in, it was in a way a godsend, as I could search up things to see and do.

I went on an organised pub crawl, met up with people from all over the world, it was a good night, but as with all pub crawls, a bit artificial, kind of a “plastic Warsaw”.

The architecture was a mix between old and new, a bit drab in places (think Soviet), nice in others, old town was nice, but artificial as old town isnt really “old”, as it was built in the 1950’s.

The people, they seemed okay, and were helpful, I wouldn’t say they are overly friendly, but they didn’t give me any hassle, and when you did get properly chatting they were sound, maybe a wee bit like the russians i.e an orange, hard skin on the outside but soft and tender inside.

Over the week I was there, I went to  the national stadium, Warsaw uprising museum, Jewish history museum, old town, Lazienki Park, and plenty more, but, I don’t know what it was, but I just couldn’t warm to the place.

It has it’s good points, the public transport system is spot on, and dirt cheap, what with the buses, trams and the underground metro, and it felt relatively safe, but I wouldn’t be in any rush to go back there.

There is a lot of history tied up in the place, and considering  the place was virtually annihilated at the end of WW2, it’s remarkable that it’s come on so far.

As a weekend break, it is nice, any longer probably not.  Sorry if I offended any Polish out there, but I didnt want to bullshit and say that this is the most rad place in the world.