being a nerd (music, history and politics) in warsaw, poland

At the airport in Amsterdam, we actually caught sight of 3 other students who were from our program. I think they were flying off to Morocco. Anyways, we managed to catch the flight to Prague. I had wanted to visit Prague then, but realized that we had no time during that 10 days of break. So I told  myself that I'd come back the next time we had break. After arriving at Prague around 22h, we had to exchange some money (because they used Czech kronas- the exchange rate at the time was 1 euro = 25 czech kronas.) Then finding what bus to take was a problem because we had no idea which bus to take that'll get us to our hostel. Luckily for us, someone spoke both Czech and English and told us which bus (I believe it was 119) we could take to get there. So here we were in a foreign city where we don't know the language trying to find our hostel. I was actually pretty excited to be finally in an Eastern European country, and not knowing the language never daunted me in anyway. The bus dropped us off at a metro station in which we hopped onto metro A to get to the Malastranska station. Of course by that time, it was completely dark. Good thing we had a map (that we got at the airport), though we did have to ask someone (aka someone in a hotel) how to get to where we needed to go. By the time we got to our hostel it was past 23h. After dropping off our stuff, my travel buddy was super hungry, so we went on an epic search for food. But most of the restaurants that were still opened no longer served food, just drinks. Luckily the hostel had snacks for purchase. This hostel is quite nice. It is called Little Quarter on Nerudova street in the Malostranska district (means Lesser town). It's super clean as was the bathroom. I would definitely recommend this place to stay.

The next day, we checked out early and attempted to find the euroline bus to take us to Warsaw.  We were told it was at a certain station, but it wasn't clearly marked. Nonetheless, we wandered around the area, ate at a Chinese restaurant and bought some snacks for the trip. The lady at the information booth at the station finally told us that we were in the right place. I was really excited for this trip to Warsaw. One of the main reasons I wanted to go to Poland was because of the politics and history there. Another reason was because of Chopin. He was born into a French family and moved to Warsaw while still young. The entire bus ride took about 12 hours. I spent those 12 hours sleeping, reading and listening to music. We made 2 stops (so people run to the bathroom). Upon entering Poland, we had 2 passport checkpoints. The officers would come onto the bus and ask to see our passports. Because my travel buddy and I hold American passports, the guy just glaced at it and gave it back to us. The rest of the passports from other people, he took with him across the street and check them thoroughly. We finally got to Warsaw around midnight. Not finding bus stations or trams, we finally took a taxi to get to our hostel (good thing I thought about using the ATM before getting to Warsaw; exchange rate at the time was 1 euro=4 zlotys). The taxi ride was 29 zlotys. Our hostel was called Oki Doki hostel :) By the time we got there, we managed to check in and fall in bed around 2am. 


The next day..... it was high time to wander around in the city. One of the first things we saw was this:

Unknown soldier memorial (it was freezing that day and we were wondering how the soldiers standing there could stand it.)

STARBUCKS ARE EVERYWHERE

This is the Pawiak prison. Built in the 1830s, it used to be a prison that the Tsar used. During World War II, the Germans used it to torture political dissents and many others in this prison.

The structure of the prison

A prison cell

This is the death chamber where people who were to be executed stayed.

This is the place where the Germans rounded up all the Jewish people so that they could be sent to Treblinka Concentration camp. 

Memorial commemorating the Warsaw uprising.

One of the main entrances of the Warsaw ghetto

Where the ghetto wall was built.

Beautiful fall colors

Old Warsaw: I loved old Warsaw, but most of it from what I heard was rebuilt because it was destroyed during the second world war.

Old Warsaw

We decided to treat ourselves to this

Halloween time!

This is the Warsaw mermaid. She is also Warsaw's symbol: Legend has it that she saved Warsaw from an invasion. 

The last full day in Warsaw, my travel buddy and I separated after seeing the renements of the ghetto wall. I walked the 3km to see Chopin's statue. It was a quite enjoyable walk. Cold, yet pleasant. I just remember being really excited when seeing this, since I'm a huge fan of Chopin.

Chopin's statue! It is located in Warsaw Royal Baths Park. Originally designed in 1907, it wasn't put into place until after world war one. Then in the second world war, the statue was destroyed by the Germans. Luckily the cast of the statue survived and another copy could be made. 

Chopin's Music university, the largest in Poland

Chopin's museum; comprises of his works, life to death: 4 zlotys (October 2010)

Molding of his left hand right before his death

After coming back from the museum, I met up with my travel buddy to try out something called Milk Bars. These restaurants are renements of the Soviet era, and is heavily starch and dairy based. It's super cheap and really good. We spent about probably 75% less on the food at the milk bars instead of at a restaurant.

dumplings

Dessert: rice, sour cream, sugar and strawberries

Fried potatoes

I think this was a crepe

Where Chopin's heart is located in the Holy Cross Church. His body is buried in Paris in the Père Lachaise cementery.

The Presidential palace, a place where I totally became a nerd due to studying Polish politics

Palace of Culture and Science ( a gift from Stalin to the Polish people)

Fragment of the ghetto wall

Last surviving street of the Warsaw ghetto. It was kind of eerie walking through that street. After studying about the Holocaust for years, seeing this in person felt surreal.

The good old Pope John Paul II! He was one of the important people who is said to have a part in helping the Polish civil society rise up to oppose the Communist government.

The next morning, we woke up early to catch the train to get to Krakow because easyjet has a connection from Krakow to Paris there. Upon arriving at the train station, we couldn't find our train! There were no indications as to what train platform we should be on. No one spoke English at all, so we ended up missing the train. Luckily, I found someone who spoke a little English and interpreted for us to get us the next train. I also asked her to write down the phrase, "I need 2 tickets to the airport" because you have to transfer to another train to get to the airport. After that, everything else was easy. We took the TGV from Paris to Lyon and arrived home around 18h. (For those of you who want to take the TGV or SNCF, make sure to book tickets early so it's not that expensive. We had the carte 12-25, which was 43 euros for a year to make sure we get tickets at half-price)

It was a crazy 9 day trip, but awesome nonetheless.