Warsaw, Poland

June 5, 2015

After spending a delightful two weeks in Florida with family, Martin and I made our long journey to Poland. We flew on June 2 out of Miami airport via Aeroflot, Russian Airlines. We thought American airlines were bad, try flying Aeroflot for 11 hours. I'm a short person and my knee touched the seat in front of me. I got absolutely no sleep, while Martin snoozed for 4 hours next to me. To say I was jealous was an understatement.

We arrived in Warsaw, Poland at around 3:30 p.m. on June 3rd. Martin's Aunt, met us at the airport and helped us with our bicycle boxes. She led us through the bus system back to her apartment in the city. Eight floors up and overlooking a basketball court with children playing, we were finally able to relax. Like all of Martin's family, she gave us a warm welcome with food and more food. About to fall asleep at the table, I was determined to stay awake until at least 9 p.m. to get on the European schedule.

Kate and Marcin in Old Town, Warsaw

Day two in Warsaw we woke up late, very late. I guess we weren't ready for the time change yet. But Martin's Aunt waited for us and greeted us with a healthy breakfast. After that, we made our way to Old Town. In the picture above, the palace sits behind us. In World War II, as most of you know, Warsaw was destroyed by the Germans. So the city worked together, most not paid, to rebuild the city as it was before the war. They finished rebuilding in the 1950s. Old town was bustling with people because it was Corpus Christi, a traditional polish catholic holiday. Most people have the day off to celebrate and commemorate.

In the evening we went to a "local" restaurant which had live music. I had yummy golonka, which is pork shoulder in really good sauce. Marcin had soup.

Marcin and his aunt

Day two in Warsaw, Martin's uncle arrived from their vacation home in the country. In the morning Marcin and I put together our bicycles and got them ready for Saturday. We then made our late start at the Warsaw Rising Museum (Muzeum Powstania Warszavskiego) about the fight for independent Poland and the insurgence on the capital. It was interesting and laid out a lot like the WWII museum in New Orleans - so it was confusing and not laid out very well. Plus, because of the holiday, the museum was overcrowded. We didn't stay long, and we didn't read as much as we wanted because of the crowds. After the museum we went to lunch at Czerwony Wieprz, or The Inn Under the Red Pig, which is a communist themed restaurant. The history behind the restaurant is that it was a popular meeting place for communist leaders such as Lenin. I had Russian Pierogies, which were filled with potatoes and brown onion. Yum! Marcin had soup, of course. 

Tomorrow we set off for Wroclaw, Poland by train. The quick ride will be about 4 hours - so we leave at 8 a.m. and will arrive by 12:00 p.m. Marcin noted to me that the times in Poland have changed since joining the EU - trains are faster, there are more highways, and we expect that Wroclaw has changed in the last 9 years as well. The last time I was there was in 2006 and Marcin visited was in 2008. We will be in Wroclaw for 2 nights and leave for Tymowa, which is where Grandma and Grandpa live. We will leave for Tymowa on Monday and we plan to bike 70 km to start to get into shape for our trip! We decided today that we will be leaving for either Prague or Munich by June 20th. Prior to that, however, I will have little internet access, so I don't expect to update this in a while.