I went to the airport in Israel with plenty of time before my flight. I was surprised by how empty the airport was, particularly compared to the craziness of the day before. My gate was changed multiple times before the flight took off, however in one of these changes, I met a group of students from Poland who were doing a film workshop exchange with Israeli students from Sderot! What an interesting place to visit in Israel, as it receives many of the violence that comes from Gaza. My new friend taught me all about the city of Warsaw and a bit of Polish history and I shared some stories from Israel. These conversations make traveling so interesting as we can so easily relate and chat even though we are from very different places in the world. We finally boarded the plane, but didn't leave the gate. There seemed to be a problem with landing in Warsaw. Everyone was standing, chatting and creating chaos, which I shouldn't be surprised by with Israelis. They eventually decided to fly, so like 2.5 hours later we were in the air. However, I was still unsure where we were actually landing. In my style of traveling, I immediately fall asleep and wake up hours later. I ask my neighbors where we are going and they say a city I don't recognize. I figured I'd find out eventually. When I step off of the plane a few hours later, it is freezing outside! What happened to the burning temperatures of Israel!? Still unsure where I am, I walk into the airport and see Gdansk airport. I start searching the map of Poland and I'm on the north coast! Nowhere near my destination of Warsaw. But that's life, so I went through customs, waited for my promised transportation, which was eventually a minivan with an Israeli family. I slept for most of the way there, but saw quite a few different views, from pouring rain to sunny skies.
By 10am, I had finally made it to meet Shane and his friend Voja. Voja lives in Warsaw and met Shane in Israel a few years ago. She was hosting us in her flat, which was incredibly kind. When I get there, we immediately walk to a restaurant downtown and are met by two of Voja's friends. We have an incredible breakfast. I had waffles with smoked salmon, ricotta and guacamole with a Twix (yes the candy) latte. After the long adventure to Poland, there was absolutely nothing better.
Now nicely refreshed, we started the day in Warsaw. They gave us an incredible locals tour of the city, including the culture and history. Voja and her friends were quite knowledge of Warsaw's grim past. We walked through the old town, saw the kings palace and climbed a tour to get a great view of the whole city. We then took the city bikes around a few parks and then to their university library. The library had a whole garden on top of it, which we climbed around staircases to get a good view. In the library, they had a physical paper card catalogue, haven't seen one of those in awhile! We also got to see where the Warsaw Ghetto once was.
After a quick snack of handrolls, Voja, Shane and l went to Polin, the Jewish museum. It was an interesting place to walk around, as I learned about Jews in Poland for the last hundreds of years. It was especially relevant because some of my family is from Poland.
After a quick snack of handrolls, Voja, Shane and l went to Polin, the Jewish museum. It was an interesting place to walk around, as I learned about Jews in Poland for the last hundreds of years. It was especially relevant because some of my family is from Poland.
Later that evening, we went to a communist era Polish Jewish restaurant. I enjoyed a meal that brought me back to many of the foods that I'm used to hearing about. We shared Jewish Carpe, which tasted like gefilte fish, but the gelatin, carrots and fish were not mixed but congelled together. I actually liked it, other than the bones, which made eating it quite difficult. We also had pancakes with mushroom, which were dense and tasty. We also had borsh soup with dumplings which were very tasty and finally duck with apples and potatoes. It was surprising how the simple little potatoes were so tasty.
After dinner, we went with Billy, her Irish friend, to a bar. The whole area was packed and crazy. There was a challenge that lots of people were trying. It was simply, if you could hold onto a bar for 2min, you win 200zt. While it seems simple, no one could do it! We tried some polish beer and enjoyed the bar scene!
After dinner, we went with Billy, her Irish friend, to a bar. The whole area was packed and crazy. There was a challenge that lots of people were trying. It was simply, if you could hold onto a bar for 2min, you win 200zt. While it seems simple, no one could do it! We tried some polish beer and enjoyed the bar scene!
The next morning, we went exploring around one of Warsaws famous parks! It was very nice and enjoyable. We then met up with a bunch of Voja's friends for something similar to the Pride Parade. However, in Warsaw, the Pride Parade is about much more than LGBTQ, but also about tolerance of minorities and other repressed groups. It was also less of a parade then a march. It felt like a protest, trying to make a statement to the government. Instead of the parade passing by and people watching and cheering, everybody participated and walked with the parade. Even though there was a lot to protest, particularly with this government, it was very cheerful and celebratory as we danced down the streets. At one moment there were supporters of the conservative groups who were opposing this march who stood very serious with their flags. It was a very unique opportunity to see such a parade in a country where there is so much censoring and restrictions. There was a lot of police around, walking with the parade, although Shane noticed that none of them had guns on them. It was a long walk, but very worthwhile. It ended at a club on a beach, where I tried a Polish beer with raspberry syrup in it! Seems to be a very common trend here. I really liked it! It made the plain beer taste very nice!
The beach club was quite cool. Lots of fun and celebrating, but also volleyball and relaxing chairs. They also drink beer with a straw, which I immediately made fun of, but of course enjoyed when I tried it.
That night, we experienced the vodka for which the country is very known for. A whole crowd of Voja's friends joined us in her flat. Before getting there, we stopped at a store to pick up an arrangement of snack foods and drinks. We leaned how to take a shot the correct way and tasted both their plain vodka and some flavors, including raspberry and quince. I have to say, it is so much better than what we drink in America and so much cheaper. Wow it was good! I than taught them some of our favorite drinking games, as those aren't very common in Poland. All of her friends were so nice and we both really enjoyed the experience. I learned so much from my conversations with them, it was a very inspiring day.
That night, we experienced the vodka for which the country is very known for. A whole crowd of Voja's friends joined us in her flat. Before getting there, we stopped at a store to pick up an arrangement of snack foods and drinks. We leaned how to take a shot the correct way and tasted both their plain vodka and some flavors, including raspberry and quince. I have to say, it is so much better than what we drink in America and so much cheaper. Wow it was good! I than taught them some of our favorite drinking games, as those aren't very common in Poland. All of her friends were so nice and we both really enjoyed the experience. I learned so much from my conversations with them, it was a very inspiring day.
In our last morning in Warsaw, we went to the Warsaw Uprising Museum to learn about the resistance here during the world war. The most mind blowing part of the exhibit was a 3d video of flying over Warsaw after it was completely destroyed in the war. They used pictures and videos to compile it. The city was completely demolished, which was hard to believe when seeing it today as the commercial and alive city that it is.
We collected some snacks (I tried kefir, which was pretty good, especially cause it was flavored) and said our good byes before heading to the train station for our next stop, Krakow.
We collected some snacks (I tried kefir, which was pretty good, especially cause it was flavored) and said our good byes before heading to the train station for our next stop, Krakow.