Chapter 3
Leaving Dresden to Warsaw via Prague wasn’t too bad.
Janis took me to the Hauptbahnhof in the Neu Stadt, there was supposed to be a train to Prague yet it wasn’t there. I freaked out. The train officer said the train to Prague would stop over in the Hauptbahnhof in Alt Stadt. People asked me to take a taxi - taxi in Germany? Taxies are notoriously expensive in Hong Kong, I didn’t think I wanted to bet on my luck or in this case… my wallet - so I opted for the S-Bahn. I was all sweating when I was on the train, it took 5 minutes to Alt Stadt, wasn’t it? How come it took so long! The bugs were eating my guts. I ran after I got off the S-Bahn in Alt Stadt, ha, believe me or not, there was a delay to Prague so the train was still in the platform! I was almost in a rapture, I flew to the ticket office yelling for a ticket on the train. The lady immediately proceed to buy a ticket to Prague for me on the ticketing machine… but, it only showed the tickets to the next train. Damn it. I ran. I hopped on the train, no delay, I couldn’t afford it. My connection train to Warsaw was no joke.
I couldn’t believe my luck, but then, lucky has always been my middle name - haha, yes, we Asians have all kind of names! - so I settled myself down neatly on the train, and started talking to the couple sitting opposite to me.
Stopped by Prague
I wasn’t disappointed in Prague because I had no expectation. It reminded me of Salzburg, but it turned out to be so very different. I stayed there for just 2 hours, lying on the grass daydreaming then I was off to my Warsaw! The officers in the train station in Prague were terribly unhelpful and rude, deduct two marks.
Warsaw
Finally! After several hours on the night train, I arrived Warsaw at around 6 in the morning. The hostel I booked was not far from the train station, 10 minutes walk. I had sobered up and was breathing in the nice communism air in Warsaw - I was ready for some adventures!
Funny that I had to call the hostel manager to open the door for me at 7am in the morning. I felt bad for doing this but why didn’t they just install a bell or something? Ivan, the hostel manager, doesn’t even live in the hostel. I had to laugh when I told him I had no money to pay - all Euros - but he was really nice and said I could pay whenever I had the money! Aw, death to capitalists!
This was how my room looked: bright, big and a balcony included!
That day I got a room mate - Thomas. He’s from Germany and was travelling by car. He had stayed in Warsaw for a few days and was leaving Warsaw the day after, so he suggested we see the city together for a day. I had no concrete plan for the day and thought it would be nice to have someone who knew the city (and the rules) to guide me. Then we set off after I smelled nice and looked fresh after a shower!
Thom took me to the old town. He thought it was the nicest part in the city - which was true. The sun was burning on my skin, but it was a lot worse for Thom, he got several shades of red on him. At first I worried about spending a day with a complete stranger, but it turned out Thom was good company, we never ran out of things to say. I guess it was because he was curious about my culture and things and I was interested in his stories. The first thing we did after we stepped in the old town: found a nice restaurant and had a delicious lunch!
We had a stroll in one of the parks there - they’ve got a few HUGE parks, they were sooo huge!
And then we wandered around the city, aimlessly, talking. You can see my friend there in the picture below :)
Warsaw was so cheap! The city itself was beautiful, people stared at me, at us, they probably don’t see a Caucasian with an Asian girl every day. I liked the Warsawers, they were so helpful, so nice and enthusiastic. The way people dressed reminded me of the old movies I watched on TV of people in communism era. They didn’t look very… modern. This I noticed too: girls wore heavy make-up with bright red lips, that was very communism - I am not being mean or critical, that’s the way they made me feel. Their skins were not very good, but they were very warm and so willingly pointed out the directions for me whenever I needed them, and they always tried to speak English with me, which was great.
I went back to the old town the next day after Thom left. It was so beautiful, I couldn’t leave without going back once again.
I took all the time in the world sitting somewhere in the old town, daydreamed and wrote postcards to my friends. And I had ice-creams.
Warsaw suffered greatly back in the world wars and afterwards. I went to the scariest museum in my life, Pawiek Museum; went to the Jewish cemetery - hundreds of thousands tombs - on my own talking to the workers; visited a once-palace-now-a-museum without understanding much - all was in Polish; stumbled my way to Marii Curie’s museum; enjoyed the aimless walks ended in finding the river Elbe and went to the Tomb of Unknown Soldiers which was under construction.
Apart from the regular sightseeing spots I wanted to see in Warsaw, I was also ready to partake in the gay parade. In the end I changed my mind and left Warsaw the day which the parade was supposed to take place. I didn’t have enough time for Krakow and I felt too lonely to stay in Warsaw.
Warsaw is amazing because new and modern as well as old and ancient co-exist in the city in harmony. Warsaw is mysterious because… I couldn’t understand a word of the language! Warsaw also made me think, after all the Jewish places I visited. In the end I was invited to a party by our hostel manager before I left :)
The road back to the hostel. I became familiar with the banks there, haha, I had to change money every day when I was there: to pay the hostel, buy food and enjoy myself :p Warsaw surprised me and in return, I fell in love with her. I know I will go back, only next time I won’t be there alone.
