Warsaw

Today is my last day in Warsaw and as I have free internet at the current hostel, might as well make the most of it. Two of my three days here have been rainy, which is unfortunate, because Warsaw in the rain...not really a sight to behold. I did manage to walk around a bit, find an English bookstore and pick up the thickest book I could find. I also found a movie theatre that plays Polish movies once a week with English subtitles. I saw We Are All Christs. It was very good-a very moving story about an alcoholic and the havoc it causes in his life.

Yesterday, however, it was sunny and gorgeous and I made my way around quite nicely.
First I visited the Warsaw Uprising Museum, which was pretty good--definitely worth a go and the 3zlotys I paid as a student to get in. Not sure exactly what the exchange is except that my hostel costs roughly 10 euros a night, so 30euros total, which was 120 zloty. I am so not a fan of currencies like this. 3-4 zloty for a coke, 5 for a bag of chips. I can't do that kind of math in my head, people! Anyway, the museum, as I said, was eye opening. I thought I knew about the Warsaw uprising, but I didn't. The only downside (and I'm going to sound like an ignorant American here) was the language barrier. They posted most of the stuff in English as well as Polish, but it was very badly translated and, as I mentioned, some stuff was only in Polish. I know, this is Poland, where they speak Polish. But, if they want tourism to increase, they need to work on this. Polish is not a mainstream language...I would like to learn it though.

Afterwards I went to Stare Miasto, the old town square, which is actually fairly new since the whole of Warsaw had to be rebuilt after WWII. It was beautiful. A bit more touristy then the rest of Warsaw which is very commercialized, but also full of folksy art shops and little squares with fountains, etc. I walked around for about an hour and then settled on a bench next to the Little Mermaid statue to take in the sights.

I started to get a bit of a sore throat/stuffy nose. Not unusual as I've been cohabitating with a bunch of sick people in each city...about one per room probably. I also went outside in the pouring rain here in Warsaw with wet hair...so, yeah. Needless to say, I rested last night and slept in a bit this morning. I awoke to rain, lots of rain. Used my bus pass that I'd purchased and went to the train station where I reserved my next two trains, as they are to Krakow and then to Prague (not the kind of train you just hop on once per hour). I did some window shopping in a giant mall and then went to see The Reader (or Lektor, in Polish) at the cinema down the street. It was in English with Polish subtitles. Great way to spend a rainy afternoon.

I have an early train tomorrow morning, so I'll probably head in early. Look forward to the next exciting installment--KRAKOW! Heads up--I have signed up for an Auschwitz/Birkenau tour and a Schindler's List tour. :)