There is lots of free space to bike near the airport  that's why passing this facility many times.

Warsaw airport consists of two passangers terminals - Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. And there is also always very crowded "Etiuda" terminal. Etiuda is my favourite one, because it's for so-called "low cost carries" hehehe. There are also one more place that I loke to visit sometimes, it's a observation deck. Normal ticket costs 4 PLN, but am a local person so I know where to bike to find a free observation deck, also pretty good, heheh...

In the words of my friendly polish hero Jozef "It's a tragedy when you don't share a language." It's also extremely inconvenient when trying to catch a bus.

I left Krakow for Vilnius, Lithuania (via Warsaw) at 7pm. I said my quick goodbyes at the hostel and ran out the door, hoping my little legs could fend off shin splits long enough to get me to the train station on time. I arrived with minutes to spare, and covered in sweat (Yes, I realize that's gross, but you try running through 90 degree weather with a 40-pound pack strapped to your back and see how shower-fresh you come out.) only to find out that my train to Warsaw was delayed 100 minutes. This posed a large problem, considering my awaiting bus to Vilnius only had an hour to spare. I was able to hop on the next Krakow-Warsaw train which departed an hour later, giving me a whopping 10 minutes to find my bus in the notoriously confusing central train station, in a notoriously non-english speaking town. I couldn't wait.

I was pleasantly surprised by the news (translated by a fellow passenger) that the bus would be informed of my short connection and would be waiting for me at the station. Now I just had to figure out where that could be.

This is how I found yet another polish hero, Marios. (I'm gonna go ahead and make up the spelling for his name, since I'm fairly certain my 6 days in Poland hasn't yet given me a full grasp of the language.) Marios, bless his heart, ran with me through the entire station, asking any available taxi driver or policeman (who, in my opinion, along with the rest of the service workers, get a little pleasure out of NOT being able to help me) along the way. One full 360 later, we found the glorious awaiting bus and (oh joy!) it's pissed off drivers. I completely understand their frustration though, because it was, after all, my decision to delay the trains and completely deprive the Warsaw train station of any informative signage or employees. Go ahead, be mad at me. I get it.

I stepped onto the full bus and could instantly feel the glares from the other passengers burning into my skull: Here's the reason we've been sitting here for 25 minutes! Burn her at the stake!

In case there was any doubt that they perhaps could have just been waiting to refuel or make some minor mechanical adjustment, the bus pulled out 20 seconds after they shooed me on. For once, I selfishly didn't care if others thought ill of me...I'm just happy I made it.

Nine short hours later, we arrived in Vilnius. The first 1/3 of my trip was spent begging the question "why in the hell can't I figure out how to recline this seat?" and praying the bobbing head of my dozing neighbor didn't end up in my lap. The rest was pleading with the gods of public transportation sleep that I could somehow contort my body and mind into a state of believing I was comfortable and actually get some decent sleep. The gods, as it turns out, were not on my side. It's going to be a long day.

got the bus, as planned, back to vilnius, expecting to get a bus that afternoon to warsaw, as the internet had told me. what the internet didnt tell me was that it was lying through its teeth (and yes im sure the bloodsucking bastard does have teeth!) and the bus was actually an overnight one that left at 9 in the evening and arrived at 5AM!!!!
so we get into the bus station in vilnius at about 3 in the afternoon. to begin with, we wander around, grab some food, sit in the sun... didnt want to go too far with the heavy bags, but didnt want to sit in the same place for hours. \

however, i then discovered that not only was the internet out to get me, but it had been plotting and scheming with the sky! it started raining, and when i say raining, i mean absolutly hammering down! literally would have needed to have stood outside for about three seconds to get soaked through! the last time i saw rain like that was at stupid o clock in the morning in leicester... took me days to dry my jeans etc... in hindsight maybe i should have stayed at home! haha. it didnt even rain that hard when our house flooded! haha
so yeh, we are then stuck in the bus station for hours. literally hours. about 5 of them. followed by another 9 hours on a bus. so not impressed with that. and sods law, didnt sleep on the bus either! get in at 5, absolutly shattered, wanting nothing more than to sleep!


but wait... theres more!!!

Some fecking youth hostel... what kind of youth hostel, bearing in mind most of the people in them are backpackers, arriving at all hours of the day... what kind of flaming youth hostel only lets you check in at three in the morning, thenkicks you out at 11 the next day?! its hardly worth the money!
so, absolutly shattered, wnd up wandering around warsawsold town. found a park, and as you do when your a bit of a tramp, fell asleep on a park bench. got a few odd looks so im told! haha!
ended up getting followed all voer the place by this dog. dont think it was a stray, it looked too well kept, and had a collar and everything, but it wouldnt leave us alone! just wanted company i guess. wnded up literally running through the grounds of a castle just to escape it. it worked! haha
the old town in warsaw is very nice, but to be honest i would probably struggle to keep myself entertained here for long.

one thing i would like to know tho... when we first went into the old town (about half 5 in the morning) there were a load of people packing away a load of statues. they were of bears, about 7 or 8foot tall, and coloured in the most amazing patterns. representing sountries all over the world (twigged this when i notices the 'statue of liberty bear' haha.)

what were they there for? and why did they take them away?! 
xxx

Those who like dance-music should go to club underground. It is a small bar which could be found in the middle of the center, next to the mac donalds. The atmosphere in the club is very good and the night I was the they played trance and house music. The drinks are expensive, i payed 10 zloty for an half a litre Heineken. But the entrance is free, the wardrode costs 1 zloty. I was there on a wensday, on the other days the play other styles. Like hip-hop, disco and soul. Bar Underground could be found on the Ul. Marszałkowska 126/134

We loved this little boutique hotel close to downtown Warsaw. The service was first class and the buffet was excellent. We stayed in this hotel after I proposed to my wife in April 2007. It is a little pricey during the week but lower on the weekend.

great room and buffet in central warsaw.

Warsaw was actually more modern than I had anticipated. In fact, out of all the countries I visited, it was the most modern.

Had time to shop and hit H&M there finally. Prices were the same or even slightly more than back at home due to the terrible dollar rates.

The other morning I was out for a walk and was surprised to see hundreds of colorfully decorated bears occupying the castle square here in Warsaw.  

When I took a closer look I saw that there is one bear for each country in the world - decorated by an artist from that country - and they have been touring since 2002 and have visited cities on four continents so far.  Poland is the tenth country that they have visited.

The bears arrived in Warsaw on May 10th and will be here until June 22nd promoting peace and understanding between countries and cultures.  Aside from promoting tolerance and understanding, Buddy Bears (based in Berlin) has raised over 2 million dollars in funding which has been donated to help children in need all over the world.

The exhibition features 142 colorful, two-meter-tall fiberglass bear sculptures, of which 138 represent countries recognized by the United Nations. .The remaining four are called Special Bears: the Einstein Bear (Einstein once said "Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding"), the Global Ethic Bear and Golden Rule Bear (symbolizing that no one can live on their own and that our behavior to others has consequences), and the "Respect For All Life Bear."

I'll be back another day, to see if I can get some more pictures!  There were so many people it was pretty hard to take pictures.   Checking out these bears from all over the world was a nice way to spend a weekend morning.

Don't expect luxerous rooms and a garden full of flowers. Garden Villa hostel is how hostels should be. Except of the 2 broken beds in our room and the fact they still had to paint our room. And al the information in the hostel was Polish. But there were also positive things, a lot positive things. There was a very good kitchen where we were able to use everything. And they have a dishwasher. The only thing we could'nt find was a corkscrew. There was free internet and the was a television(but only with polish spoken channels). The girl at the reception spoke English and tried to help us as good as possible. The cleanliness of the hostel is average. 3 Rooms of 4 people had to use one bathroom so it was not always totally clean but the rest of the hostel was very clean.Our sheet were not totally clean but nobody ever died because of some spots on his sheets. Garden Ville is situated 15 minutes by bus from the centre. But that's absolutely no problem because there are 3 bussthops within 5 minutes walking from the hostel. There are also a few basic shops within this 5 minutes walking, including 2 supermarket, a 24 hour alcohol shop and a restaurant. I came by plane and it only took me 15 minutes to reach the hostel.

I get there as i read a good recomendation of my travelbuddy Tirso, and took with me 7 friends for dinner. The place is awsome. Very chill decoration and an exotic touch. Waiters were great, and they found us a place so all of us could have dinner together. That said, you can imagine that this place is a good one to bring your lover, your objective... but you should not! Food is a try to fussion, but just a try. All fried food (as tempura, fried fish and so on) is done with a "vegetalina" stuff that may be in the frier since the restaurant opened it's door to public. It just smells when you get into the restaurant's lounge. Two of us couldn't finish our dishes! I hope they would change the frier before you try to open the door of the place!

A week away...  I need some Sun and a break from work.  A week in the Canary Islands is going to be fantastic.   Last night in Warsaw was one of those wild stormy nights that I really love, the wind was howling and was so strong that it seemed the windows would break.  It was pouring rain and the lightning and thunder were amazing.   This morning, on the other hand, is one of the most beautiful, clear mornings I remember in this city.  A good start for some days away.   

We called a taxi to pick us up and take us to the airport.  The taxi driver was early, we were early and we headed towards the airport.  Usually I'm the guy who forgets something - keys, wallet, cell phone - but this time it's my friend Michal...  We got half way to the airport when he realized he didn't have his phone so we turned around...  Important to leave for the airport with plenty of time to spare... No problem, we still arrived early!  At the airport I'm surprised at how many people are in the line for Lanzarote. It looks like the plane is going to be jam packed.

This trip gives me a chance to finally visit Fuerteventura, which is an island I have been curious about for years.  I had a job offer there years ago and didn't take it - now I'd like to see where I would have worked!  The flight from Warsaw to Arrecife is on an airline that I had never heard of before called Eurocypria.  The flight is completely full, of extremely happy Polish people...  :-)    There's a large group of salesmen or something like that wearing matching ID badges hanging from badges with the brand "STR8" on them - a brand of cologne that I've seen in the store here. 

Once we are up in the air, the party begins.  Bottles of vodka and flasks of whisky appear out of nowhere...  The flight is pretty entertaining watching these people party, carouse, sneak the bottles in and out of their hand luggage and order amazing amounts of coke or orange juice for mixing.  Quite a party.  The only ones who weren't too happy about the arrangement were the stewardesses.  They had a hard time dealing with all the festivities!  I was even offered me a drink or two...  As I wrote this, my neighbor was already on his second bottle of Johnnie Walker! (not by himself - this guy was sharing!) The plane was a Boeing 737-800 with room for 192 passengers.  There wasn't a seat to spare.  Our route takes us over Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Portugal and finally across a bit of the Atlantic Ocean til we reached Lanzarote. 

The guy sitting next to me was pretty entertaining.  (In these situations you can either have a good time and roll with the punches or be difficult - this was a vacation and I decided for the former!)  He ended up going through two bottles of Johnnie Walkers and one of Jack Daniels (again, not by himself - he was sharing with plenty of people!)  Unfortunately my Polish still isn't good enough to follow the friendly conversation he offered...  I'm working on it, but it's quite a project.

We're in the airport waiting for our flight VV4751 on Aerosvit Ukrainian Arilines to leave.  This is an exciting trip for me, as was Lithuania, beacuse theya re places that I never expected to be able to visit.  It's amazing, I think that half of the Spaniards in Warsaw are heading to the same place - there are at least 7 or 8 on the same flight as me!  Some of them live in the same building I do and work in the same building I do... quite a coincidence.

There are a number of things I want to see in Kiev - St. Michael's Monastery and Cathedral, St. Sophia's Cathedral, the Bessarabsky Market (I read about it and it's supposed to be an interesting farmer's market where they sell fresh meats, vegetables, dairy products, cut flowers... and a whole section devoted to caviar.  We'll see what that's like.), the Ukrainian Museum of Folk Architecture and Everyday Life, Kiev Perchersk Lavra (called the Monastery of the Caves)... So, there are plenty of things to see.  I'm also interested in checking out their subway!  It's supposed to be quite a feat of engineering with amazingly deep tunnels and speedy escalators! 

The Aerosvit flight turns out to be operated by LOT - so nothing different there.  Another thing to try, of course, is Urkainian Cuisine.  I've read that they have over 40 types of Barszcz - Borscht - and that the best, is Kiev Borscht which has 20 different ingredients including beets (of course!), beans, potatoes, meat, cabbage and other vegetables.  It's served with sour cream (smetana) and something called pampuszki (we'll see what that is!).  Other good soups that are recommended are Kapuśniak (cabbage soup), barszcz szczawiowy (borscht with some kind of greens in it), and solianka (another vegetable soup).  We also should try warenyky - Ukrainian Pierogi.  There are many different types such as cheese, potato, mushroom - and fruit filled ones with cherries, blueberries, etc.  I'm looking forward to this!

This city has a heavy communist air about it.  A monolithic Stalinesque building dominates the skyline, and there are 'patriot' monuments all over town.  The old town is most lovely.  Completely restored following massive devestation during the war.  I hit a few museums.  They are all politically charged (ie. with a soviet spin), although the now non-communist government has begun to change some of the placards. 

I'm off to meet up with my sister in Amsterdam and spend a few days with her, exploring Amsterdam, Delft and The Hague.  This is going to be a great weekend!  We don't get to see each other very often, so when we do it's a  p a r t y!!

This is starting out well.    The new terminal has finally opened and this is the fist time I've departed from it.  OK, it's not such an important detail, but I'm excited about it because I've seen this completed building sit here unused for over a year.  Now that it's in use, I'm happy for the city and the travelers whose journeys bring them here - it is a great improvement.  Bright, new, clean and much more capacity to handle the thousands of people who come through the Warsaw airport every day. 

Another great thing - from my point of view - is that finally we can travel throughout the EC, from Poland, without having to stand in passport control and immigration lines!  On the other hand, I'm sorry if this  "improvement" has cost people their jobs. 

I realized I didn't have enough cash for a taxi last night when I was going to sleep. Good thing I have a jar full of spare change!  I was able to scrounge up enough to make it to the airport without having to drop by an ATM along the way. By the way, if you're ever taking a taxi from the center of Warsaw to the airport, it shouldn't cost you more than 35 to 40 PLN.  And when you arrive here there are really convenient buses that take you to the center of town for extremely cheap or taxis - but be sure to get the taxi outside, in the taxi line, once you've left the terminal.  If you take one from one of the guys who will undoubtedly approach you in the terminal you're going to pay way too much!

So, the new terminal was nice, everything went smoothly, and now I'm sitting on the flight to Amsterdam.  Once I get there I'll take a train to The Hague where my sister is waiting for me.

I loved this park & actually stubbled upon it by accident when I got lost on the public transport but I'm glad got off to visit. I visited in March so it was very cold but that added to the beauty as the lakes were all frozen. The architecture of the buildings was stunning, there were lots of wild life including a very cheeky squirrel & generally it was just great to explore, if you like that kind of thing. At one point I found myself sitting outside a cafe, watching the locals playing football whilst on the phone to a friend - it was simply a very nice moment.