Thursday, October 6, 2011

Day Thirteen - Travel Woes and First Impressions



This morning was our first train trip of the holiday. I was slightly nervous when I woke up because give me an airport and I have it sussed … however as you have read, trains I am not so confident on. I think its because ultimately on a plane, if it’s the wrong one they wont let you on but with a train there is so much more room for error.

We got to the station early because I really like being early, it makes be breath slightly easier only to find they only put the platform number up on the screen 20 minutes prior to the train leaving. That’s fine, we asked a lovely girl to assist us and she told us the train would be arriving on platform 2. Sitting on platform 2 waiting patiently for our train we noticed the “Warsaw Express” sitting at platform 8 … hmm is it really possible that there are two express trains leaving at the same time… I think not. After sending hubby off to check it out he came screaming back at top speed yelling that it was our train and it was about to leave. No waiting patiently for the lift for me … no I was stuck dragging my 25kg suitcase (Yes it has gotten heavier but lets ignore that for now) up and then down a rather fast escalator. Imagine if you will my crazy husband running at top speed with a super large suitcase yelling the top of his voice “Run snuggle bunny Run”. Our of respect for myself I am not going to comment on his nickname for me but suffice to say, it would have been hilarious if it was not for the fact we actually were panicking about missing our train. We did make the train, just and with the help of everyone in our compartment we even got off at the right stop. However we then managed to get severely lost in the Warsaw train station taking 45 minutes of running around trying to figure out where we were to start with so we could get out.


So now my first impressions on Warsaw.  It’s a rather interesting city so far and please bare in mind that I have only had a few hours so far to base my opinions. We are situated in an area that seems to have quite a few large shopping centres and also the major tourist bureau. The new building are so modern and architectural it almost makes my head hurt however in juxtaposition it seems that right next door are extremely old and rundown sometimes derelict apartment buildings you expect to only see in the more dodgy areas of the city.


So they are my thoughts however to be honest, even though they are rather run down or derelict they are almost beautiful in their neglect … weird I know so I have put together a couple of pictures for you so you can see what I mean.


We have not yet visited the old town or the market square which seem to have a few more historical buildings so please understand that these thoughts are really only my first impressions.


No comments: