We caught a train from Vilnius to Warsaw and arrived in the city at about midnight- just as the main train station building was closing. We managed to convince the security guard to let us in to use the money machine so we could get a taxi to our hostel across the city. We were lucky enough to get a friendly and honest taxi driver too. There are many warnings to tourists about the taxi drivers and we also had a warning from our hostel.
There was no border check at all with Poland.
It was so pretty watching the landscape roll past. The hay is being cut and the wheat, barley and oats shimmer in the wind. There are lots of wild flowers mixed with the grains and along the wasteland beside the train tracks the bright red poppies are so gorgeous.
We were lucky to spot several stork nests from the window too. Lithuania is supposed to have the most storks but we never saw any there.
When we were on a camping tour of Poland in 1975 there were many horses and carts on the dusty roads but we saw several tractors and only one horse and cart. The houses also look solid and made from modern materials with satellite dishes on the rooves.
Poland has a population of 38 million and is famous for Chopin, Copernicus, Marie Curie, Solidarity, and vodka- as we argue with the Australians about who invented pavlova they fight with the Russians over who invented vodka. In 1990 Solidarity leader Lech Walesa became Poland's first democratically elected president. In 1999 is was granted full NATO membership and joined the EU in 2004. 80% of Poles are Roman Catholics.
Accommodation in Warsaw is very expensive so we stayed in a hostel and had to share a dorm with 6 people. It was a lovely place but very noisy as they had a smoking area on the stairs and it was like an echo chamber right outside our room. Added to this was an Iraqi guy who was up and down praying and an Iranian guy who was snoring.
We did another city walk in Warsaw and visited the old town that was completely destroyed in WW11 and rebuilt to exact details. The Old Town is also on the Unesco World Heritage List. Sadly the graffiti everywhere is an eyesore.
In the Castle Square (Plac Zamkowy) there was an exhibition of fibre glass bears and they were decorated by different artists. It seemed to be a similar project to the one that featured fibre glass cows several years ago. The New Zealand bear had tattoos on its face.
like Moscow, Warsaw had changed considerably since our last visit.
