“When a thing beckons you to explore it without telling you why or how, this is not a red herring; it’s a map.” – Gina Greenlee

Welcome to Poland! …. Part 1

** This post is purely speaking about my experiences in Poland and not giving a travelers guide. I have tips for travelling in Poland, in general, and if you (as the reader) are interested, please contact me using the contact form, and I will be happy to share what I know and answer any questions! Happy Reading! **

After spending some time in Japan, I decided to venture through Poland for a while in January 2019. I scheduled myself to spend 6 weeks touring a country about which I knew only a few things. The people I met in Japan who had visited or were from Poland were all lovely people and had so many wonderful things to say about the country and culture.

My plan for visiting Poland was very vague. I knew I was arriving in late January. I knew I was staying in Warsaw for two weeks and then I would head to Krakow for five days. My birthday would be spent somewhere in the north, and I had to be back in Warsaw for my flight back to Japan in early March. Anything else was to be determined. I didn’t realize how “to be determined” it was until I started travelling through this wonderful country.

Warsaw
I arrived in Warsaw in late January without a clear itinerary and in the midst of a lot of snow. A Polish acquaintance I met in Japan told me that I was lucky to see Poland in the snow, and she wasn’t lying. It was beautiful. In the pictures below, the sign asking people to clean up after their dogs is my favorite. The dog looks so happy.

I had a lightly penciled list of things to see and do, museums and attractions and local things. But I wasn’t sure on which things to commit to. A day after arriving, I was lucky enough to meet up with a new friend, E, for lunch at a wonderful Nepalese restaurant. Being a vegetarian in a country that has a heavy meat menu is interesting but not impossible. We shared amazing food, sipped tea, and discussed topics including spirituality and the cosmos. She also gave me tips on what to see or where to venture… and where not to venture (safety first).

I ultimately decided to pick out a few museums to visit, show up for a few free walking tours, and venture to different coffee shops in the city. What I learned about the museums in Warsaw is that if you go on certain days, the admission is free. The museums are amazing and worth the admission, but if you’re on a budget, free is better. Check out the list museums and their free days here.

Honestly though, the more I stayed in the city, the more I started to not particularly care for Warsaw. I respected Warsaw because of the history and resilience of the people, but it did feel cold. Not temperature wise (although it was cold because it was winter). It was cold because of the history and architecture. As I rode the tram around the city, the soviet architecture was very prominent with wide, multiple lanes of traffic in both directions with towering square, faceless buildings surrounding you.

I mean, it’s understandable why the city looks and feels this way. I believe (if I remember from the eight walking tours I took) roughly 90% city was demolished in WWII due to bombings and raids. Even the old city is a facade. There are some real buildings there, some original structures but most of the old city was reconstructed and then had a facade placed over it. Sort of ruins the mystique. The old city, itself, could be considered a museum.

One building that was saved from being destroyed is located in the original Jewish ghetto, pictured below. This building was the SS headquarters and is near the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews. I was lucky that on one of the tours I took, I was the only person to show up. So, I got a private tour of Jewish Warsaw from WWII. When we got to this spot in the tour, the guide let me take a picture of the building with the photo from WWII that he had laminated.

Of all the tours I took, this was by far the best. Not because it was a private tour by accident but because the tour guide truly enjoyed getting to talk to me off script about everything he knew. I enjoyed his energy more than the detail of the tour, but the detail was fantastic.

Trying to not judge the climate of the city was a bit tough since I personally didn’t resonate with it. Some people do love that architecture. My friend, Jack, absolutely loves post soviet countries and cities. While I appreciate his love of it and the passion he has when he speaks of it, Warsaw didn’t resonate with me. Luckily I would be able to experience Warsaw with Jack for a day or two in March before I flew to Japan. But at this point in time, I didn’t know Jack existed. I wouldn’t meet him for a few more weeks yet. Knowing I’m coming back in March for a few days, I decided to leave Warsaw and explore the rest of Poland.

Before I left Warsaw, I scheduled myself and my friend E to be a part of a meditation group. I was pleasantly surprised by the holistic and spiritual community of Warsaw. While small (from what I experienced in the week I was there), the community is very welcoming. Being able to experience something so close to my heart in a foreign city was a great kickoff to my journey through the rest of the country.

The meditation group was held in the host’s apartment. Typically, I would skeptically mutter “ehhhh” to something like this, because I’m in a country I don’t know around people I don’t know. But this entire journey was about expanding my comfort zone; so, I decided to jump into it.

Just in case, though, I told the staff at the hostel where I was going to be, the phone number of the host, my friend, and gave them mine on WhatsApp. Not only that, I gave them a time frame and said that I should be able to text back by insert time, and if not, send help. I was half joking. I mean, I’m all about expanding my comfort zone, but safety first. I love skydiving but won’t do it without a parachute.

After taking the tram, getting off at the wrong stop, hopping back on the tram, getting smacked in the leg by a guy with a cane for hurriedly standing in his path, apologizing to him with a quickly and likely mispronounced ‘przepraszam’ (roughly translated as ‘my apologies’), riding one more stop before jumping out and running through the snow to make it on time, I arrived at the front of the seemingly hidden apartment door next to a Thai restaurant to meet my friend. And then we headed up the four flights of stairs to the host’s apartment.

Before the meditation session started, all the participants gathered and got comfortable by sipping tea and sharing experiences. A candid photo was taken by my friend of me talking to a lovely person from Azerbaijan who had studied in the US but now lived in Poland. Not sure what we were actually discussing when this photo was taken but this photo captured the overall energy of the event. Such a soothing, welcoming, and warming energy there.

The session was much needed. Staying present was so important. It allowed me to release any fears or apprehension I had in moving onto to the next city and allowed me to truly open myself up for adventure. That’s why I started this journey in the first place, to be fair.

While my original intention was to stay in Warsaw two weeks, I realized that one week was enough to see what I wanted to see, for now. When I decided to head out of Warsaw early, I had no plans until Krakow one week later. Undecided where to go, I picked my next location off the map and made plans to take a train the next day. I was going to spend three days, four nights in a city I figured I would research once I got there, that I did know had one of the longest pedestrian thoroughfares in Europe, but that had a name I couldn’t pronounce without the help of the staff at the hostel. Next city… Jadę do Łódź.

By the way, if you’re in a country where you don’t speak the language and traveling by train or bus needing to buy tickets at a station, ask your hotel or hostel staff to write down on a sheet of paper the location, how many tickets, class of ticket, and the time you would like to depart. Super helpful for not only you but also the train station staff who may or may not speak English.

• Have additional questions for me about my experience? Email me using the contact form.
• Check out additional pictures from my travels in the Digital Postcards.