So, why Warsaw again I hear you say? I’ve been here 3 times already so why make it 4?
You can read about my previous trips here, here, here (all part of one trip), here and here.
Well… I like Poland and I like Warsaw in particular. There’s just something about the city that is awesome and this time was no different. I wanted to go back to Poland and I was looking at Bydgoszcz but they didn’t have flight prices that I wanted to pay and Warsaw did so I booked that. I also wanted to test out going somewhere on my new stupid shifts to see if I was missing stuff (I guess Warsaw wasn’t the right test for this) and whether or not I could do the must-do/must-see sights with one day less than usual.
I also wanted to go to Warsaw as the last time I was there (about 2 years ago) there was quite a bit of construction going on in the city and I wanted to see what it looked like with the construction finished.
I booked everything and booked the early morning coach to the airport. It got there giving me 90 minutes between getting off the coach, through security and then to the gate. I was shocked I got through security in under 5 minutes. For Stansted, that is no mean feat, let me tell you!
The flight was a little turbulent but not enough to stop me from sleeping for half of it. I was so tired so I guess that helped somewhat.
I landed in Warsaw and they only had 2 guards on at the border – 1 for Schengen/EU passports and 1 for 3rd country passports. I was worried I wouldn’t get across the border in time for my coach to the city. Surprisingly, for the size of the queue, it didn’t much longer than about 20 minutes to get across.
As I got outside and headed to the stop I got a notification from FlixBus that the coach was running 20 minutes late. I didn’t need to worry about crossing the border in quick time.
I got on the coach and a lady sat next to me and then moaned that my headphones were in my pocket and were digging into her thighs – she failed to realise that her fatness overflowed into my space and she would just have to suck it up.
I got to Metro Młociny and headed for a Żabka to get a Prince Polo wafer and something to drink. It felt good to buy them and it felt like I was also coming home being back in Poland. Poland is the country I have visited the most in the EU.
I got the tram to the stop at Dworzec Centralny then got the tram to Muzeum Narodowe and then just wandered around finding my way to the hostel. It was in a part of the city that I hadn’t really seen before and it was nice to see a part of the city I haven’t really seen on any other trips.
I checked in and my bed was ready so I settled down for an hour whilst I rested my feet and got my phone charged before heading back out on my adventures.
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Once I had gotten my stuff put away and recharged myself and my phone I decided to head out. I saw on the map that I was close to the river so I decided that I would head there and have a look around. There was also a metro stop there should I want to head elsewhere.
The Friday before I left I was lucky enough to get the new iPhone and I wanted to use it to test out the new camera and see how it fared. I will say that I wasn’t disappointed. I took some pics of stuff by the river before heading on the metro to find a tram stop and then get on the tram to find some food. I got the metro to Bemowo and then hopped on the tram.
Whilst I was here, I wanted to try and map out the public transport rides I had taken. I have an app called Walkmeter by the developer Abvio and you can set activities on it and it will use GPS to plot the route you take. I was intrigued to see how many tram rides I took and if I took enough to cover the cost of the 3-day public transport ticket (I did just today alone).
I got a tram to Dworzec Wileński as I knew there was a shopping centre there and I could get some food from the American embassy and just chill for a little bit before heading out again. This whole trip was meant to be a chill trip (since I have been here several times before) so I wasn’t in any hurry to get my 10k steps. I got on the tram and headed to the end of the line at Wyścigi (with some other tram rides between). It was starting to get dark so it was a chance for me to test out the 5x zoom in low light and see if the hype was worth it. It was.
I was messaging Ken and he was asking for some comparison pics (which I didn’t think to take) so I decided to hop on the tram to head towards the metro. As I got off, I saw a perfect opportunity for some comparison pics. One of them was a church with a lit-up cross. The night mode at 5x zoom is pretty cool. You can see that in the pics below. The left pic is just normal mode with night mode turned off. The right pic is night mode on.
I got on the metro and got it to the stop by the Palace of Science and Culture as I knew it would be lit up and would offer some good night shots too. Once I was done here I decided to jump back on the metro and head back to the river. I wanted to try and get some shots of the stars to see how they would turn out. It was darker than elsewhere I had seen around so I thought it would be good to get some shots. They turned out OK and you could see some of the stars but the moon was still too bright for a super-dark shot. I also tried to get some light trail shots but they didn’t turn out too well. I don’t think the tripod was stable enough (story of my life. Haha).
Once I was done here I went for some chocolate and fizzy and then headed back to the hostel
Total steps: 18,298
Total miles: 8.65
Below are some pics from today
Since I have the new iPhone, I decided to try and get some pics with it and then edit them to see what I could make them look like.
Ken and I did a couple of workshops at the Apple Store on Regent Street in London on photography and I wanted to put some of it into action.
I found that neon signs were a perfect subject for pictures and made good subjects for editing.
Below are some of the neon signs I found in Warsaw and photographed at night so I could edit them and see how they turned out.
The tab bar below shows the edits made and then also a link to show the full-size original and edited images. I have also put the locations of the pictures.
Today was an early start for heading to the airport. The flight was at 12:05 but the closest bus I could get to the airport was at 08:10 and I would get to the airport about 08:40 giving me over 3 hours to kill. I just walked around the airport and the outside and sat outside for a little while before heading into the airport to sit down.
The airport was different from when I was here last. The only place to eat inside was right past security and was a little stall and a Relay store. They now had an upstairs with a few shops and places to eat. I decided to head upstairs to get some grub and just chill for an hour or so.
I decided to head to security and when I got there it was pretty dead. There was an issue with scanning of the boarding passes and they had to reboot the system. By the time it was sorted, there was no queue whatsoever for security. I got through pretty quick and past there the stall was gone and there was a bigger duty-free shop. It was way better than last time. More choice is only a good thing. I got through passport control and just waited in the queue to board. As I was waiting, a couple of Polish border guards had this girl with them and stayed with her at the front of the queue and then escorted her onto the flight first. I wish I knew what was happening.
I luckily got a seat on the aisle a couple of rows from the back. Close to the toilet and close to the door for landing. When we landed and were ready to deplane, a woman came rushing by trying to get off before everyone. I told her off. Grrrr.
I managed to get across the border pretty quick and then to the train to head home. I had to be on that train as I only had a couple of hours before my shift started.
All in all, Warsaw was a great trip despite feeling rubbish. I really enjoyed the tram surfing and it’s been pretty cool to see the amount of trips I took and where I went around the city. I can’t wait to go to Warsaw again.
Total steps: 50,617
Total miles: 24.39
You can view all of my pics from Warsaw here