Burrito West Blog

So, we were in Wroclaw for about 12 hours before we were back on a train to Warsaw on Nov 19. It started off as a bit of deja vu until our train broke down and we went from 1 train and 6.5 hrs to 4 trains and 9 hrs to get to Warsaw. Well, better that it happen when we are not trying to make a connection! Once again I'm glad Peter was there to navigate us through all the transfers.

We made it to Warsaw late and got to the old part of town where we checked into our hotel, did a short wander around the old town (which is all reconstructed, since Warsaw was totally destroyed in the war) and had dinner in a Polish restaurant.

View from our hotel room. Not too shabby!

(I've definitely got a cold at this point.)

The next morning I went to the Museum of the History of Polish Jews - the venue for the conference - which was not part of COP19, it was like a side-event, a gathering of mayors and NGOs to discuss climate issues from a municipal perspective to feed into COP19. I spent a nice day chatting with people and listening to presentations and participating in round-table dialogues. It was good. Then I met up with Peter and we went for a wander through the shopping streets. Warsaw seems to have some nice bits; all the Polish people we meet advise us not to bother going to Warsaw, funny. We liked what little we saw. After the evening conference event, I happily collapsed into bed, definitely sick!

The following day we checked out of the hotel and went to visit the Warsaw Rising Museum which is really well put together. Also depressing.  Here's the short form of the Warsaw Uprising:
a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army (Polish: Armia Krajowa) to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces. However, the Soviet advance stopped short, enabling the Germans to regroup and demolish the city while defeating the Polish resistance, which fought for 63 days with little outside support (and few weapons). The Uprising was the largest single military effort taken by any European resistance movement of World War II

After the failure of the uprising, the entire civilian population of Warsaw (~400,000) was expelled from the city and sent to a transit camp Durchgangslager 121 in Pruszków (many of whom then went on to labour (~90,000) or death camps (~60,000)). The Germans systematically destroyed every building in Warsaw. It wasn't destroyed incidentally during military maneuvers, no, the Germans wanted to wipe the city from the face of the earth and they systematically blew up buildings until nothing was left. I know it may seem small, compared to the human atrocities committed by the Nazis, but, there's something about it that just makes me very sad - this desire to erase an entire city and its people. Well, I guess they had plans to erase far more than that, didn't they?  Also the part where the Russians encouraged the uprising and then stood by and did not help the Polish Home Army - I feel like we don't get that part of WWII history in school, where the Russians were out to gain territory for themselves, rather than liberate oppressed people. It's just.... poor Poland, caught in the middle.

Back to light-hearted travel fluff!

After the Rising Museum, we had some crepes (sugar cures depression, right?) and then we caught a train to Krakow where I collapsed happily on the hotel bed (sick) and napped. Peter went for Indian takeout (have I mentioned how much I love Peter, and also this great Indian restaurant in Krakow?).

The next day I rested, trying to get over my cold. Peter went out for a bit. We both went for a short walk up to the castle, and through old town, stopping for hot chocolate and mulled wine. Then more Indian for dinner. 

Nov 23: the Lindy Hop festival we went to Krakow for has started! I'm still sick but we went to all 3 beginner classes and it was good but afterwards I really really needed a nap. So I did that while Peter fetched us a pizza. Later that evening we went to the big gala party which was in Wieliczka salt mine - now a UNESCO site.

The very cramped elevator ride down 125m in the dark was fun, the venue was very cool, and the party was awesome. Lindy hop people are a happy, fun bunch. It was great to watch the amazing dancers (and dance a bit). We really enjoyed it.  And, bonus, we made friends with a couple from Wroclaw (who we've since hung out with at a lindy thing here)!

It was a long night - we went back up to the surface at 3am and after conversing with others who were there we decided that the 3am shuttle bus wasn't going to show up so we followed someone to the public bus stop (which did come, fortunately!). We got back to the hotel room at 4:30am!

Guess what we did the next day?  If you guessed that we went to two more lindy hop classes, you're right!  Yup, two more beginner classes. Then Indian for lunch, then the longest bus ride ever (because I had a horrible headache) back to Wroclaw. It's amazing how often my feeling upon returning to our Wroclaw apartment is joy at seeing our bed and being able to collapse into it, no matter how much fun I've had on the road.

More Warsaw photos are here.  More Krakow photos are here.