The Final Stage: Warsaw-Krakow-Kyiv

Song of the Day “I’m Still Loving You”  (The Scorpions)

Listening to this song as my taxi driver whizzes across the city here in Warsaw to the train station.  Thinking about Kyiv and my friends there.

Woke up ……tired.  It was my last day in Warsaw….and also my last official day on the entire trip.  Standing beside my bed was a Polish guy.  The same guy I’d seen there at 1:00 a.m.  The same guy that turned the light on and woke everyone up the night before.  The same guy that was SO EXCITED to meet a foreigner.  I wasn’t much in the social mood…..but we chatted a bit anyway……in very simple English.  He’d never met an American before…..and it excited him greatly to meet me.  It’s tough when someone REALLY wants to talk to you….but the conversation is limited by language.  He kept standing right beside me – just looking at me – so I kept asking him really simple questions.  He’d answer very simply….then just keep staring at me.  In the end, he ran out of vocabulary – and I’d run out of energy (I’d yet to eat breakfast) so he settled for 3 handshakes (though I thought he was going to grab me and hug me at one stage!) and parted ways.  

I was feeling REALLY (I think that’s the word of the day) lazy….so I tried to find a quick flight back to Kyiv instead of taking the 18 hour train.  I’d traveled overland the whole route so far…..no planes…..but I didn’t care...I was just feeling lazy.  All my attempts to find a flight were futile though.  One ‘last minute’ special travel deal offered me a ticket through Vienna back to Kyiv for $1200 (about 2x what my entire trip through 9 countries had cost!!)….but I declined the offer.  On a whim, I decided to check out how much a flight to Beijing, China would cost (I’ll likely be going to Asia early next year).  At $600 roundtrip, I discovered that I could fly route my flight through Beijing and get back to Kyiv cheaper than the Vienna option.  In the end….I swallowed my medicine….and headed for the train station to buy my ticket.

The following details the events occurring in the train station:

1. Kiosk #1.  The lady refused to sell me a ticket after she heard the word ‘information’ in my sentence.  ‘Information no here!  Window 18!’  I tried to explain that I wanted to BUY a ticket….but to no avail…..she was now pretending that I was invisible….or maybe that I had never been born.  Strike 1 – no ticket.

2. Proceeded to Kiosk #2.  Again, limited English – when she said ‘No’ to my request also…I began to get irritated.  Even with signs on the window next to her that read ‘Tickets to Kyiv, Moscow, Minsk’, she refused.  She pointed me back upstairs to the lady I had just been to.  I had no desire to visit her again.  I remained persistent…explaining I wanted to buy tickets.  She exclaimed ‘NO!  COMPUTER KAPUT!!!’  I’m not sure I really believed her……but she also began to pretend that I was invisible…..so I moved on.

3. Proceeded to Kiosk #3.  I was surrounded by stressed out Russian speakers (who don’t understand the concept of standing in line).  1 poor Russian man was being verbally beaten by his teenage daughter.  He remained expressionless….saying nothing….as though it was a daily occurrence for him.  Regardless of unhappy Russians, I hit pay dirt at this Kiosk.  I got my tickets.

   
   

I had 4 hours to kill before getting on the train.  I went to my favorite Polish grocery store….and bought a few of my favorite Polish mini-pizzas.  These things are a bit of heaven on earth….and would make the 18 hour train ride more bearable.  

After this….I did what may be considered a sin in Poland.  I was going to go to the top floor (viewing level) of the ‘Palace of Culture and Science’ to see the city on a clear, sunny day.  You see……Poles don’t like this building.  It’s huge…..you absolutely can’t miss it when you come to Warsaw (unless you are blind)….but it’s the history that the Poles don’t like.  You see, it was a special ‘gift’ from Daddy Stalin to the Poles in 1951.  But…it’s become such an integral part of the skyline here, no one had the heart to tear it down after the fall of communism.  Actually, it seems to fly in the face of the regime it represented many years ago - it has become a banner for capitalism as it now contains plenty of places to spend money (several stores, a movie theater, a concert hall, and a nice restaurant at the top).

So – I resolved to take my pizzas to the top floor and enjoy lunch looking out over the city.  I may have been able to get into the Olympic games with my bag, but no such luck here – I was flatly refused.  I decided to go have lunch in the park at the base of the tower first….I’d have to settle for a coffee from the restaurant at the top later.  I trudged out of the palace, past a group of teenagers hanging out – they were dressed a bit strangely – one had ‘HOOLIGAN’ printed across the back of their shorts.  I stumbled past a couple of American girls looking completely lost as they were seeking solace in their ‘Lonely Planet’ guide to Poland.  

I found a nice comfortable place in the park.  I began to devour my lunch.  He appeared out of nowhere.  A pleasant, smiling man….about 65…speaking Polish.  He had a tattered chess set with him.  He asked me to play.  Truth is, I wanted to eat my lunch in peace.  But….I kept thinking “Maybe this is another one of those stories I can write about later”, so I agreed to play a game.  We switched over to Russian and chatted a bit.  He brought out some Polish money (10 zloty – almost 3 U.S. dollars) and suggested we play for money.  I refused.  He said ok, and we proceeded to play.  If I tell you that I haven’t played chess since I was 8 years old, it doesn’t take you long to figure out the results of the game.  Within about 4 minutes, he had absolutely slaughtered me.  Then he starts this talk about chess being a ‘Gentlemen’s game’. He kept rambling on about it. Then he said he’d played like a gentlemen.  I refused….citing that I did not agree to play for money before the game.  He remained persistent….his tone much more stern than that nice pleasant man that I had met 5 minutes before.  I offered him his choice:  a peach or a nice Polish roll (my favorite type, by the way).  He stopped ranting long enough to take the roll.  Then he began to yell.  The whole thing seemed so ridiculous that I just started to laugh out loud.  This really set him off.  He grabbed his chess set….tucked it under his arm and yelled, “I PLAYED LIKE A GENTLEMEN….AND YOU PLAYED LIKE A STUPID PERSON!!!!!’  With that he stormed away to seek another chess victim.

After a good chuckle and finishing my lunch, I walked past ‘Hooligan’ and his friends again and took the elevator to the top (of course after checking my bag in).  It was nice.  I enjoyed Cappuccino and the view.

I piddled around a bit too long in the palace – a nice Olympic display kept me occupied.  But finally……I went back to ground level.  I passed ‘Hooligan’ and his buddies again….but they looked less cheerful this time – they were being questioned sternly by two policemen.  I hurried through the park toward the train station.  I had not seen an Australian in 2 days…..but there they were….3 of them sitting in the park.  I recognized their accents.  The one in the middle said ‘I can say that I got bit by a dog – a damn big dog!  Can I say that?!?!?  His friend on the left said ‘Yeah, you can say that’.  I was dying to hear more details, but I was running late. 

I zipped over to the 24 hour bookstore to find that it was closed.  Found another store and bought ‘The Da Vinci Code’ to make the ride home more interesting.  Turns out, there’s remodeling going on at the central train station and I had to leave from a different station.  Since I hadn’t spent the $1200 for the plane ticket, I decided to throw down big money ($3.85) for a taxi across town.  

Ah, but the journey was not complete.  My train was scheduled to go to the Polish city of Krakow first….there I would have a few hours before catching the overnight train to Kyiv.  What adventure would wait me in Krakow?  Maybe a grandmother wanting to play checkers????

Apparently, I look like a Polish person, and a train expert.  5 people walked up to me within 5 minutes of one another and asked me for train information.  When I’d answer them in English they would either say ‘What?!?!’ (I can at least recognize this word in Polish) and look quizzically at me as though I was speaking some foreign language.  Actually, I was speaking some foreign language.  Or….the second…more common reaction….was a weak smile, and a look of embarrassment as they walked away.  

On the train, I continue to read ‘The Da Vinci Code’.  I become captivated.  I let the intensity of the book slip into reality.  A bald man serves me coffee.  The picture on his badge (a young, skinny man with hair), looks nothing like the chubby bald guy that served the coffee.  Could he be the killer? The caffeine….and the guy shoving my seat behind me, jolt me back to reality.  He is making such a ruckus back there, I think he must be remodeling my seat.  

Ok – here’s a question for all you travelers out there.  How do you handle this situation?  Please choose from the following:

1. Turn around quickly and glare at him….saying nothing……but making it clear you are irritated with him.

2. Pound him upside the head until he begs for mercy (and agrees to never do it again).

3. Make a deal with the person sitting behind him.  Offer her cash to push his seat around for a while.  (An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, right???)

4. Do nothing.

In the end, I chose option D, but have considered the other options as well as I’ve been traveling.

Today….also….. was an interesting toilet day.  

On the train to Krakow, I went to the toilet a few minutes after the train had left the station….and not long before the ticket lady came through.  When I came out, she was standing right outside the door, with her arms crossed, glaring at me…..(Sometimes people try to hide in the toilet so they don’t have to pay for their tickets).  Later, when she came to my seat to check my ticket…..she seemed almost disappointed that I had one.  

In the Krakow McDonalds I made a quick run to the toilet.  There I saw a man furiously clapping his hands under the hand dryer.  It’s the first time in my life I’d seen something like this!!

And finally….a few minutes after boarding the train from Krakow to Kyiv, I went in the toilet.  I’m a bit embarrassed to say….but I went in there to wash my feet (I remembered the youth hostel incident from a few nights ago – when I took my shoes off, a lady got out her perfume and sprayed it around the room)…..because I didn’t want to stink up our compartment.  So, just about the time I’ve got my first foot up in the sink, the conductor starts pounding on the door yelling at me….telling me I can’t be in there.  I asked for a minute.  She continued to pound on the door while I washed the other foot.  She had finally gone when I sneaked out a couple of minutes later.  

I’m afraid to use the toilet anymore – maybe I’ll wait until I get back to Kyiv……

I underestimated my time in Krakow.  I had exactly 91 minutes there before needing to board the next train.  That was ok – I only had one goal in Krakow – to find a big bowl of Zurek (my favorite Polish soup).  I wasn’t worried….I’d been to Krakow before (for 3 hours last year – waiting between trains then as well) and I was confident I knew where to go.  Last time I had found the center of the city no problem.  So, this time – I went exactly…….in the wrong direction.  I searched for a restaurant serving Zurek, but instead I found ‘Fung Dung’ Chinese restaurant, ‘Tipsy Manicure’, and ‘Exotic Massage (complete with a huge, flashing heart out front of the shop), but no Zurek. 

Finally, I turned around and went back the direction I’d come….I’d already burned up more than 20 of my precious 91 minutes in Krakow.  Within minutes, I’d found the center and a restaurant with Zurek.  I scarfed it down, then headed to McDonalds for their special Polish version of raspberry yogurt.  There in the toilet, I saw a man furiously clapping his hands under the hair dryer.  This was a surprise for me…..the first time I’ve seen such a thing in my life.  I arrived at the train station with 15 minutes to spare….and just in time to see a drunk man yelling at 2 children.  I boarded the train…..and it was full of children.  I made several new friends under the age of 8 as they all seemed eager to talk to a foreigner.  They were Ukrainian kids and had just spent 10 days at a Polish camp.  

I slept well.   But, awoke to one of my roommates (a guy about my own age) ruthlessly quizzing the kid with us about the camp.  Turns out, this guy is ‘Mr. New Age’.  I finally gave up on reading ‘The Da Vinci Code’ as he would not stop talking to me.  His conversation (in Russian) gave me a headache.  He spoke of a place near Tibet where I man could age 50 years in 5 minutes….and it was a FACT.  He spoke of energy…..that things are not what they seemed.  Money….it’s simply energy.  You…..me….we are simply energy.  I interjected some comments from time to time….but mostly listened.  In the end….I just said ‘Who makes the energy?’  God – he’s the one you are searching for’.  As simple….and as unexciting as the answer may have seemed to him, I believe it was the right answer.  For him….for me….for everyone searching….God has to be the answer.

Next thing I new, we were arriving in Kyiv.  In the hallway in front of me were a bunch of happy kids chanting ‘KYIV!  KYIV!  KYIV!’…..and with Mr. New Age behind me I got off the train.  Filled with a mix of emotions….happy to be back…..but wanting to travel more…..I walked to the metro. 

In the metro, I was lost in my thoughts.  But, here comes a Babushka (grandmother) asking for money.  As she walked past me, her skirt blew up in my face, revealing much more of her than I really wanted to see.  It was good to be home…….

-----

Well, this is it.  I'm home in Kyiv now, still processing the trip as a whole.  The highlight of the trip was in Macedonia.....that's where I feel like God spoke to me most clearly.  

I hope you enjoyed the ride.  I really enjoyed telling you about it.  I will be in Asia early next year for a bit of this as well.  Hope I can take you along for that ride as well.

In Him,

Brent