As we started rolling out of Warsaw on our way down south we saw lots of the rusting vestiges of communism and plastic of capitalism. First up were a few tanks left over from the cold war (above). They were attached to a museum of cold war armaments, but were just sitting out in the open for anyone to play with. I found it an interesting part of the narrative of post-cold war arms control. Even though they had their engines stripped, it seemed funny that these weapons would just be sitting out in the open.

On our way out of town we stopped for a night at Marcin’s parent’s house in the little spa town of Konstancin-Jeziorna. The town was packed with giant old houses (example below). During the communist era, the residence of these homes were forced to take in other families. But after the end of communism the new inhabitants were given a partial stake in the house – only fair since they had been forced to move there. The result is quite the conundrum where in many people can’t buy full ownership of their homes. There were a fair number that were uninhabited/partially-inhabited. There were also a fair number that had been super renovated, apparently owned by made a fortune after the call of communism importing goods from Germany.

Read the rest of this entry »

After a hard night out on day 1, we were a bit slow to get moving around Warsaw. Once we did, we found a town still shaking off the dust of the last few decades. The city was almost completely leveled during WWII and rebuilt by the communists in a Soviet style with massive boulevards and ominous apartment blocks. Since the end of the cold war, it’s been the capital of one of Europe’s fastest growing countries. The result is a city that is modern and flourishing in parts, but within walking distance areas that look like I imagine they did in the late ’80s. For example, check out the Warsaw international bus station pictured above.

Though the spread out city plan makes the city feel quiet, it is very much alive. We ran into families sledding and when we got to the center of old town (where we had run around the night before) we found that we had just missed a flash-mob pillow fight. The evidence:

We spent the night with more new friends, this time a delicious meal of pierogi and borscht. Other than much of the conversations being in Polish, the house parties and apartments reminded me of the US, spacious and stylishly furnished. It was our first real Polish meal of the trip, and started a trend of us massively overeating the whole way through.

I can’t think of the last time I visited a friend living in a place I hadn’t already been. And after my arrival in Warsaw I quickly started regretting not visiting more friends. My friend Anemona and her mom picked 3 of us at the airport, took us to drop off our kit, and whisked us out to a night of epic partying. We started the night out with a large group of friends, and as the night went on the group continually changed. By the time we arrived at the last bar (where vodka shots were £1, one of which you see being handed to me above) we weren’t sure who were original friends and who were people we had just started talking with and had decided to join our group.

At some point in the night we encountered a hen party, leaving me with the souvenir of a bride’s veil at the end of the night. We ended the evening running around a very deserted downtown Warsaw – bottom photo – and catching a cab home at dawn. A crazy evening I would never would have had were it not for some good local buddies showing me their home town.

I’m headed off tomorrow for my next adventure: a road trip through Poland to Horní Bečva, a little town in the mountains of northeastern Czech Republic. My team mates will be my old friend Ilana from uni and flatmates Alina, Anemona, and Marcin. Anemona and Marcin are playing host on this trip as they are both Polish, and Marcin goes to art school part time in Horní Bečva. I’ll do my best to keep you updated with sights and tales along the way, but I’m not taking my laptop on this one, so no promises.

I’m really excited to get an insiders view of Central Europe, which seemed like a tough nut to really crack while I was there a few years back. Also, I giggle with excitement about the name Horní Bečva, which is pronounced, and I’m not making this up, Horny Bithchfu.

Map of our basic route: