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Old 17 Oct 17, 07:13 PM  
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NatsyNoo
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Natsynoo's Polish Adventure (Krakow & Warsaw) - September 2017

I had big plans for this year’s summer holiday – first it was a DCL Transatlantic cruise, then we decided to plan an Italian road trip (an EPIC road trip, that is)…and then, just a couple of weeks after Christmas, we were served notice on our lovely little flat. We rent, because we have prioritised travel over buying a house for the past 10 years, but this unexpected news caught us out financially and taught us that we need to start thinking more seriously about buying a house, and creating a rainy day fund. So our wonderful travel plans took a turn for the cheap…and we ended up in Poland!

We had a great time, and next year has ended up becoming a very busy one (more on that in a moment). We were able to see another two European cities, tick off another bucket list item for my lovely hubby, and more than anything, has given us a bit of financial breathing space to get a bit fitter and create a ‘plan to buy’ plan…mission accomplished, and now we can holiday and buy a house in the next couple of years…hoorah! To my mind, the hard bit is over!

The thing we have missed most this year is warmth and sunshine…we had a break in March to Iceland (Matt’s Christmas present that I had already paid for before the flat disaster) and this trip to Poland wasn’t particularly warm (quite the opposite, in fact!), and our ‘Great British Summer’ hasn’t been terribly exciting. Next year is Matt’s 40th birthday, so our plan was to take a trip to South Africa, the place he’s always wanted to visit more than anywhere in the world.

We then decided to rebook to go back to CenterParcs with my sister and her family. It’s our treat as their Christmas present…lovely.

Next up, my sister announced that she wanted to go to DLP for her 30th birthday instead of having a party, would we like to go along?! Well I can’t miss my niece’s first trip to Disneyland, now, can I?! Booked!

I then had a revelation – I wanted to go to Salzberg to see the sights of The Sound of Music! Cheap fligths and hotel secured, and with two of my bestest Dibb buddies to join the fiesta, that’s all booked too!

The next one blew my mind…my Dad and I haven’t quite seen eye to eye in recent years, but we’ve come out of the other side of that in recent months. And then he had to ask a really silly question….would we like to join him on an all expenses paid trip to WDW next April? Duh! So that’s all booked too! 2 weeks in the Yacht Club with my sister, brother-in-law, niece, Dad, his twins (my little bro & sis) and Matt! I literally can’t believe my luck!

I then decided I just couldn’t bear to watch another DLP Run Disney event on Facebook...I want to part of the action next year. I run now (like a tortoise, but I run!) but this would surely push me to step the training up a notch?! So that is now booked too!

So yeah, our few days in Poland suddenly didn’t seem so bad…we have an EPIC 2018 to come and I can’t wait! 89 days before the crazy begins!
So with that pre-amble/life update over, onto the trip!

I am not a big fan of travelling abroad for just a couple of days. To me it just doesn’t seem worth the airfare. So if this was going to be my big summer holiday, I was going to make it worth it. Krakow was a must, it was the whole point…Matt is a huge war history ‘geek’, and so Auschwitz was a total bucket list item for him. After some research, I concluded that 2-3 days in Krakow would be enough, so we could really spare another 2 days elsewhere. I did some reading on Warsaw first…it made sense as it’s the capital city….and I was immediately ‘sold’. There’s so much war history there, I knew Matt would love it. It is easily accessible from Krakow by train, so that would be our second stop.

Next was finding flights…cheapest was Ryanair in and out of Stansted. It was fine but the times weren’t perfect and it’s not exactly local to us. I did a bit of digging and found that Bristol also accommodates a lot of Polish flights, so by playing around with dates, tiems and destinations, I found an early morning flight outbound to Krakow on a Monday, and then a late return flight from Warsaw on the Friday. This would allow Monday to Wednesday in Krakow (enough time to see the city and visit Auschwitz) and then 2 days in Warsaw. Perfect!

When it came to accommodation, it became clear that Krakow would be done cheapest by staying in an Air B&B and I found a lovely looking one, within budget, not too far out, soon enough, so got that booked. When it came to Warsaw, the opposite was true, so I found a serviced apartment on Hotels.com in the newer part of the city, and got that booked too.

That little lot – flights & accommodation for Krakow & Warsaw for both of us – came in at under £300. I popped on a Premier Inn booking in Bristol for the night before the outbound flight, and then of course, airport parking.

I spent a lot of time looking at the best way to visit Auschwitz. As much as it can be accessed by train from Krakow, I was nervous of the language barrier and also of getting lost, missing the train, etc. I then found out that Auschwitz cannot be visited by anyone at any time, as is the case with Sachsenhausen in Berlin. Rather, you need to register for a guided tour for arrivals after 8am. Since I found this out realtively late in the day, I decided to look into organised tours from Krakow, and managed to find one with a trip to a local salt mine, including transport and entrance fees plus tours in both locations for around £40 each. My feeling is that it was very wroth the money, so went ahead with that. It took away the pressure, for sure!

So the final piece was getting from Krakow to Warsaw. It was easier said than done, but with some perseverance and the help of Google Translate, I managed to get two one-way tickets for around £20 each. Phew!

So that was that – trip booked, on the cheap, and a new experience for us both.

Now, onto the trip!
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Old 17 Oct 17, 07:13 PM  
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Day 0 - Bath

I used to go to University in Cardiff. I love it. But I didn’t really go outside of Cardiff. I visited Bristol once for work but have heard lovely things about Bath but never visited myself. Therefore, when we booked flights from Bristol, and realised that Matt wasn’t working on the Sunday before we flew, I decided that we should take a little pre-holiday day trip!

We left home at around 8am, and stopped via McDonalds for a yummy breakfast on the way! What better way to start a holiday?!

It didn’t take long to get to Bath, I think we arrived at around 10.15am-ish, so we got parked up and followed our noses…we obviously did a very good job as we found the Abbey soon after, and of course, the Roman Baths!

IMG_4307 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

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IMG_4305 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

Matt was put off of visiting the Baths at the £15 pp ticket price, but we couldn’t come to Bath for the first time and not visit the famous Baths, so I purchased the tickets and we headed in.

We followed the audio guides and found our visit very interesting! I literally can’t believe that they have been there for 2000+ years! Just fascinating!

20170917_103616 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

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After visiting the Baths, we went for a wander around the shops. We grabbed a couple of drinks from Waitrose (£1 for two cans) and popped into Primark and as usual, ended up buying for my niece (a hat/scarf/gloves set, a flannel and two pairs of sunglasses in the sale that I have put aside for Christmas - £10).

We loved this ‘umbrella’ street!

IMG_4327 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

20170917_130402 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

En route around the shops, we stopped for a Greggs pit stop lunch, and a cheeky Krispy Kreme (mint chocolate for Matt, white chocolate & raspberry for me).

We also went to find the famous townhouses around The Circus and the Royal Crescent, and also Pulteney Bridge…tourists!

IMG_4323 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4321 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4318 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4317 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

By around 2.30pm, we felt that we had seen what we wanted to see, so decided to head towards Bristol and visit the Cribbs Causeway shopping centre…Disney Store had nothing whatsoever to do with it! It passed a couple of hours anyway before heading to dinner. We wanted to have the special weekend menu at Prezzo so went to the Bristol branch for a yummy dinner (albeit slow/rubbish service) before heading back to our hotel in Bristol. I think we got there around 7.30pm, so we showered, I re-sorted the bags ready for tomorrow (putting anything we didn’t need to take to Poland with us in a separate bag to leave in the car), and we watched Home Alone in bed before nodding off…a very odd choice before going on our summer holidays but hey, this year was far from traditional for us
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Old 17 Oct 17, 07:26 PM  
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Day 1 - Krakow (Old Town)

The alarm at 5am was as ever, unwelcome, but we hopped out of bed and got ready to leave on track at 5.45am. The airport parking wasn’t as easy to find as I’d hoped, so we arrived a few minutes later than planned but we had allowed plenty of time so it was no bother.

We got to the airport and through security without too much trouble, and headed straight to Superdrug to get Matt a deodorant (we couldn’t find his usual one in less than a 100ml bottle so needed to buy a full size one after security – perks of travelling with hand luggage only!) and some chewing gum for me (£2.69 in total), followed by some drinks and snacks in WHSmith, before heading for breakfast.

I didn’t want a hot breakfast after over-indulging the previous day, so Matt chose Brunel. He had a full English and we each had a large orange juice for £18. I popped to neighbouring Soho Coffee to grab a mango granola for £2.75, which was yummy.

IMG_4336 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4335 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

Our flight departed on time and was largely uneventful – I read my new book, and Matt read some of the news on his tablet before watching a film. We got through security after a bit of a queue, called a taxi (after a failed Uber attempt – taxi was 89zl/£20 to Krakow), and met our Air B&B host who showed us the ropes when we arrived. All was going swimmingly so far!

IMG_4338 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

After we dropped off the bags, we walked to the main square in Krakow, which was about 1 mile away. It took around 20 minutes but it was a nice day and it was good to get our bearings.

20170918_184659 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

20170918_184556 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

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After a little wander around the square, and a munch on a bagel (1.50zl/35p), we wandered a little further out towards the Wawel Castle & Cathedral…well, we stumbled upon it rather than it being by any intent.

IMG_4341 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

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IMG_4348 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

20170918_150951 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

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We had a wander around but didn’t go inside (it closed early on Mondays) and then went into the ‘Dragons Den’ (3zl/70p each) before stopping for a drink in the courtyard café to rest our now weary feet.

20170918_150031 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4345 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

20170918_145907 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

20170918_145853 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

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After a little rest, we wandered back into the square, and targeted more of the sights.

20170918_143330 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

20170918_142411 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

20170918_162738 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

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This sculpture of St Mary’s Basilica was made of chocolate!

IMG_4357 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

We then headed for dinner at around 5pm at Hard Rock Café.

IMG_4369 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

20170918_184154 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

Matt started with chicken wings (I didn’t have a starter), then both had a burger for main, before finishing up with the apple cobbler for dessert. We also both had a soda and shared a side of the twisted mac n cheese. That little feast came to 178.40zl or £41 ish. An absolute bargain compared to our bills at other Hard Rock Cafes that we have visited around the world!

IMG_4361 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4360 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

20170918_173436 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4363 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

20170918_173429 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

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After dinner, we popped into St Mary’s Basilica to see the inside, which was beautiful, but it was closed for prayer so we didn’t stay for long.

IMG_4366 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4364 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

We then decided that we had really done everything that we wanted to do today, so headed back towards the apartment.
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Old 17 Oct 17, 07:27 PM  
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On our way home, we loved looking at the shop signs…this one made us giggle

IMG_4370 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

We were back by 7.30pm, so I did a little bit of unpacking, had a shower, and we managed to stream the soaps from back home on my tablet! A very cosy evening in

Some piccies of our apartment:

IMG_4375 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4374 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4373 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4372 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4376 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

Bed was calling at 10pm local time, ready for a long, busy and sobering day tomorrow.
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Old 17 Oct 17, 07:40 PM  
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Day 2 - Krakow (Auschwitz & Salt Mine)

We woke naturally at around 7pm. We weren’t due to be picked up until 8.40am so we could have a leisurely ‘get up’ until that time, which was nice (an unusual for our holidays!).

We were picked up on time at 8.40am and did a couple more pick ups before heading out the nearby town or Oswiecim for our tour of Auschwitz. It took around 1 hour & 10 mins to get out there but the pick ups took around another 20 minutes on top of that, so not bad in all.

We arrived a bit early for our 11am tour, so we grabbed a hot chocolate for me and a Pepsi for Matt, which was 22zl (£5.11).

The tour was very interesting – I won’t say too much, and will let the pictures speak for themselves, but needless to say it was very harrowing. I have to say that I found the ghostliness of Sachsenhausen in Berlin more upsetting. I think Auschwitz was just too busy for it to have the haunting effect, and it has been turned into a museum too much for my liking but I understand the reasons for this and it didn’t take away from it being a very moving experience and incredibly interesting. The most striking moments for me were seeing the piles of ‘stuff’ that had been sorted at Canada 1 & Canada 2 (the human hair was awful….a whole room of human hair) and walking through the gas chamber. Knowing how many people lost their lives in that room/building alone was horrendous.

20170919_112251 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

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This is the gas chamber and crematorium remaining at Auschwitz camp

IMG_4407 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

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After visiting Auschwitz, we went straight across to Birkenau. Birkenau is what I had visually expected Auschwitz to be from pictures, i.e. with the railway line leading into the camp, etc. I actually found this part more moving. It was desolate, and more reminiscent of Sachsenhausen. It felt more ‘ghostly’. Birkenau was the home of the other gas chambers, though these were blown up with dynamite by the Nazis when they learned that the horrors of their crimes had been discovered on the outside world (but we did see the remains, piccies below). There is also a memorial here which was very touching, with a tribute written in each language of the campmates thought to have been here.

20170919_133717 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4412 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

20170919_134129 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

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IMG_4428 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

20170919_140933 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

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IMG_4424 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

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IMG_4423 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4421 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr
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Old 17 Oct 17, 07:40 PM  
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We finished up at around 2pm in Birkenau, and made our way to Wieliczka, which took another 1.25 hours. This isn’t somewhere that was known to me before our trip but the tour was offered with it for not much more money and since it is a UNESCO world heritage site, we thought it was worth a visit and it certainly was!

IMG_4479 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

On arrival, we were given around 20 minutes for lunch before our tour, which wasn’t long at all, so we grabbed a bag of crisps and a Polish sausage each from a stand outside with a hot chocolate for me and Coke Zero for Matt. This came to 42zl (£9.76). We weren’t expecting lunch to be this late and hadn’t taken any snacks so we were ravenous and gobbled it down very quickly!

IMG_4432 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

Again, I won’t say much but the tour was really interesting. The unforgettable moment for me was the chapel that had been carved by the three brothers and canonised by the Pope. It was breathtaking, and to think it was made from salt! The tour took 2 hours in total and we would really recommend! It was also quite weird to be encouraged to lick the walls!

IMG_4449 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

We had a lot of stairs to get down!

IMG_4434 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4437 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

Most of these pictures show displays carved entirely from salt, it’s just incredible!

IMG_4447 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

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20170919_171907 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

The drive back to Krakow went by fairly quickly (45 minutes) and we were pooped. It had been a busy and emotional day (and wet!). We weren’t too hungry given our late lunch but knew we had to eat something before heading back to the apartment so we just opted for a McDonalds. Matt had a McRoyal meal, I had a chicken nuggets meal with a side cheeseburger and we each had a McFlurry (they had mango & passionfruit and it was amazing!) which came to 55zl or £12.06…bargain!

IMG_4480 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

After dinner, we headed back to the apartment…in the driving rain….before chilling out for a while ahead of bed at 10.15pm (after Bake Off, of course!). Today had been worth the trip alone and we loved it!

For info, we booked the tour via Cracow Local Tours on Viator – I think it was this one:

viator/tours/Krakow/.../d529-24963P13
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Old 17 Oct 17, 07:45 PM  
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Day 3 - Krakow (Jewish Quarter)

Today, the plan was to explore the Jewish Quarter. It was our last full day in Krakow so we needed to cross off the final bits and bobs.

My boots had ripped my feet to shreds by now so I told Matt I wouldn’t be walking, so we caught an Uber We woke up naturally at 7.30am, and left at about 9.30am. The Uber cost 12.32zl (£2.87).

First off, we saw the Stare Synagogue and Remuh Cemetary, before walking over to the Ghetto Square. I hadn’t realised how far apart these were when planning.

IMG_4485 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4487 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

Our first stop in the Ghetto Square was the Eagle Under The Pharmacy museum. This was 10zl (£2.32) each to enter and while small, was interesting. The story behind this museum is that it was run by one of three non-Jewish people that actually risked their lives to help the Jews during the segregation (another was Schindler and I can’t remember the third just now). The Pharmacist used to help hide contraband, exchange messages, etc, and the museum shows and explains how they did this. My only criticsm of this place was that it was quite small and compared with other museums for a similar cost, it didn’t seem as good value, but for £2.32 each, I couldn’t complain!

IMG_4491 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4490 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4489 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4488 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

Having seen the monument, we decided to wander over to Schindler’s Factory, via the fragment of remaining wall, and to grab some pastries for breakfast (3,40zl/79p).

20170920_102833 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4492 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4493 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

We got to Schindler’s Factory not too late, and I’m glad we did, as by the time we left, the queue to buy tickets was enormous!

The entry was 21zl each (£4.88) and this was tremendous value! We were in the museum for a good 2 hours. The highlight was obviously seeing Schindler’s Office but it provided a really useful insight to life for the Jews at the time of the segregation.

20170920_123604 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

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Our plan at this point was to walk down to the Liban Quarry to see the remains of the movie set, or to see the remains of the Plaszow Camp, but the rain was so heavy and it was just so miserable it wouldn’t have been a pleasant walk, so we cut our losses, pleased to have seen what we did, and headed for lunch at Hard Rock Café. We caught an Uber back to the Old Town for 10.21zl (£2.37).

We both ordered chicken wings to start, and then Matt ordered a Texan sandwich (Basically a spicy pulled pork sandwich) and I had fajitas. We skipped dessert this time, so with a soft drink, the bill came to 167.60zl (£38.98).

IMG_4499 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

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IMG_4503 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

We had a little walk around the square again, knowing today was our last chance to do so, as we headed to Warsaw tomorrow, but decided that we had seen everything we wanted, so headed back to the apartment via a shop for some snacks, to chill for the afternoon/evening, and to pack for tomorrow’s departure. It was actually nice to get some down time! And we spent some time messing around with the filters on Instagram…as you do

IMG_4511 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4510 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4507 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

We had an early start tomorrow, so bed called at 10pm.
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Old 17 Oct 17, 07:52 PM  
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Day 4 - Warsaw

The alarm went off at 6.10am and was a bit of a shock to the system given our pace to date! We got ready, packed the fnal bits and pieces, and called for an Uber to the station at 6.45am. This cost 11.90zl (£2.77).

We grabbed some pastries at the station ofr 5.80zl (£1.35) before heading up to the platform to wait for the train, which was on time at 7.38am.

20170921_075800 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

20170921_075602 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

Someone was sat in our seats, trying to say we were in the wrong carriage. We definitely weren’t but I didn’t fancy having an argument with someone in Polish so we just found two other vacant seats and settled down for the 2.5 hour journey. It was a very easy process, that aside.

Once we arrived into Warsaw Central station, we called for an Uber to take us to our hotel, which came to 10zl (£2.33) where we left our bags so we could go out exploring.

Luckily () the weather had followed us from Krakow, so we had a fairly miserable walk to the nearby Polish Uprising Museum. I had heard great things about this place and it did not disappoint.

It was an incredibly interesting exhibit about the history of, believe it or not, the Polish Uprising. This is an area of history which, despite a keen interest (particularly Matt), neither of us had ever heard of, and I can only assume that this is because we were asked to step in and support the Polish struggle but didn’t. It was very sad though. The thing that got to me the most was that that something like 4 million people lived in Warsaw before the Uprising, which resulted in 85% of Warsaw being flattened, but come 1945, only 1000 people lived there. I found that absolutely staggering. Warsaw has since been rebuilt, based on old planning documents and photos, so it largely looks the same as it once did.

When we left the museum, the plan had been to catch the sightseeing bus. It was wet and we thought it was a good way to see some more of the city. However, we couldn’t find the bus stop anywhere, so we just caught an Uber over to the Old Town (11.37zl/£2.64).

I had planned to visit the Marie Curie museum, but in all honesty, on day 3 of this torrential rain, I was getting seriously fed up, as well as being hungry, so was in a bit of a strop so we didn’t go. Instead, we just walked in the direction my nose took us, looking for somewhere to eat that wasn’t a Polish restaurant, when we stumbled across a Pizza Hut. It was like a blessing from above, and was just what I needed on this soggy day.

We headed inside, and each ordered a pizza and drink which came to 94.34zl (£21.93) and was worth every penny!

IMG_4523 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4522 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

By the time we came out, the rain had stopped a bit so we took the opportunity to explore the sights of the Old Town, which I actually really loved!

IMG_4531 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4530 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4544 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4548 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4547 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4543 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

20170921_154132 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

20170921_154031 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

20170921_150946 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4537 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

20170921_145746 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4517 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

20170921_132607 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

20170921_145738 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4524 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4535 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4534 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4532 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

These bullet holes remain from the battles during the Uprising

IMG_4538 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

Polish Uprising Monument:

IMG_4542 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4540 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4539 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

We then headed in the direction of the Royal Route (unknowingly at first) and walked as far as Lazienki Park.

IMG_4550 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4551 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4552 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4553 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4554 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4555 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4556 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4557 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4558 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4559 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4561 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4562 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

We walked until around 5pm and decided that we’d had a sufficiently long day today, so popped to a shop for some drinks and chocolate (11.66zl/£2.71) and booked an Uber to take us back to the apartment (13.83zl/£3.23).

Check in was slow, only to be told that we needed to speak to someone different, but eventually we were shown to our apartment at 5.45pm, where we chilled for the evening, and repacked ready for tomorrow’s flight home. Bed was calling at 10pm and I slept like a log!

IMG_4567 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4568 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4569 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4570 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr
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Old 17 Oct 17, 07:57 PM  
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Great report thanks for sharing.
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Old 17 Oct 17, 07:59 PM  
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Day 5 - Warsaw

Our time in Poland had flown by, and I couldn’t believe it was already time to fly home. Despite the grotty weather and my painful feet, we had had a great time and seen some fantastic things, but today we were to visit two of my favourite sights of the whole trip!

We woke up at 7.45am and left the apartment at around 9.10am. We caught an Uber to Lazienki Park (where we finished up yesterday) to begin today’s self-tour. The Uber was 14.56zl (£3.39). Our first two stops today were the Chopin Monument, which I’m sure would be spectacular to see during the summer concerts; and then the Palace on the Island (i.e. the former Royals’ summer residence).

IMG_4574 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4575 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4576 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4577 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4578 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4580 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4581 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4592 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

We bumped into some red squirrels in the park and they were so tame!

20170922_095712 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4585 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

Our next stop was the Gestapo HQ, so we walked there from the Lazienki Park. The entry here was 10zl (£2.33) and was one of the most harrowing things I had seen during our time here, in some ways moreso than Auschwitz! This was where the Gestapo would hold and torture and question their prisoners during the war. It was underground, dark, dingy, and just all round horrid. We weren’t there for terribly long, but long enough to read of some of the torture that took place here, to see inside some of the cells and interrogation rooms, and just get an overall sentiment of what things must have been like here during those awful times.

IMG_4593 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4594 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4595 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4600 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4599 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4598 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4597 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

Our next stop was, aptly, Pawiak Prison, so we caught another Uber which was 14.22zl (£3.31). The prison was another 10zl each to enter, but again, was well worth the money. The exhibits were interesting and it was really useful to see inside the cells and understand what life would have been like in the place that many people were held before being transported to one of the camps.

IMG_4606 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4607 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

This tree has the obituaries of some of the prisoner who died here…

IMG_4604 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4603 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4613 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4612 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4611 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4610 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4609 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4608 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

To tick off the remaining items on the list, we would be on foot – we walked to the Monument to the Heroes of the Ghetto, Monument to those Fallen & Murdered in the East, and Umschlagplatz Monument (the location from which the Jews were held to be put on the trains to take them to the Death Camps). This was quite a long walk but a good way to see more of the city on our whistlestop tour.

IMG_4622 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4621 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4620 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4619 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4618 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4616 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

We grabbed some drinks en route for 5.19zl (£1.21) and ended up catching an Uber to TGIs (Matt’s choice) for a yummy lunch before heading off to the airport for our flight. The Uber came to 10zl (£2.32). We shared the sharing appetizer platter to start, before Matt had a burger, and I had Jack Daniels chicken. The bill came to around 150zl (sorry I didn’t note the final price).

IMG_4623 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4626 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4625 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4615 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

IMG_4614 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

After lunch, we walked back to the apartment (TGIs was near the station and the station was only around a 10 minute walk from the apartment), collected our bags, and called another Uber to take us to the airport. This came to 20.62zl (£4.80). The journey took around 30 minutes from memory, just to give some perspective around what fantastic value these Ubers were! They really saved my bacon!

After we got through security, we took a a slow wander around the departures area, and sat in McDonalds for a bit for a milkshake and McFlurry (23.90zl/£5.56), grabbed some drinks for the journey home (14zl/£3.26), and then just chilled at the gate waiting for our flight (we had plenty of time).

IMG_4627 by Natalie Pope, on Flickr

We flew home WizzAir and everything went without a hitch. We were actually very impressed and would recommend.

We landed on time at around 9.15pm, collected our car from the park & ride, and made it home by midnight, very tired from our trip but feeling very contented that we had seen some interesting things, visited three new places this past week, as well as ticked off a key bucket list item for Matt in Auschwitz. For me, the trip was a huge success!

Thanks for reading and I hope that you have found this trippie interesting, insightful, or even inspirational in terms of a new place to visit!
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