Biking on the Vistula

Tuesday morning we got to breakfast a little earlier than usual, (well, 8:00 AM which isn't early at all by our California standards). After breakfast we set off to do some errands. First, we had to head back to the train station to buy tickets for our day-trip to Torun in Pomerania tomorrow. It was a beautiful sunny day as you can see in the pictures.

The train station is right next to the Stalinist Palace of Culture and Science, which to my mind, looks a little like the old LA city hall. I keep fighting the urge to hum the theme from Dragnet. The Polish SIM card we purchased was very inexpensive: about $5 for 3GB of data. However, when we went to make a phone call, we discovered that we didn't have any phone credit on the card. So we set off for the Plus store to have them add some minutes so we could call home.

Finally, Kathy needed to pick up some eyeliner, and the stores we visited were all out. So we solved the problem by stopping for coffee and pastries. Once we got recharged, finding the right item was easy.

In the afternoon, we rented two bikes and rode across the Vistula River to the Praga neighborhood and the Warsaw Zoo. We didn't go in; we just rode around the zoo, and peeked over the fence. It was pretty windy so we were able to go down river (North), really fast. We rode past two different bridges, then crossed the river once again and started riding back into the wind.

On the way back we stopped for a late lunch at the Kafka used bookstore by the Copernicus Science Center (which was crowded with tour buses full of Polish schoolchildren). After lunch we got our bikes back by about 3:00 PM. Both of us were a little tired and wind-burned and were happy to get to the room and get cleaned up. (Our room has a bathtub, which I love.)

Since our train to Torun leaves at 7:00 AM, we won't have time for breakfast, so at 6:00 PM we left to go find some sandwiches. We tried Marks and Spenser and Carafour, as well as the various stalls in the subway. None of them looked appetizing. Then, we found a Subway Sandwich Shop and got a large Spicy Italian to take with us for breakfast.

On the way back, we stopped by one of the three or four remaining "Milk Bars" in Warsaw. These were Communist-era cafeterias that serve very inexpensive food. We got an order of meat piorigi (delicious) and two bottled waters for under $5. A nice light dinner. We are heading for bed now, so we can get up early. Good night!