It is just as well we did not take our first experience of Warsaw as the defining one. We got to the station pretty much on time and got into a taxi. The driver was a bit miserable but we decided that it was because the trip was not very far.
He growled a few times during the trip and when we got to the hotel the meter read 28 Zlotys. This is about £7. A bit more than we would have expected but as the trip had been slow I assumed that had upped the price a bit.
Being the first Polish money we were spending I only had a 50 Zloty note which he was about to make off with without giving me any change. He saw my surprise and pretended he had not noticed the note was a 50 and gave me a 10 note back. Cheeky devil. Tone tried to stop him to get the other 10 but he drove off on a cloud of exhaust!
This morning we asked in the hotel and the concierge said the maximum should be 20 and said the man was illegal. Not sure how we are supposed to know that when he appeared to be driving a normal taxi.
Well since then things have looked up. Lovely hotel, as Tone puts it perfect Polish plumbing and a beautiful city with lovely people (apart from the taxi driver)
We went on yet another bus trip today and spent a lot of time in the old city. Grandpa would have recognised it even though it has been razed to the ground by the German army as a reprisal for trying to rise against their occupation in 1944 as the soviet army stood and watched 150,000 died, but the Poles have rebuilt an exact copy. We saw series of pictures showing before the war, immediately after the war and now and the before and the now are hardly different. What incredible commitment to rebuild everything so carefully.
We particularly enjoyed the completely rebuilt Royal Castle which had more gold decoration than we have seen since a church in Monaco! Tony.
Coffee and then much later a snack in a lovely little café where once again we were asked how far we were going! Julia thank you for making us lovely sandwiches even though it was after lunch by the time we returned and good luck for the season. Lovely coffee too!
What a lovely place
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