april 19, 2013 (friday) this was our second full day visiting poland
as i woke up to a brand new day here in poland, i thought to myself,
this is a new day that is going to be a full day full of many firsts and much more new!
i hope i survive!
as i swung my tired legs off the bed and onto the floor, noticed that the top of my ankles were very sore. i also had a mole recently removed from the bottom of my foot 2 weeks before leaving to poland, and the spot was swollen and sore to touch as well. i needed strong feet today, so i stretched the soreness out the best i could and ignored the urge to climb back into the bed.
we both packed a light bag for the weekend and quickly filled up on breakfast downstairs. we were on the lookout for chad's co-worker, pawel, to take us to the train station. he made all our arrangements for us and purchased our train tickets and booked our hotel stay. he is a really nice man and happens to be the person chad's training for the time being.
this is the typical breakfast that gets served at our hotel. the eggs benedict & cucumbers are my favorite! they also always have delicious pastries to choose from as well.
chad was getting nervous looking at his watch and had us wait outside to see if he was coming. chad tried to call him, but the phone didn't have a very good connection. just then, we could see him walking up in the distance. we started towards him rolling our bags behind us.
after a short walk, we stop at a bus stop and he walks us through purchasing metro tickets through a touch screen machine. we buy two 40 minute metro tickets each. they are good for the use of buses or subway within a 40 minute time frame. he explains which buses are the best to take and we take a picture of the name and area we will need on the way back.
(this picture would be our golden ticket during our way back)
as you can see, it should take only 8 minutes by bus to arrive at metro wilanowska. this is where we will be boarding the subway.
with tickets in hand (including metro and train), we climb on the correct bus and punch our metro ticket, which then starts our time...40 minutes. after the 40 minutes, our tickets are no longer valid.
pawel motions us when to get off and we start walking in the direction of the subway.
i pass my old familiar friend, the palace of culture and science.
it would have been smart to pay close attention to the correct exit, but we didn't know this at the time.
it is hard to capture the amount of people inside our cart, but you will have to trust us. it was just as crowded as that infamous elevator ride i mentioned before. every time the doors opened, people piled on whether there was room for them or not. others that needed to get off would then force their way off through the walls of people. everyone needed to do this in a short period of time because once the doors close, that's it.
we successfully made it off the subway well within the 40 minutes, but we were getting real close to the train departure time so we had to walk fast to the train station.
i remember thinking it was going to be tricky to remember all of this on our way back, but i was hoping chad had a good sense of where we were and i was relying on his lead during this madness.
once we got to the train station, we followed pawel around and watched him try and figure out which platform we needed to be on.
the ticket is a little cumbersome for me to read, but chad seemed to spot the right information with ease. it's still hard for me to find which seat we are by looking at the ticket.
the train station was very busy and many travelers were around with their bags packed ready to take a trip like us. it was very overwhelming and i was so glad that no one pushed me off onto the track.
once our train pulled up, pawel took us inside and showed us our seats. he reserved two by the window. he waited outside the train until we took off and waved goodbye.
he was so great to take us and plan our trip to krakow for us. people here surprise me at the sacrifices they endure just to help us and show us the way. this kindness was extended to us numerous times. it has inspired me to bring that kindness home and be on the lookout for anyone lost and needing help.
this is the typical breakfast that gets served at our hotel. the eggs benedict & cucumbers are my favorite! they also always have delicious pastries to choose from as well.
chad was getting nervous looking at his watch and had us wait outside to see if he was coming. chad tried to call him, but the phone didn't have a very good connection. just then, we could see him walking up in the distance. we started towards him rolling our bags behind us.
after a short walk, we stop at a bus stop and he walks us through purchasing metro tickets through a touch screen machine. we buy two 40 minute metro tickets each. they are good for the use of buses or subway within a 40 minute time frame. he explains which buses are the best to take and we take a picture of the name and area we will need on the way back.
(this picture would be our golden ticket during our way back)
as you can see, it should take only 8 minutes by bus to arrive at metro wilanowska. this is where we will be boarding the subway.
with tickets in hand (including metro and train), we climb on the correct bus and punch our metro ticket, which then starts our time...40 minutes. after the 40 minutes, our tickets are no longer valid.
pawel motions us when to get off and we start walking in the direction of the subway.
i pass my old familiar friend, the palace of culture and science.
we also passed by the mall. it is housed beneath the really cool wavy glass roof.
we take another picture to help us remember the name of the subway station we will need to get off at on our way back. there are two "w" names that are together, so it was important that we remember the correct one to avoid getting off at the wrong stop.
it would have been smart to pay close attention to the correct exit, but we didn't know this at the time.
it is hard to capture the amount of people inside our cart, but you will have to trust us. it was just as crowded as that infamous elevator ride i mentioned before. every time the doors opened, people piled on whether there was room for them or not. others that needed to get off would then force their way off through the walls of people. everyone needed to do this in a short period of time because once the doors close, that's it.
we successfully made it off the subway well within the 40 minutes, but we were getting real close to the train departure time so we had to walk fast to the train station.
i remember thinking it was going to be tricky to remember all of this on our way back, but i was hoping chad had a good sense of where we were and i was relying on his lead during this madness.
once we got to the train station, we followed pawel around and watched him try and figure out which platform we needed to be on.
the ticket is a little cumbersome for me to read, but chad seemed to spot the right information with ease. it's still hard for me to find which seat we are by looking at the ticket.
the train station was very busy and many travelers were around with their bags packed ready to take a trip like us. it was very overwhelming and i was so glad that no one pushed me off onto the track.
once our train pulled up, pawel took us inside and showed us our seats. he reserved two by the window. he waited outside the train until we took off and waved goodbye.
he was so great to take us and plan our trip to krakow for us. people here surprise me at the sacrifices they endure just to help us and show us the way. this kindness was extended to us numerous times. it has inspired me to bring that kindness home and be on the lookout for anyone lost and needing help.
right now, we were about to experience our very first train ride.
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