Warszawa

I'm baaack.

And I'm in Warsaw! Took the train last night from Krakow, and with the help of a friendly English-speaking woman at Warszawa Centralna, managed also to find the tram that took me to my next couchsurfer's house. This time I'm staying with a 27 yr old Canadian woman named Cora, her de facto Polish husband, and their high-strung but cute tabby cat, who has a long Polish name that they said meant "puker." Cute, I guess?

When we woke up this morning they fed me a Sunday Polish breakfast of a cucumbery/cheesy/yogurty spread on wafer bread, which was yummy and I want the recipe, but it might be hard to duplicate since the cheese is only available in Poland. Following breakfast we went to a giant flea market, where I bought several bars of Polish chocolate at about 50 cents apiece. Then it was time for them to go have brunch with their family, so they dropped me off in Old Town so I could go sightseeing. I had some brief and unsuccessful battles with the local ATMs, so I had to focus on free attractions. I wandered for a few minutes before coming upon the Royal Palace, former home of the Polish royalty, which turned out to have free Sunday admission. I wandered around in there for an hour or two, noted that many of the paintings on the wall were similar to the styles we've been studying at the Louvre, and got yelled at in Polish by an overzealous room guard when the flash accidentally went off on my camera. Que sera sera.

After the palace I wandered through Old Town for awhile, although the name is something of a misnomer since most of it was destroyed by Nazis and the current area is in large part a reconstruction based on historical photos and drawings. On the way to the flea market today in the car, Cora told me that you can tell which buildings are the authentically old ones because they're riddled with bullet holes. Ah yes, the usual old-town charm. There were lots of street vendors selling wooden handicrafts that I coveted, but alas, could not buy due to my ATM problems. I will not leave this town without a nesting doll, I tell you!

Midway through the afternoon it got cold and drizzly, continuing the pattern of European weather personally hating me wherever I go. Since I hadn't had lunch I decided the rain was a good excuse to duck into some sort of eating establishment, but with the mere 9 zlotys in my pocket, I wasn't sure where I'd be able to afford a meal. Then I turned the corner, saw a familiar sign, and broke the cardinal rule of Americans traveling abroad.

I ate at a KFC.

Yeah, I know I should've found pierogies or something since I'm in Poland, and I know my student handbook says not to draw attention to my citizenship by eating in American fast food joints, but I couldn't help it. I miss KFC. We have them in Paris, but only on the outskirts and no one else is ever interested in going with me. And I liked fried chicken, damnit! And the fries! It's been so long since I've had fries! So I ate at KFC and it was salty and greasy and it tasted like America, and I am not ashamed.

Then I wandered away from Old Town into the modern streets of Warsaw, which by the way are populated by drivers who evidently think they're participating in a group audition for The Fast and the Furious. No wonder all the crosswalks for the intersections are underground. I came across a big mall and did some shopping for clothes that are too expensive to buy in Paris, then headed back to Cora's apartment. They fed me homemade borscht for dinner, which I had never had before and was surprisingly delicious despite my doubts that beets could truly constitute a delectable soup. The last event of the day was a trip to the movie theater to see Omaret Yakobean, which I think means The Yakobean Apartments in English, but I could be wrong. It was an Egyptian film that took place in Cairo and dealt with a multitude of current social issues including the plight of the working classes, women's positions, the influence of Islam, the corruption of the government, and terrorism. Pretty fascinating all in all, although for some reason having two sets of subtitles at the bottom (English and Polish) distracted me more than usual. An interesting experience nonetheless, especially when an ad for pay-per-view porn came on a TV in the movie and the girl onscreen said "Call now for hot sex!" in Polish. The whole audience burst out laughing at their sudden comprehension-- except me, of course. I had no idea what had happened until Cora explained it to me. Not that that's anything new.