Train to the Capital!

It's normal to think of Warsaw as the Capital, but it never used to be.....

Before the 16th Century, Krakow was the capital of what we now know as Poland, but as the Polish-Lithuanian Empire grew, the capital needed to be moved and it was moved to Warsaw in 1596.

Warsaw was also the next stop on our Polish adventure.

We packed our cases, had a quick breakfast and took a taxi to Krakow Glowny, the main station in Krakow. Here we boarded an Intercity train to Warsaw, our home for the next three nights. I booked the tickets through an app called Koleo, and everything seemed to go according to plan. We decided to go first class as it was only 20 Polish Zloty difference (just under £4), it also meant we got a small snack and a soft drink. I certainly can't complain about the food, my only complaint was the irritating American behind us who insisted on watching YouTube clips about chickens, and then replaying them to his wife while laughing out loud. (Sorry to all my American friends here, but you would have punched him!)

Thankfully the journey was less than 3 hours, and we happily disembarked the train on time (take note Scotrail!).

I deliberately booked a hotel close to the station so we wouldn't have to drag our cases very far; it was only a 5 minute walk to Hotel Polonia Palace where we checked in straight away. The hotel is quite famous and its the place Eisenhower stayed during a visit in September 1945. I would definitely describe the hotel as a business hotel, but it would do the job.

We dropped off our belongings and freshened up before heading to the Palace of Culture and Science, which is really a massive tower which has views across the whole city. We didn't immediately find the entrance, but we did find the Museum of Technology which had free entry. We decided to take a look inside and it was definitely worth a 30 minute perusal.

As we exited the museum, we saw a map and discovered we were on the wrong side of the building to access the tower. We made our way around it, along with the millions of school children who were also out exploring. Thankfully, the queue was not too unbearable, and we made it up to the top of the tour in 15 minutes. The views were excellent and we spotted lots of sights including the old town, the National Stadium of Poland and of course, our hotel. We took a few pictures then queued to take the lift back down.



The next stop was the Apple Museum.

As most of you know, I am not a "fan" of apple (yes I have an android phone!). We decided to walk to the museum which was situated in a weird shopping centre along with various medical procedure clinics; we actually managed to walk by the shopping centre twice before we eventually realised it was actually the right place. As you can imagine, the museum was quite quiet, but I'm pretty sure that's because people can't actually find it! It was only small, but quite interesting and Iain was certainly "geeking" out on all the products on display. 



By this point, I was needing a beer and some food. We had read about a brewery with lots of food vendors in the former cellars so we headed to it; the food was cooked to order at every stall and the options ranged from pizza to sushi, Vietnamese to Polish and basically every other food in between. I really fancied a burger and fries and all I can say is that it was amazing! 




After dinner, we sauntered back to towards the hotel, looking for a place for a final drink. There are lots of little pedestrian parts in Warsaw, and we came across one by the huge shopping centre. There were a few bars and restaurants so we chose one that had a decent cocktail menu. 

After a couple of drinks, we decided to call it a night, ready for sleep and eager to discover Warsaw the following day.

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