5/10 – Warsaw

Off we go – to Poland! We say a fond farewell to Prim and Ron – who we just happen to see as we are waiting for our driver to take us to Heathrow. They are staying the night in Southampton then sailing on the Ruby Princess around the British Isles before heading for an extended stay in Malta. We hope they have wonderful travels and will keep in touch!

We find our driver and head to Heathrow, where we have hours to wait before our flight to Warsaw. Luckily we can check our bags early, so we dump them off then go hang out for a bit before grabbing a bit of lunch (and drinking the wine I have left from the ship) and heading to the plane. We end up half an hour late – and the airport transfer we set up through the Marriott site in Warsaw doesn’t show. Not an auspicious start. But after ½ hour of waiting, we go hop a cab, which is actually cheaper than the Marriott transfer – and we arrive safe and sound in about 20 minutes.

Check in is a breeze – and we have breakfast included (which we didn’t think we had – but hey – we’re not arguing!) – we dump our bags, freshen up then head up to the panorama bar on the 40^th floor. It’s Happy Hour and we are happy! It is packed to the gills up there – but we end up at the bar (shielding our eyes from the sunset – and wishing that this weather was what was in the forecast for tomorrow – which currently says rain). Wine and beer are great – and relatively reasonable at happy hour.

We’re winding down – it’s been a long day – so we head out to the Radio Café – right around the corner for our first real Polish meal. This is a cute little café run by former members of Radio Free Europe – and they want to serve “delicious (they hope)” and reasonable priced meals. Well – they deliver on that promise for us! We have traditional Polish food – Pierogies! But not that potato crap they have in the US – these are delicious mushroom and cabbage stuffed delicacies that are delicious. Ed has Bigo – which a Polish version of Hunters Stew – all meat and sauerkraut. Too good! Plus a little side salad of the best cole slaw – which actually I’m calling potato salad without the potatoes. It tastes just like the potato salad I used to make. Yummy.

Tummies full – we walk back to the hotel and crash in the incredibly comfy bed!