I've only been here since last night and already it's bringing me back to the winters in Wisconsin. There's no snow yet, but the lady at the front desk of my hostel said to be expecting some 'sometime soon.' Whenever that is.
I arrived in Warsaw late last night- and after taking a 3 hour train from Krakow I was absolutely wiped out! Last night I saw most of Warsaw through the inside of my eyelids, safe and warm in my hostel bed.
I began my excursion on Tuesday night in Florence; after leaving my opera class early (damn, I sure regretted that) to hurry to the train station. I caught a train to Milano Centrale- the Central Train station, and quickly found out that the airport was actually outside of the city. Go figure! After walking around the train station a few times trying to find an open ticket booth to buy a bus ticket, I asked numerous people in my perfected " Itanglish" (don't laugh- it's an art form) how to get to the "damn Bergamo Airport." Throwing "catzo" in there a few times must have made people take me more seriously because someone finally told me that there was a train that left for the airport in 5 minutes. I bought a ticket, hurried to platform 10, and hopped on the train. It always amazes me when people ask ME for directions (I got stopped 3 times as I boarded the train asking me if it went to Bergamo)- because I guess in my mind I physically look exactly how I feel on the inside: somewhat like a mix between Edvard Munch's "The Scream" and that lady from Poltergeist. At least when I'm traveling. But apparently I just look Italian.
Getting off at the Bergamo station surprisingly took me no where near the Bergamo Airport. Who would have thought?? I met a guy who looked just as puzzled as I was and found out that he had to go to the airport too. I suggested we split a cab (it was past 12 and the busses weren't running anymore for the night) to which he accepted. Splitting that cab saved me E7.50! Thanks random guy, whereever you are.
Since my flight didn't leave until 10:30am I just crashed at the airport- along with all the other gents & ladies sleeping on cardboard boxes and (the more brilliant ones) those who brought a sleeping bag. (See, dad- you always give me a hard time about packing so much, but since my suitcase was so full it made one hell of a pillow :).
I woke up to an airport carabinieri's foot on my leg telling me "Signorina, il giorno e qui! Non puo dormire qui piu!" Which was basically a nice way of telling me to get off the floor.
I checked into my flight once I woke up, made it through security (always a treat) and boarded my flight. And bam! In 3 hours I was in the land of Chopin, Pope John Paul II, and Marie Curie. I flew into Krakow, took a 3 hour train to Warsaw (my first train ride in an actual cabin on a train- made me feel like Harry Potter), and by the time I was at Warsaw Central the sun had already set. Actually, the entire time I've been in Poland so far I've pretended that I'm Italian. Even though most people speak English here I think it's fun to watch their faces as they try to figure out what I'm saying (....this must be how the people in Florence feel when I ask for directions!) But anyway, I walked around with a map that a lady had given me at the train station, trying to find my hostel, when I passed by the Hard Rock Cafe. Normally this wouldn't have been an event worth mentioning, but as I passed by 20 or so Polish guys dressed in Alvin the Chipmunk mascot costumes came out of the restaurant and walked into the street. To get to my hostel I had to cross a park right next to the Clock Tower. Let me say that I've learned that my over active imagination becomes even more over active when I'm hungry and tired, but having 20 something Chipmunk Mascots follow me through a poorly lit park in a country I'm not familiar with when I'm hungry and tired and all by myself is probably not the best thing. The only sound I could hear was the shuffle of 40 big mascot feet behind and around me as I walked through the sidewalk. Oh, and I was the only person in the park. FREAKY!
But, since I'm here in my hostel writing this blog I obviously made it safely to my hostel. Right now I'm looking up things to do in Warsaw before I leave tomorrow morning for Krakow. And it's time to find some breakfast/lunch!
So until domani!
Ciao for now.
