Long weekend at hostels in Warsaw.
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The story is very detailed since I might use the information myself if I would like to return.
I left home 8:10 a.m. and my father drove me to the airport. We went on the highway all the way through the city and took of at the Angered Bridge. Luckily there weren't any queues which it often is when people start to work.
We reached the airport 8:50. I had time to check the parking place during arrival and found that it costs 50 skr each 24 hours. It was not so much so maybe I will drive myself with my car in the future. The queue to the check in desks started to grow rapidly when I arrived. They didn't check the weight on the hand baggage which is good to know.
I was going to fly with the air company WizzAir which had just started to fly from my city.
They had two gates but you couldn't see which one was for Warsaw and which one was for the plane for London which boarded first. Later I found that they only used one gate at the small airport for both cities.
They had free seatings. They flight took 1 hour and 20 minutes. They only served some people since they hadn't time enough. They didn't reach my place but I had just had breakfast anyway. They have to plan their time better since I think you have to serve all people otherwise you shall not do it at all.
We arrived at a small terminal where you had to wait for your baggage. There was only one toilet after the passport check so it is good to know that there was another one before you passed the check.
I read somewhere that you bought the buss tickets at the tourist office but it was wrong. You had to buy them at the kiosk. They had good maps of Warsaw, at the tourist office, which were free.
The bus ticket cost 2.40 zlotys and the bus stop was just outside the terminal building. It was very easy to find. There were two busses to the city, 175 and 188. I had been told that I should go with number 175. You could also check it out at the bus stop where you could see where the busses stopped.
The bus got crowded but otherwise it was quite good. You had to put your ticket in a machine to get a stamp. An electric sign showed the next bus stop and there was a map in the bus on which you could see all the bus stops on line 175.
I reached the hostel Helvetia without problem and ate half a sandwich which I had brought from home before I went out for a walk at 5 minutes passed 2.
The weather was nice but there weren't much people out. You could see that the tourist season was over. Warsaw is not as beautiful as for instance Prague which might be the most beautiful capital in Europe. It was difficult to find something to take photos of. I walked some hours. It looked as if the shopping was even worse than in Prague.
I decided to buy an ice-cream, Magnum almond, for 4 zloty in a small shop. The girl told me that I gave her a false 20 zloty banknote. I was really chocked and wondered how she could see that. She used a special lamp to be able to see it otherwise you couldn't see it. Luckily she didn't contact the police or something like that. I could just give her another banknote which luckily was OK. I know that I got the false bill at the kiosk at the airport. I wondered how I should do now when I buy something since I had of course no lamp which I could use to see if I banknote is false or OK.
I didn't feel so good when I came back to the hostel. I went to bed and rested for some hours. I wasn't sure if I should go out in the evening and dance salsa or spend the evening at the hostel. I decided to go out although I didn't feel well.
I had checked up the salsa places on Internet at home before I went on the trip. I went out at half past eight. At 9 there should be free salsa lessons at some places. First I went to 'Cuba Libre Nights' at the address 'ul. Wspólna 62' but couldn't find the place. I went to the next place instead, Organza club at 'ul. Sienkiewicza 4' . The entrance was free and you only had to pay 2 zloty at the wardrobe. The place was quite small but a lot of people danced. Unfortunately the girl, who had the lesson, seemed to dance what we in Sweden call salsa-on-2. You start with a pause instead of doing a pause on beat 4 which is the normal way to do it. I didn't dance and after the lesson they didn't play so much salsa so I decided to go to another place.
I went to 'Latino Czwartki' at 'ul. Mazowiecka 12'. You paid 10 zloty in entrance fee, girls only had to pay 5 zloty. It was a really good salsa place. Mostly they played salsa but also bachata and merengue. All people danced salsa-on-1, like me, which was a relief. They danced what we in Sweden call salsa-in-line and not Cuban style. Everyone was extremely good dancers. I went up a stair so I could have a look over the quite large dance floor from above. Around 50 couples danced at the same time and all of them were good. It was impossible to find any who didn't dance so well. I still didn't feel so well so I went home without having danced after midnight. Some girls turned up at the hostel during the night and then all the 8 beds in the room were occupied.
When you go out and dance in foreign countries you don't know if it is OK to wear jeans or not. I think most people had jeans so it was OK. I like to wear nice looking jeans during summer otherwise I use to wear other trousers when I go out.
I went up around 8 o'clock and started with a warm shower. I took it easy, wrote in my diary and ate breakfast. 10.30 a.m. I left the hostel and walked to another hostel called Oki Doki. Oki Doki had no free beds during Thursday so therefore I stayed the first night at Helvetia.
The check-in was at 3 p.m. Luckily I could leave my luggage in a luggage room. A number was placed on my things and I got a number plate just like at a wardrobe which felt safe.
I went out for a walk along Marszalkowska street. There were a lot of shops. I walked to the park Lazienkowski which was lovely. The weather was nice so I spent a couple of wonderful hours in the park.
At one place I dropped my map without notice it. I man came running with it which was very kind of him.
On my way back there was a beggar sitting with a child. I really felt sorry for the child who had to be there all day when it should be playing with friends.
I checked in at 3 p.m. First I thought that I had already paid since I had given them my credit card number when I booked the bed on Internet. They told me however that they normally don't take money from the cards so I had to pay. I was the first one in my room so I could take the bed which I liked best, normally the one closest to the window. I had to give them 50 zloty in deposit for the key to the room.
The hostel was OK but I thought that the first hostel was actually a little nicer. This hostel was however a little closer to dancing places.
It had a very tiny kitchen, a bar with happy hour between 6 and 8. The cheapest beer in Warsaw they told me but I never drink beer since I don't like it. I prefer drinks. They had a really big box in the room where you could lock-in both the rucksack and the hand baggage.
I went out and bought some food and went back to my room where I read a book and rested for a while.
I read a book about an ordinary English girl, 30 years old, who was the first woman to go to both the South pool and the North pool.
In the evening I started to make some plans for the evening and night. I decided to visit a disco called Panska 97 ( www.klubpanska97.pl ), a salsa place and finally another disco called Zoo and marked them all on my map.
There was a lot of noise at the hostel. Why do people have to yell at each other when they are drunk? Why can't they talk in a normal voice? They also banked at something. They were some younger guys from Germany who had there trousers halfway down so you could see their underwear. Before I almost wished that someone should come to my room so I got some company but at that moment I was really glad that I was alone and didn't have to share it with some drunk guys. I had nothing in common with them and I have to say that I like people with at least a little style.
I cooked food at around six o'clock. Pasta and sausages which I had brought with me from home.
After my dinner I checked out the bar but there were no people who looked interesting. Furthermore it looked as if they only served beer and I like drinks. I therefore mixed 50 cl vodka in a 500 cl Coca Cola bottle which I drank on my way to the first dance place.
First I tried to locate where the salsa place was located and it wasn't easy to find. I searched during half an hour before I asked I guard outside a restaurant who told me where it was.
When I knew where it was I went to the disco called Panska. I arrived around 10 o'clock and it was almost empty. I had a little mini-card with info about the place which I got at the hostel. The card gave me free entrance and the wardrobe fee was only 2 zloty. It was a cool place which is hard to describe. A big stair was a major part of it. When I arrived a woman sat in the middle of the dance-floor and played on a harp. It was really nice. At around half past eleven she stopped playing and they cleared the dance-floor and started to play old hits and I few people started to dance. The music was really very good. It is not often you here good old hits nowadays at discos. And then I mean hits with people singing. There was another performance with a woman who sang really good a little later. On the bar a sexy girl danced. She worked as a dancer there. I bought a gin & tonic for 15 zloty.
The coolest thing with the place was absolutely the toilets! They had two toilets on both sides of the dance floor, one for men and the other for woman. When I went inside I was first chocked because you could see right through the walls. You saw the people dancing just a couple of meters away. You could even see through the floor. Under the toilet there was a table but nobody was sitting there at the moment. Nobody seemed to look at me when I peed. One of the toilets was very close to the dance-floor. It must be a strange feeling to sit there with your trousers down since then you were almost surrounded by the people dancing and you could see them very clearly. They were just a meter away behind the wall. When I left the toilet I just had to look back and see if you actually could see the people inside. You couldn't since it was mirror walls.
I danced a little before I left around midnight.
I now went to the salsa place called 'Placio de Salsa'. I stayed there less than an hour. 15-20 couples danced. The place was really beautiful, it was probably the most beautiful salsa place I had seen. It was like being inside a castle and you were a guest of the king and queen. The room were you danced was an old ballroom. Everybody danced really well so I was nervous when I asked a girl if she would like to dance. I had then been standing quite some time and just looked at the people. She luckily said yes and we danced salsa to a couple of songs. They didn't dance Cuban salsa as I do. The entrance to the place was by the way 10 zloty.
The last place I visited was the disco called Zoo at Mazowiecka street. The entrance cost 15 zloty if I remember correct. It was just an ordinary disco like many others and nothing to write about. Heavy music.
Before I went to sleep at around 3 o'clock I read I little in my book. I was still alone in my room.
I took it easy in the morning. I read a little and wrote in my diary. I tried the breakfast at the hostel which cost 10 zloty. It was served in the bar and I arrived 3 minutes before they closed at 10.10 a.m.
After breakfast I went out for shopping and walked quite a lot.
If you walk and walk you sooner or later find something interesting. I came to a fair where they sold computers and computer things. There were around 150 to 200 fair booths so it was really big. I had never seen anything like that before.
On my way home I also came to a place where they had some kind of show. Maybe it was an advertising show for make-up. I don't know since I didn't understand what they said.
I went back to my room and rested for a little while. I wrote in my diary and read a little in the book.
At around 3 p.m. I went out again. I bought a nice jacket for 219 zloty, a little candy and a kebab. I queued up for the kebab. The couple in front of me asked if I had ordered. Ordered? They explained that you had to order first in the front of the queue and you also pay before you line up in the end of the queue. I bought a super kebab for 7 zloty. It was really good. An ordinary kebab cost 6 zloty and a XXL kebab cost 10 zloty. A falafel cost 5 zloty. I ate it and went back to the hostel.
I read a little and tried to sleep a little before I went out in the evening. I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up another man had arrived in the room. The time was around 6 p.m. He also went to sleep and slept until early the next morning when he left the hostel again.
At 7 p.m. yet another man arrived and at 8 p.m. a couple arrived. I thought the woman was going to sleep in our room but the next morning all were men.
At around half past eight I started to prepare myself for the evening by first putting some marks in my map over places I was going to visit. An hour later I left. At the first place there was no disco. I must have gotten the wrong information. I also went to a place called Tango but it seemed to be a restaurant.
I went to a disco on Wspolna street number 62, this time I found the address. They had no entrance fee and you only had to pay 2 zloty in the wardrobe. The place wasn't big but it was absolutely crowded with people. The whole place vibrated to the music and everyone danced. I managed to pass through the dance-floor to the other side where the bar and toilets where located. In the men's toilet was a really drunk girl who seemed to like the place. A guy from Sweden tried to explain for her in Swedish where the toilet for women was. She obviously didn't understand what he said since she didn't go away. When I was about to leave I heard her however speak Swedish. It was a Swedish girl who had been drinking too much.
I went to the bar where another blond girl was standing who seemed to be even more drunk than the girl at the toilet. She looked Swedish but you cannot say for sure. She tried to phone someone without success. I wondered if she was looking for the girl at the toilet. She dropped her glass and it went into pieces when it hit the floor. I don't think she noticed it and I don't think she noticed the people who cleaned up after her just beside where she was standing. She was completely gone. A little later I saw her speak with the girl who had been in the men's toilet so both of them were from Sweden.
I bought gin and tonic for 16 zloty. It might be better to buy for instance vodka and tonic since they cost only around 10 zloty, probably because the then use Polish vodka.
On my way home I bought a Big Mac for 6.90 zloty. I prefer kebab but it was closed and McDonalds closed just after I arrived a little time before 3 a.m. I couldn't remember when I had bought a hamburger last time since I am not so fond of it.
I went to sleep quite fast but woke up in the middle of the night when some people arrived after me.
Woke up at eight and took a shower followed by a breakfast at the hostel. I bought a bus ticket to the airport at the reception and got a map where the girl in the reception had marked out where the bus station was located.
Quarter passed 9 a.m. I left the hostel and walked to the bus station. The busses seemed to go every 10 minutes so a bus which was almost empty arrived quickly. The airport had two bus stops and I didn't know which I should choose. I jumped of at the first stop where I saw a sign "departures". I tried to find any info about the air-company, WizzAir, which I travelled with but couldn't find any. I went up a floor where they had an electric display which showed all departing flights more than two hours in advance. 3 hours before departure my flight turned up on the screen but instead of a number for the check in desk you could read "Etuida".
I went down to the information office where a girl told me that I was in the wrong terminal building. You had to go out again to the right and follow the signed path about 200 meters. I then arrived at the tiny terminal where I had arrived from Sweden. I should have jumped of at the second bus stop since that was just outside the building.
There wasn't many sit places but I was lucky and found one. I thought of going to the kiosk and give back the false bill but decided not to do it. Maybe that would involve the police and I had no time for that so I kept the bill as a souvenir from Polen.
The flight home went without problem and my parents fetched me at the airport.