I knew something was strange as we seemed to continually stand at the station Bohumín for a while longer. Then we started slowly and stopped and backtracked to that station. I went back to check and realized all the other cars that I had walked through to get to the one I was in were gone! There wasn’t a car attached to the back so instead of me looking into the other car through the connection I was looking through the window and seeing the tracks. I didn’t know what was going on or if this was normal or not but it seemed not so normal to me.

What could I do but wonder so I went back to my room and laid down. It felt like we were there for over an hour and maybe we were but when we finally got going I figured they fixed whatever was going on. The beds are plastic beds covered in sheets so it wasn’t the most comfortable. I tossed and turned in that little bed a lot and woke up a few more times throughout the journey. When daytime arrived I noticed that we again had stopped in what looked like the middle of nowhere as there was no station around. I didn’t know what was going on and was too lazy to ask. I went back to sleep knowing this was going to cause us to be delayed but by how much I didn’t know.

I woke up again around 8:45am and was wondering why I didn’t get my hour before wake up call. On the way to the restroom I passed by open room after open room and they were all empty. For a minute I thought, “Did I miss my stop? Where is everyone?” I saw the train employee and asked him what was going on he told me that we were a little over 2 hours delayed. I asked him what happened and he said something about having to wait for people from Sloveckia and construction. I asked him where everyone was and he said those people got off at a different stop that we’d passed already (not everyone in the car was going to Warsaw but a few of us were (the rest of the people still in the car were actually in the other direction from which I walked).

A nice small breakfast comes with a ticket purchase so he brought the breakfast box over to my room which consisted of bread, a spread, apple juice, green tea and a nutella bar. Afterwards I laid back down and at one point we stopped again for a good 30 minutes so at this point I knew we probably wouldn’t get to Warszawa Centralna until around 1pm. I messaged my activity provider that I was supposed to go to at 1pm (Warsaw: Best Indoor Shooting Range Experience). to see if I could come at a later time and 3pm was agreed upon. Finally we actually ended up arriving at my station at 12pm and the train employee told me to fill out a form online for delay compensation (which I will do).

I Ubered to my Airbnb which actually wasn’t that far from the station but with all my bags there was no way I’d be walking there. Once at the location I retrieved the keys and once inside the apartment threw my things down and sprawled out on the day bed. I was exhausted and by now my back was hurting. I managed to turn on the tv and found the Simpsons in English so I laid there and watched 2 episodes. I was glad I had some time to rest before going to the range.

I took an Uber to the range as it was a good 20 minutes across town but noticed on the way we passed an English bookstore so I caught the name and jotted it down as I would stop by there on the way back. Once at the range I had to sign waivers and read rules and it’s the only time on my entire trip (aside from the airport) that anyone has asked me to see my ID (or at least some form of identification). A lot of my events have said to make sure I have my passport yet none of them ever asked for it. (I always keep my passport/ID on me, I never put that in safes or anything. I trust them better on my person than anywhere else).

I got the Counter Strike Packakge for an hour and that included an MP15-22 Rifle (20 shots), a Glock 17 Pistol (10 shots), and AK47 Rifle (10 shots) and a Mossberg Shotgun (3 shots). The easiest to shoot was the MP15-22 Rifle but I did the best accuracy wise with the AK47 Rifle. Most of those guns were heavy and some were extremely loud. I’ve been to a range before but didn’t use different handguns. Overall it was a good experience.

I Ubered to the English bookstore and was in luck in finding what I was looking for. It was beginning to rain so I Ubered to the Indian place around the corner from where I’m staying to pick up food before heading in for the evening. I took my food back to the Airbnb and indulged in all I could take. I had some of my Franconian wine still and drank some. After a few minutes passed I was sleepy and had to lay down and get in a small nap.

I woke up and watched Straw on Netflix and ate more food. It was later into the night hours now and I was still feeling very tired so much so that this write-up is combined with today’s because I felt like I wouldn’t be able to stay awake long enough to write everything out. I ended up settling in bed around 1:30am-2am but outside below at the nearby bar it sounded like 2 men were arguing and fighting. Lazy and not planning on getting up to look I just hoped that they’d settle it soon.

I ended up planning a last minute city bus tour for tomorrow because 2 out of 4 tours I had planned got cancelled. It would be for 3 hours but they sold me at bus and that they’d pick me up from my hotel (which was false). I had to end up walking to a hotel around the corner (thankfully it’s around the corner). I didn’t like the fact that it said hotel pick-up but was really only in a certain range (that should’ve been specified). Eventually after all the tussling outside, I ended up falling asleep.

The next morning I got up around 8:40am and began getting myself together for the city bus tour at 10am. I walked around and meet everyone at the Novotel Hotel at 9:55am. There were about a good 12 people on the sprinter van and we were off. Our guide (I will call him Mark) knew a lot about the architectual aspects of the cities and buildings we passed. We stopped at a park and did a walk through a portion of it (this part was unexpected to me and afterwards my ankles and knees were hurting (of course by now most of the bus knew I had some ankle issues going on).

There were people on the tour from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Philadelphia that I got a chance to meet and talk to and again everyone is bouncing around from place to place (that just seems fairly easy to do when in Europe). Once we did our park stroll and was back on the bus I was grateful because the walk tired me out (and thakfully there would be no other walk). As we rode around and things were pointed out to us I realized it too felt like the Hop On Hop Off/Big Bus Tours that I didn’t like due to timing. With this tour I expected to get more facts but I felt like again more architecture was being pointed out.

Here’s what I did learn on the tour:
• Warsaw is 25% green
• The Belvedere Palace means “beautiful view”
• Saxon Meadow (an area in Warsaw) was founded by Augustus II
• 6,000-8,000 people (mostly Jews) were taken to concentrations camps daily to their death from 1942-1943
• There was a block where Jews would go and commit suicide to avoid going to the concentration camps (this happened from 1940-1943)

There seemed to be some type of running marathon going on today as the streets were blocked and we could see people running. The tour begin to wrap up and they dropped me back off at the pick-up point. From there I took an Uber to a souvenir store so that I could get some Warsaw/Poland souvenirs and then I Ubered back to the Airbnb. Once in I wanted to start this write-up but was so tired from the unexpected walking I did earlier I had to lay down for a bit. I fell asleep for 2 hours and then got up and began writing.

I only had one more activity and that was a Warsaw Concert: Chopin-Painted by Candlelights with Wine at 7pm. Around 6:20pm I got myself together and headed to the venue. I purchased a VIP ticket so I could sit in the 1st two rows and since I arrived early sat up front with my glass of white wine in hand. People began filling in and the show began to start. The pianist Liam is of Polish/American origin and spent time in New York and Texas. He teaches at 2 music schools in Warsaw and online in the U.S.

He began saying he was going to play a piece from the scene in the movie the Pianist (which I love) and I enjoyed listening to that being played live in an intimate atmosphere. Liam played song after song with such ease not looking at any music and never missing a beat. I think all in all he played anywhere from 7-9 pieces and he’s indeed a very talented pianist to remember all those old classical pieces.

When it was over I stopped by the store before heading into the Airbnb. My trip was now complete the only thing left to do was the write-up and to pack and clean up the apartment a bit. With it being 11:48pm here now as I wrap this up I’m guessing I probably won’t close my eyes until around 3am and guess what time I need to be up around 4:20am because I plan on taking an early train back to Berlin since it’s nearly a 6 hour journey to get to the airport from here and I want to account for any possible delays that may happen.

The time has come and I’ll finally be on the way home. This has definitely been a very unique experience and I wish my circumstances would’ve been better in a few aspects but I played the hand I was dealt and I think I did a good job overall. I came out underbudget as far as spending, I met some interesting people from all over, tried different foods, saw world wonders and more. A lot of firsts happened on this trip but I’ll tell you one thing (because this will be my final write-up I am not doing on for a travel day back home) all hail to the backpackers out there cause I sure as hell am not backpacking like this again.

Two weeks was a long time with a lot of things and of course the biggest challenge was having to carry the weight of everything from place to place (I was not a fan of that). Nevertheless I’m grateful for the trip but I am ready to get back home and get my life together. I have a lot to do and follow-up/catch-up on when I get back and will have the next few days off so if I know you and you know me and you have any questions give me a call I’ll be home. My next trip isn’t until August, so until then…