Hmm...How to write a title for Warsaw..

So today is the first time so far on the trip that we've been to a new place, and from the second we stepped off of the train felt like we were in a different world. Poland, Warsaw specifically, is a place like none I've ever been. Cameron and I were saying from the second we broke into the sunlight after coming out of the pit of a train station, that it looks as though it were the movie set from the seventies.
Truly, it's a city of halves. On one hand, you have the nice district. An area that's the main tourist attraction. It's really a beautiful place, cobblestone streets and medieval styled buildings. There are numerous cathedrals and religious buildings that line the same street, all of which have striking sculpture both on the exterior as well as on the inside (side note... oddly there is absolutely no stained glass inside Polish churches.. it almost made them look half-done). It's on this same street that the president of Poland lives, as well as a massive concert hall with incredible column arcades. This half of Warsaw is beautiful.

The rest of Warsaw is not. It's striking in how different it is from the tourist attracting areas of the city. Without exaggerating, it completely feels as though the Iron Curtain were still in place. Capitalism in general feels like it's a completely new concept. The buildings, landscaping, public transport, all of it, it all feels ancient and decaying. In the part of town where our hostel is, it looks like what I would assume Bosnia or one of the eastern European war ravaged countries would look like. Most of the buildings are half finished, rusted out, or abandoned. Those that are still being used are mainly powered by generator, as they don't have reliable electric. It's so eye opening. Cameron put it well when he said that all of the building projects here look as though they ran out of funding halfway through. It's shocking. When we were walking back from the market we saw a number of homeless people sitting on a park bench by an empty and cracked fountain pool. When they asked for money, I instead tossed them an orange I had. When we walked back a few minutes later, we saw that they had eaten the whole thing. Rinds and all. It's amazing. It's so sad though that it takes moments like those to help open your eyes to what you have. We're so blessed... it's beyond belief.

Luckly our hostel is incredible. The place absolutely blew us away. Our rooms are some of the nicest we've had so far on our trip and the bathrooms/common area are perfect. You can tell that the entire place was purchased through an IKEA catalog, but it's still great accomodations. If anyone ever decides to stay in Warsaw, I totally recommend the Krokodyle hostel. That is...unless you're a single woman walking alone... or an orange peel.

Time to go eat funny named cereal and relax for a few, we're off to Krakow tomorrow, then on to Prague.

Love

Jamesy