Belgrade, Serbia >> Warsaw, Poland
I Have found that my Organisation when traveling is getting better every night i ensure my next days clothes are out and my toiletries are ready, I have learnt that there is nothing worse than someone who fumbles about at 6AM with a plastic bag or zips to get there next days clothes out, I Had done my Pack out last night so this morning was a quick shower and relaxation time.
I have to be at Nikolai Tesla International Airport at 2.45 for my flight to Warsaw Poland.
A part of me is sad to leave Serbia, i never thought it would be a place i would some how fall in love with, however my last 4 days here have been some days that will go down as special to me
I am sitting in the Cafe across from the Hostel having my morning double shot espresso, the coffee in Serbia is very good, i would class it as almost caramelised and sweet, my mother told me once that our coffee in NZ is over roasted and almost burnt….i would agree with that…. here it is sweet, savoury with a hint of bitterness…. in New Zealand its bitter and tart most of the time, occasionally if you are lucky you will get a coffee that is similar to this part of the world but only if you are lucky, and even if you go back to the same cafe he next day…. i can guarantee it wont be the same as the day before
It seems to be that over the last 3 days here in Serbia with Gerald my Instagram has snowballed and gone from 400 Followers to 3200…. not a bad effort for a weird Kiwi Bloke from Dunedin with a Stuffed Animal!
After my coffee i decided that it was paramount that i finished my book, so i took some time out of my day an sat in the hostel reading the last 126 pages of Black Cross, towards the end it is certainly one of those books which makes you want to sit on the edge of your seat and just page turn to get to the next part of the plot.
As the clock struck 2.15PM i went and asked Tamara (Tam- aara) to book me a taxi to the Airport,
We took this time to say our goodbyes and also made sure we got a snap for Instagram,
I can hands down say that she Owned her job and loved every minute….. the Lady who worked in the evening shift…..i cannot say the same for…. as Muir and I would describe her…. “she is just there to collect her pay cheque”
The taxi ride was a classic Eastern European Taxi of hair raising speed (140KM/H) and dangerous passing manoeuvres. Oddly enough you do get used to it and i always look at the cab and if its in good shape he obviously knows what he’s doing.
When i got to the airport the Temp gauge has hit 37 degrees and although i have managed to acclimatise and started to wear long pants durning my days “like a local”…. this was unbearable
I decided to skip the last nicotine fix and head straight for the cool constraints of Terminal Number 2!
The Flight to Warsaw is easy, a relaxing 1 Hour 15 Minutes, the flight was yet again delayed…. I’m not having much luck wth airlines in Europe. However I didn’t have a connecting flight this time so i wasn’t to worried, i ended up sitting next to a gentle man who was traveling from Warsaw onto London Heathrow then out to the America’s, he asked what i was finishing reading and i told him… he took such a keen interest about the topic of Sarin Gas in WW2 i gifted him the book and asked him that when he was finished if he could gift it to the next traveler he meets, he promised to do so and then he went silent for the rest of the trip with his nose buried in chapters 1-4!
Exiting the deceleration from Warsaw baggage Claim i was pulled aside by a very masculine woman demanding in polish that i tell her where i had been and where i was going, i smiled and put my hands up explaining i only speak english, she asked for my passport and took one look at it and said “sorry” in a butchered tongue and then politely asked me to carry on…… maybe she thought i was a Serbian, upto no good!
The first mission was to get a Data sim for Poland …. and 4NZD later i had unlimited Data streaming into my mobile, i located the taxi stand and asked thee polite Polski driver to take me to my Hostel
When i arrived at the hostel the night clerk was very excited, she said that i was the first New Zealander to visit and made sure i had a cup of tea with her, she wanted to know about my travels and asked what brought me to poland….I couldn’t answer that but i said the history and the war certainly took my interest and she thought that was enough reason to do so.
I dumped my bags and grabbed my cash and headed straight out to find some dinner.
The neighbourhood I’m staying in is a suburban area about 3 KM from the centre of town, i decided to check out the local restaurants and came across a place on the corner that served local food and draft beer,
My first meal consisted of Local Dumplings and for my main i had the Rabbit leg.
Both dishes were lovely and had good flavour, i had never eaten rabbit before and for a first experience I could be at rest as it was a delightful meal.
I hope the polish experience will bring a lot more great food and also a realisation that what has happened in history here will open a new appreciation for the world
“Monsters exist, but they are too few in number to be truly dangerous. More dangerous are the common men, the functionaries ready to believe and to act without asking questions.”
-Primo Levi (Holocaust survivor) 1944 Poland
Quantum Entanglement 