I Love Sleep. My life has the tendency to fall apart when I’m awake.you know – Earnest Hemingway
I woke up disorientated…. sweaty and the sun beaming into the bedroom and in the split moment i knew i had slept in, i scrambled for my watch….11.25AM!!!!! Great is going to be hell for my first part of my journey.
I looked down at my swollen legs and feeling sorry for my self i heaved out of bed and made a slow hobble to the shower, i turned the water on as hot as it would go an the scalding hot water wasn’t a touch on the pain i felt running up my legs, as the heat penetrated my muscles ad tendons i slowly began to stretch them with nothing but the yelping filling the hostel.
I splashed my face with cool water to try and wash away the drips of sweat the at procured the self on my brow but it didn’t make much difference.
I manned up and got ready for the day!
My walk into town was brief and I walked as quick as i could, i had decided to wear a singlet today as i wasn’t making the same mistake as yesterday and as i walked i felt the suns radiation slowly incinerating my shoulders and arms. I had passed a the tallest building in poland yesterday and i decided i must go up and have a look and see what the tower had to offer in the way of a view.
Today i did not stop for my regular coffee in a Cafe Nero as i had missed my golden window of opportunity and it was already 36 degrees….weather i am in the sun or shade the heat is no different.
On my walk to the tower i passed through a local garden i had actually passed on my way to the book shop the day before, this was known as the local “state park” at the start there is a lovely war memorial called the “Unknown Soldiers Grave” this tomb is guarded by 2 Polish soldiers 24 hours a day 7 days a week and is to commemorate the unknown soldiers that fought in the uprising against the Soviets and Germans throughout the Second World War, it is a beautiful stone column building that is situated right on the cusp of the gardens, i stopped and took a photo with Gerald.
After that I continued my way into the gardens, there was a large water fountain and the movement of the cool water was enough to bring some relief from the scorching sun, i decided to sit under a Oak tree and catch my breath, at this stage the tower was within site and only about 800M away.
As i neared the Tower, known as the Palace of Science and culture it cast a shadow hundreds of meters across the gardens and city, the tower 237 meters tall and has of 3200 rooms, the building was built by the soviets to poland in 1952 and completed in 1955 and originally named “the Joesph Stalin Palace of Culture and Science”…. how ever this name was changed after the polish people disagreed with the soviets “gift”, the name was changed and Stalin’s name was taken off the columns and architecture
There is no where in written literature about why this building was built but i put it down to the fact the the soviets completely fucked up Poland during the Second World War and this was their “guilt gift”
The Building itself houses 2 museums, a night club and a cinema and seems to be a hot destination for Polish locals and also Tourists.
Tickets up the tower we 10NZD and you took and elevator up to the 40th floor, at the top you aren’t greeted by lovely architecture but you are more in a Zoo, there are big steel grates covering the windows you look out and to get any clear photos you need to stick your hand outside of the building its self the views allow you to see most of the city, all the way to the chimney stacks of the local power plants on the outskirts of town, in total we spent about 25 minutes up the tower and I then waited patiently for the lift back down.
I ventured back onto the open divisions of concrete making up the centre of town and decided that my excursion for the day was enough on my way back to the hostel i passed a local bar that served craft beer and indulged in the local breweries…. unfortunately at 0.5L per handle i only managed to have 3 of the 20 available as i had to walk back to the hostel that was about 5KM away.
As i was sitting in the bar i heard the biggest commotion on the street, sirens, police, armed soldiers…. sounding like world war 3 had broken out i decided to start my stroll back down the main boulevard and across the bridge, as I walked out onto the street it was deserted of traffic and there were swarms of people everywhere and in a patriotic way chanting and waving polish flags, i cautiously made my way down the road until i came to the river and it was chaos, there were boats sounding there horns, sending flare guns off into the air and from what i can only describe as depth chargers going off sending jets of water into the sky.
I took the opportunity to post a picture of Gerald and a kind Polish person responded and told me it was “W- Hour”, i had to do some googling but basically this day was to commemorate the Polish Uprising on 1st August 1944, from 9 am on this da till 1 PM word spread throughout the polish resistance and the commanders were to mobilise their troops at 5pm on the Reich.
Due to the short notice for the commanding Officers the total mobilisation was about 60% and they didn’t have enough time to prepare all ther weapons, however his is a very important day for the polish and very patriotic.
After watching the polish go crazy for about 30 minutes my pan started seeping back in and i said i must go to a drug store, I remembered there was one hidden away on the side streets from the hostel and made the last 2KM trek back
Over her Pharmacies are called “ Apteka” and as i walked into the local Apteka, a polish woman stood behind the counter and said “hello” i asked if she spoke english and she very quickly said “no” …. my only response was a deflated “fuck” and she laughed so fuck is fuck in any language.
I remembered that i had downloaded a Google translator app before leaving NZ and i had no need to use it until now , i used a lot of hand gestures and pulled out my mobile nad typed in “Pain Relief for Inflammation of Ligaments, tendons and Muscles”… google spat back
Ulga w bólu w przypadku zapalenia ścięgien, więzadeł i MUscles….. she looked up smiled and scurried off to a shelf behind the counter.
She returned wit a can that looked like graffiti paint and i look uncertainly at here and she gestured that i just spray it on the affected area….. she was pretty so i took her word for it and handed of 15 złoty and limped on my way.
When i got back to the hostel i looked at the can doubting everything and shook the can vigorously, i then sprayed the ice cold liquid against my forever inflamed legs, the cool liquid smelt like a mixture of a dentists office and a hospital minty ad sterile, as the. Liquid evaporated i felt this cool numbing sensation and as i lay there on my hostel bed i literally felt no pain…. THIS STUFF WORKS! I couldn’t believe it… opiates would have been more fun but this stuff seemed to do the trick
I managed to move to the balcony and strike up a cigarette and read some more of my new book
As i was sitting their, Chynthia a Malaysian back packer staying at the hostel made her way out, i had met her in the morning and she was going to one of the museums, today was her last day . As the sun set she asked if i wanted to grab dinner with her , i looked up from my book and said that would be great, we went down stairs to the reception desk and asked about local cuisine and settled on a local restaurant round the corner that specialised in polish cuisine.
I had the polish Salty soup and the Meats and cheese board , Chynthia has the polish dumplings. (What i had on the first night in town) we sat there and exchanged life experiences and talked about our lives and family’s at home.
Dinner lasted about 2 hours and it was quite surprising how easy it was to talk to a complete stranger i had met only once, oddly enough our personal behaviours and and view on life were very similar so to find common ground and understanding with in the conversation was easy.
We finished dinner around 10 pm and made our way back, she was leaving to Edinburgh tomorrow am, i wished her a safe travel and then let the river boat ferryman take me across the dark dreamlands towards a new day.
Sleep is the best form of meditation -Dalai Lama
Quantum Entanglement 