A distinct chill...

...is in the air, in my bones and, well, everywhere at the moment. I boarded the coach to Riga as planned last night. It was actually early - by 25 minutes - so I got on early, ambled in a carefree manner to the back of the coach and proceeded to make my nest. It wasn't long before I was nice and settled, and after a while the coach set off. Only then did I realise a slight flaw in the coach - the fact that from somewhere there was a draught of freezing cold air permeating the window. I managed to combat this irritation by skilfully manoeuvreing myself so that my shoulder was just below the window pane and my head was on my rolled up hoodie, and then I used my coat as a blanket. Result! At least, until the lovely peoplein front decided to recline their seats as far as they'd go (a 45 degree angle, in this case). This left me with approximately 4 inches of legroom...but I was asleep, so when I woke up, unable to move my legs, I was understandably worried until I relaised what had actually happened. Oh, people.

So, I'm now in Riga. We arrived around 07:30 (much earlier than scheduled) and it was dark. I found the train station after a bit of a trek (well, 5 minutes always seems that much more when you've got a 100L pack on your back) and booked my train ticket back to Moscow. That sorted, I got rid of my bag, and then decided to venture outside. I have decided to have a little internet time before I start the hardcore trekking round town as a) It's not 100% light yet and b) nowhere's actually open yet.

...back to Warsaw...

So, yep. When I finished up writing yesterday I'd just got my ticket sorted, correct? Well, I decided to explore Warsaw after that, and I walked out of the bus station and down the road. After ten minutes of walking, I was no closer to the centre, and so I caught a bus. In ten minutes I was in town, and I first of all went into the shopping centre that's attached to the train station. What a shopping centre! There was a shop selling Marmite! I was in awe.
After that I went to the information centre to find out how to get to a museum I wanted to go to. Sadly she pointed out that it was cosed, but she also suggested that I go to a different one - the museum of the Warsaw Uprising. I followed her directions, and arrived at the museum. I was absolutely enthralled. It's actually one of the best museums I've ever been to. The displays are mainly bilingual, English and Polish, and they chronicle the uprising, the preceding events and the subsequent events in great detail. It was also a multimedia extravaganza. There were photos, memorabilia, posters, video, audio interviews with English subtitles, and a lot more. There were little pull out drawers with autobiographies of key figures, and on the middle level were three corner walls filled with photos of those who died. It was a really informative and interesting place, and before I knew it I'd spent 3 hours in there. At the end was a cafe and they had Bigos (the hunter's stew I told you about) and I had to have a bowl. It smelt so good, how could I not?

Once I left the museum it was dark. I decided to try and see some sights, so I got on a tram. However, it went right across the riveer and although I could see the main castle and so forth out of the window, getting out of the tram would have meant I had at least a half hour walk to actually get to the things that were nice to see. So, I didn't bother.

I have come to 2 conclusions about Warsaw.

1) I'm sure it's lovely in Summer, but in the Winter it's actually quite...meh. It's not the fact that there's nothing to see or do - the museum was amazing, and in the far distance I could see lots of nice looking buildings. It's just that when the temperature is -10 degrees celsius, you don't *really* know how to get to places, and nobody whom you ask actually speaks your language, the possibility of seeing some lovely buildings just isn't attractive enough. I *will* return to Warsaw, just not in the Winter.

2) Warsaw is a telescopic city with really odd perspective. It is a city of illusion, where everything looks so much closer to you than it actually is. For example, the central station has its very own friendly neighbourhood Stalin building. This building is visible from the Uprising museum, and appears to be just behind a block of flats. It isn't. If one attempted the walk it would be at least half an hour.

So yes. I shall, revisit. Just when it's a bit warmer...

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