I spent the month of July crashing on my dad's couch in Warsaw. Or, at least, I would have were there an extra couch to crash on. Since he lives in a tiny bachelor pad with only one couch/kind-of, almost-fold-out bed type thing, I spent most of the month sleeping on the floor. Still, it's nice not having to pay rent. :) I caught up with uncles, aunts, and cousins, trying to keep track of all the new editions to the family between various weddings and births that have occured since I was last in Europe.
Spending part of my summer in Warsaw has been an awesome experience. The city has changed tremendously since my mom and I made our way to the C-H-I. Even in a faltering world economy, Poland has somehow managed to keep okay (part of that probably has to due with the fact that they aren't on the Euro, and thus don't have to put up with all that Greek bankruptcy nonsense). And since joining the EU in 2004, Poland has not only sent a work force abroad to various counties, some more happy to receive these "Polish plumbers" than others, but it has also seen quite a bit of foreigners immigrating. Over the course of my bar hopping around Warsaw (and I certainly bar-hopped quite a bit), I heard Spanish, English, Korean, Ukrainian, and all sorts of other languages I wouldn't expect to hear in Poland.
Though I missed the frenzy of the 2012 Euro Cup in Warsaw, I still saw an energetic night life in Warsaw. "Beach" bars have opened along the Wisła River (meaning a few bags of sand strewn around a some beach chairs set out), gay clubs have opened up in the city center, and whether you're in the touristy Old Town (Stare Miasto), on the ritzy Michigan Ave.-like boulevard (Nowy Świat), or sipping brews in some local knaipa off the beaten path, you're bound to find a young, (somewhat) international crowd enjoying dark beers and loud conversation.
My last week in Poland I spent in Hel. By which I mean, I went camping for a few days with my cousins and their friends on the Hel peninsula on the northern coast of Poland. Hundreds of camping trailers, tents, wind surfers, and families with crying children. The weather was a bity rainy but we still got some sun. We enjoyed the ice cold Baltic water for about 2 minutes, and for the rest of the time we chilled on the beach, watched folks wind surf, and ate delicious seafood. My favorite meal, however, was when we went to a naleśniekarnia -- a place that sells lots of different types of naleśniki, Polish crêpes. Dinner was some kind of chicken with veggies all wrapped in a thick crêpe. And for dinner... why more naleśniki of course. This type stuffed with bananas and Nutella. Awesome.
Pluses: I've found places that offer shots of vodka and other liquors (but, really, why bother when you've got Wyborowa vodka?) for as cheap as 3 or 4 złote (about US $1). And not watered down candy drinks, but just straight shots of liquor. One place in particular is open 24/7 and offers vodka for a euro and plates of traditional Polish appetizers (pickled herring, cooked potatoes, etc) for like 3 euros (12 złote). If that isn't heaven, I don't know what is.
Warsaw is, by Polish standards, a large city. So even though that means you can't walk from/to all the bars in one night (like you could in Kraków), it means you also have plenty of different neighborhoods to visit, so you don't get tired of the same old spots. And whereas Kraków is so touristy you could barely even hear and Polish being spoken in the main square (thanks to cheap flights from/to the UK via Ryan Air and the likes), Warsaw retains its Polish character while still offering a good-sized international flavor. I met Spaniards that have lived and worked in Warsaw so long that their Polish is about as good as mine.
Beers are almost always served as .50 sizes (half a liter, or just a tad bit more than a pint). Anything less is just plain nonsense to Poles, I guess.
Transport -- though the Metro layout currently offers a whopping ONE line to travel on, the city is currently trying to double that number to two within the next few years. What's nice is that trams (trolleys) and buses connect just about every corner of the city, and for cheap.
Currensy -- the złoty is about a 3 to 1 exchange rate for the US dollar ($1 buys you 3 złote) and 4 to 1 for the euro. Thus, stuff is cheap. It's not exactly going to be one-third of what it would be in the states (things like brand-names clothes and electronics actually cost quite a bit more than in the US), but overall it is quite easy on the pocketbook. A dinner of pork chops, potatoes, salad, and a soft drink will run you about $6.
Minuses: First off is that it can be quite difficult to find ice-cold drinks. Most restaraunts offer room-temp waters, sodas almost never include ice, and this is sadly extended to beers as well. The lady at the shop may say "tak" when you ask if her beers are cold, but what she means is "I want to sell these beers, good sir." So then you drink warm beers. Or, if the pizza place you go to informs you that their fridge went out the other night and thus everything is warm, you do as my cousins did and simply ask for ice in your beer. Why that place still had ice after a night of a broken fridge is still beyond me.
Red tape. It took my entire month in Poland for me to get my ID card. Even though I was born in Poland, to Polish parents, and had an original birth certificate, I had to jump through hoops to prove my citizenship. The lady at one office told me, "Sir, we can't prove that the Piotr Marcinkowski on your birth certificate is the same Piotr Marcinkowski standing with you today. And we can't be sure that the Paweł Marcinkowski on that form is the same Paweł Marcinkowski in front of me now." Sure... I can only imagine the amount of work it takes to become a US citizen (I've heard my fair share of horror stories of people just applying for visas to visit the States for a week or two), but hey, those are hoops I don't have to jump through myself. Fortunately, my folks put up with that nonsense years ago :)
Although there is a lot of stuff in and about Poland I could say that isn't related to the prices or temperatures of their alcohols, I'm going to just leave all that for another day. Take my word for it though, the foods great, the vodka's strong, and the women are beautiful.
-Paweł
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