by Ron Largent | Nov 13, 2012 | Bella Russe, Eastern Europe, Lenin Square, Poland, Russian Market, Travel, Uncategorized, Warsaw
We walked across the street to catch the Tram to go to the Russian Market, warned by the hotel folks to leave all valuables, etc at the hotel, which we did and off we went. One of the sights we saw for the first time was the way the men dress…..long parkas with the black pull down over the ears ski caps. Fortunately I had one, and wore it…and all of the men look alike. In addition, many of the people are dark complectioned, from the Armenian and Jewish heritage, etc. Anyway, the men look just like the pictures that you see of Poland and Lech Walesa leading a demonstration. Kind of scary, but just the way they dress, etc. Well, 15 minutes later we got to the Russian Market…got off the Tram and followed the crowd in the cold and snow covered ground. The Market is held at what they call the Olympic Stadium, which is a bowl like stadium used for European football. The entry is a 2 lane alley that leads up to about a 3 lane area where you would normally find the concessions, etc. Except that here, almost from the time you get off of the Tram, booths and stalls line the area, and there are vendors selling everything from shoes and boots to furs and glasswares, and everything in between. Reportedly a 100,000 people selling and no doubt another 100,000 shoppers, including the 2 of us. We walked around for about 90 minutes…Audy got the dolls and some other little items from the woman from BellaRusse…and then we headed back, as we were cold. What we just saw was the largest “Flea Market” in Europe, although they call it the largest “Open Air Market”….It has come into recent fame because it is filled with a lot of black-market stuff, from liquor to cigarettes to CD’s, of which there were probably 50 different tables all selling CD’s. The problem is that there is not way to control this, so no tax comes in, etc. The overall market is run by a Damis Company…and they pay the city to use the facility…and they are a very powerful company….but still many tax dollars are lost. In one area a vendor was selling guns, and masks, and ammunition….and we wonder why we have terrorists with guns. I could have bought any number with no questions asked…just pay in cash. Quite an experience, and one that I would encourage anyone that goes to Warsaw to see and shop. Just be careful. The word is is that the government is trying to close down the market at this sight and then relocate the Market. Our thoughts are that it will never happen…for the people of Warsaw love it. Well, we got back to the tram, and rode to where we were to get a bus to go to the Old Town…
by Ron Largent | Nov 13, 2012 | Austria, Travel, Warsaw
in Leipzig going to Warsaw via Berlin: We got up at 6AM…got packed and left the hotel to walk to the station…a light snow was falling…and got to the station to wait for the ICE in Berlin. We got into Berlin 90 minutes later and got off at the Zoo Station…walked around a bit, but it was very crowded and dirty, and didn’t have a very good feel…so headed for our gate for the Warsaw train. All we could see from the station was the Memorial Church and the downtown area, which when we returned to was only 4 blocks from our hotel.
The train came shortly and was an older EC (European City) Train…older and not as clean…but we had our own 6-seat compartment, so plenty of room…and off we went. Pretty much everything was covered with snow, so as we left Berlin we headed towards open farmlands and lots of trees, much like our upper midwest of the US. At times the trees are like level forests…. very beautiful but very cold looking at this time. And, from time to time Audy would see deer in the fields, etc. We passed through a few towns…all pretty desolate looking, for this was East Germany not too long ago. We crossed over into Poland at Frankfurt on the Oder River…and both soldiers and custom officers came aboard to check passports, etc…. then the ticket takers. The train folks took quite awhile to figure out our ticket, for the tickets are written in English, and here we are expecting the Poles to read them. Even though the train was old, we moved at 100 + mph through the flat countryside…passing small towns, villages, and little run down stations…and arrived in Warsaw at 6:30PM. Nothing was in English or German, so we just started looking and asking, and we had called ahead to see where the Marriott was and was told it was very near the station…so we spotted it and out we went into the 20 degree cold, and it was cold. We walked the 2 blocks and got there in 10 minutes. The Marriott was 5 star and very nice…and they upgraded us to the Executive Level, so we went in and had sandwiches, etc. I stepped outside for a minute…the cold hit me and I was back inside. We were on the 37th floor and overlooked the Old Town and the Palace of Culture, a huge building that was a gift from Stalin…..the photos from the hotel will tell its size. The city really looks big and modern, with the Galeria Centrum about 2 blocks away. We started planning our day and decided to go to the Russian Market early Sunday AM…come back to the Cathedral for the 11 AM Catholic mass. We also planned to get a 1 day ticket on the tram, which we did….so after a good nights sleep, we were ready for Warsaw.
