Viva la Furia Roja! A Trip Report - Prague, Poland, and Dresden 6/7-6/21 - Page 9 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
I feel your pain on the GPS getting mad about the highway thing... happened to us in Germany. Construction kept us from the route the GPS wanted us to take, and boy was she mad about it... lol!
Prague just jumped up like 20 spaces on my list, to near the top. I can't wait to hear about Poland!!
Wow! Thanks so much for writing this TR. I am really enjoying it!
When travelling to Scotland last year, we came through Manchester and Paris, in both places you had to drive forever in the plane and then we didn't get off at the terminal. They loaded us into busses and then we had to drive forever to get to the terminal. It was really weird, but I guess it saves them from having to build more terminals and gates. But it really adds to the time between landing and being able to get to your next gate.
So in Prague they don't use the Euro? I thought only Great Britian opted out of that.
Was there a lot of damage to Prague during WW I and II? It looked like they still had a lot of historic buildings. The castle was just amazing!
Was that first Cathedral Catholic or Eastern Orthodox? Just wondering.
And thanks for the info about the Jewish area, the golem story reminded me of Frankenstein, KWIM?
Can't wait to read more!
__________________
Donning my Wellies to cut Peat in Scotland
Melissa
Oddly enough, I've been watching the Bachelorette and they were at the exact same wall painting on it...I was hoping to see where they painted from your pics, but I couldn't remember what it looked like. She did explain why they call the wall that, and it was something to do with music not being allowed in that city at some point. I wish I could remember the rest, but it was a couple of weeks ago. I've been waiting for this part of your TR to tell you that. The show was on a few days after you told us that.
LOL! Why were they in Prague on the Bachelorette? I thought that was always in the US?
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
That was a VERY long time in the car! You're lucky that Kyle was ok doing so much driving. The hotel looks very nice and so does the pizza!
I agree, I'm very lucky that Kyle likes to drive! When we're just doing short drives (around home) I almost always drive because I'm just a control freak like that (), but I get too tired on long drives.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Wow, that was a long drive. I'm not surprised you were exhausted and hungry when you got to your hotel.
It sure was. I was just glad we got the longest one out of the way first!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colexis Mom
What a long travel day! But that pizza looked yummy!
I still dream of Telepizza...
Quote:
Originally Posted by KMB733
I would love to read The Lost Wife when your sister is finished!!! Thank you!! I think it was just my computer at work, because at home on my laptop I can see all your pictures.
That's a really long travel day! I would have also been happy to finally be out of the car!! Looking forward to hearing all about Poland!
Great, I will send the book to you as soon as I get it back. Glad the pictures are working for you now!
Quote:
Originally Posted by OneLittleSpark
That pizza looks really good!!! Can't wait to hear about your adventures in Poland!
Quote:
Originally Posted by shazza
Wonderful report! This forum section is very expensive - now have to book trips to Prague, Iceland, Norwegian Fjords, and Fiji, just to name a few.
Beautiful sunset photos in Prague!
I know what you mean! Fiji and Norway are on my list too! (Fiji's always been there, Norway's a new addition. I'm not sure I could ever convince myself to go to Iceland. As pretty as it is, I HATE the cold and just having "ice" in the name might do it in for me! )
Quote:
Originally Posted by Principessa_di_Fata
I feel your pain on the GPS getting mad about the highway thing... happened to us in Germany. Construction kept us from the route the GPS wanted us to take, and boy was she mad about it... lol!
Prague just jumped up like 20 spaces on my list, to near the top. I can't wait to hear about Poland!!
Oh, I hope you go there sometime! I would love to relive my trip in your TR. GPS are sure tempermental, aren't they?
Quote:
Originally Posted by MGW
Wow! Thanks so much for writing this TR. I am really enjoying it!
When travelling to Scotland last year, we came through Manchester and Paris, in both places you had to drive forever in the plane and then we didn't get off at the terminal. They loaded us into busses and then we had to drive forever to get to the terminal. It was really weird, but I guess it saves them from having to build more terminals and gates. But it really adds to the time between landing and being able to get to your next gate.
So in Prague they don't use the Euro? I thought only Great Britian opted out of that.
Was there a lot of damage to Prague during WW I and II? It looked like they still had a lot of historic buildings. The castle was just amazing!
Was that first Cathedral Catholic or Eastern Orthodox? Just wondering.
And thanks for the info about the Jewish area, the golem story reminded me of Frankenstein, KWIM?
Can't wait to read more!
Great questions!
Czech Republic does not use the Euro - they use Czech crowns. Poland does not use the Euro either - they use Polish zloty. Germany (our final stop on our trip) does use the Euro of course, so we had lots of fun keeping all of the different money straight.
Prague saw almost no damage from WWI or II, that's why it's so amazing. The people tried to comply with the invaders to spare their citizens and city, but we know what happened with the Nazis anyway and then the Russians. Poland on the other hand saw immense damage, especially Warsaw, but everything has been reconstructed so beautifully you would almost never know. Dresden has been reconstructed very nicely as well.
St. Vitus cathedral (the one at Prague castle) is Roman Catholic. That whole area that we were in is almost 100% Roman Catholic. In Poland you can't hardly take a step without seeing a monument or shrine to Pope John Paul II....but let me not get ahead of myself. They are VERY proud of him though. I think we only saw one Russian Orthodox church (it was in Warsaw), and unfortunately it was too late to go in it that evening.
I totally agree with your parallel between Frankenstein and the Golem. That makes complete sense.
Thanks for reading!
__________________
MNSSHP 2015: DH (Bane), Me (Batgirl), Genie, and our friends
DAY 6: Tuesday, June 12, 2012 – Warsaw, a City of Mermaids, History, and Ticks
I don’t have too terribly much as a narrative for today because we basically walked all over creation (well, Warsaw creation) and took lots of pics. So I’ll explain what we saw as captions on the pictures for the most part.
We woke up and had breakfast at the buffet that was included at our hotel. It was very nice, the best breakfast buffet I’ve had at a hotel. They had the most amazing granola with raisins and dried apricots and all kinds of wonderful oats and things. I thought it was a little strange at first when I realized that the milk to put on the granola was hot, but it actually worked really well because it softened up the oats nicely. I was hooked. I also really liked that they had these huge juice glasses so I didn’t have to keep going up to the buffet twenty times to get more. I’ve already discussed my giant intake of juice at breakfast when it’s free to refill.
After we’d had our fill at breakfast, we got in the car and headed for the train stop. It was just a few short miles away. (There was actually one that was a little closer to our hotel, but it didn’t have a guarded parking lot. We’d heard that it was worth it to drive to one that did.) Getting tickets for the train was a bit confusing, because the woman at the ticket booth spoke no English at all, and there wasn’t a sign about it to really point to. Funnily enough, an older gentleman heard us trying to communicate with the woman and came over to ask if either of us spoke German. Apparently he didn’t speak English either, but could translate between German and Polish. Well, it just so happens that I’d had 5 years of German in high school and college, and (amazingly ) remembered enough to figure out that for the ticket we wanted, we could just buy it on the train. I guess the lady at the ticket booth only sold one way tickets. Strange, but ok. We got some change from the lady at the booth, and then turned to go back to the platform and wait for the train. As we turned around we realized the train was actually there already, so we ran back across the street as fast as we could. Fortunately the conductor saw us running and waited a second. (It would be a half hour till the next train, so we appreciated her waiting for us.)
It was about a 30-35 minute train ride into the center of Warsaw. We came out of the underground station right at the FanPark for the Euro. It was HUGE compared to the one in Prague. (And later, we found out, it was huge compared to any of the other Fan Zones.) It could hold 100,000 people. We started to head towards Old Town Warsaw. Since Poland’s team was playing Russia that evening in Warsaw, just about everyone walking in the city was donning either a Poland scarf or something equally patriotic. We decided to get in the spirit, so we stopped at a store (I can’t recall the name, but it was similar to a Walgreens) and bought some cheap Poland scarves. Had to support the home team today! We continued walking all around the OldTown area and taking pictures, then we ended up walking to the New Town area as well. The city was very picturesque in these areas. It was amazing how well they had reconstructed these buildings. For those who don’t know, Warsaw (and much of Poland, but especially Warsaw) was completely destroyed in 1944. The city tried to fight back against the Nazi invasion, and the ensuing battle tore Warsaw apart. It was totally decimated, but they have done such a wonderful job bringing the historical buildings of the city back to life. I was looking at our map and decided that the Jewish cemetery didn’t look that far, so I’d really like to see it. Apparently I was not quite reading the scale on the map correctly, because it felt like we walked forever to get there. Once of the super touristy areas, Warsaw wasn’t quite as nice. We didn’t feel unsafe or anything, it was just lots and lots of Soviet era block apartment buildings and not much else.
I loved the overlay on this hotel. Soccer scarves!
Warsaw had these replica mermaid statues all around town for each country in the Euro. Of course I found the Spain one first! The mermaid is the symbol of Warsaw, and you'll see the real statue in just a minute...
This cracked me up. McDonald's was a Euro sponsor, and apparently this Burger King billboard was too close to the Fan Zone to be able to use it's name.
Polish bank ad starring who else, Chuck Norris!
Saxon Park
Saxon Park
Fountain at Saxon Park
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Changing of the guard at Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
There was a quote by John Paul II on the ground by this cross. The Polish people LOVE him and are very proud of him.
Old Town area
Me with a view of National Stadium behind me
Old Town Square
The real Mermaid statue
The Barbican - part of the original walls that surrounded Warsaw
Monument to the 1944 Uprising. More than 200,000 Polish citizens were killed in this battle.
The National Library
Part of the outline of the Ghetto Walls during WWII
New Town Square
This is what the following building looked like in 1945...
We finally made it to the Jewish cemetery (and figured out how to get in, which was a trick in itself). We paid the admission fee and began wandering around. I was really surprised at how unkempt and overgrown it was everywhere. I was even more surprised when we saw some newer tombstones that people were still buried here. I have no idea how they got the caskets in such tight wooded overgrown areas. We finally decided to turn around and head back to the exit before we got lost. It was getting late and we wanted to be back in the Fan area by game time. There was a really heart-wrenching monument at the front of the cemetery by a man who was the only one of his 30-something cousins to survive WWII. While I was reading about it, I noticed Kyle had sat down on a bench and was playing with his socks and pant legs. I asked him what he was doing, and he said looking for ticks. Oh fantastic. I am not a woodsy person by any stretch of the imagination, so I hadn’t even thought of that as we were tromping along through the trees. Kyle hadn’t either until we were already deep in the woods, so he decided to wait to tell me about it until we got out and could look for the ticks. Lovely. He had two on his jeans by his ankles and found one on me. Yuck! I was praying that we’d gotten them all.
We left the cemetery and started the loooooong walk back to the Fan Zone area. By the time we got there, it was starting to get really crowded. I was getting tired (remember what happens when I get tired? ) and standing in the midst of a huge crowd to watch a game I honestly didn’t care one way or another about (there was no way either of those teams were getting to the final) was starting to sound like a really BAD idea. I also had visions of trying to catch the train with all of these people AND all of the people pouring out of the stadium after the game (the stadium was one stop from the Fan Zone). No bueno. Kyle felt the same (especially about the train situation), so we decided to just call it a day and catch the train back to the hotel now. (When I saw the coverage of the Fan Zone later during the game I was SO happy we hadn't stayed. It was completely packed - every last one of the 100,000 people the area could hold was in there. They didn't look like they could even move!)
Trying to keep these fans seperated...
It was super easy because everyone was pouring into town, but few were already heading out. We got back to the hotel and decided to get room service for dinner. I had a bit of a headache (from not drinking enough during the sunny day, I am sure) and relaxing for the rest of the evening in our room sounded like a winner. The room service was delicious, and of course I was happy because they had gnocchi!
Can you tell I am a big fan of potatoes? Our delicious room service meal of gnocchi in butter sauce, potato slices, and veal braciole with a wonderful, sweet sauce.
I sort of wondered if we were the first people who’d ordered it (remember this hotel was really new), because when Kyle went down to request an English menu the people got very excited that we were going to order it in our room. (Excited happy, not excited upset.) Or maybe they were just excited because they know Americans tend to really over-tip in Europe. We’re guilty of it… I just can’t get used to the idea of leaving a small tip or none at all, despite how much the waiters are getting paid. After eating our nice dinner and watching the soccer matches, we took showers and went to sleep. (I did find one more tick…I shudder just thinking about it…when I was getting undressed for my shower. Fortunately, though, it was just walking up my leg and not attached so it was easy to grab and kill. YUCK!
Up Next: Day 7 – Gdansk: a BeautifulCity by the Baltic and my favorite Fan Zone of them all!
__________________
MNSSHP 2015: DH (Bane), Me (Batgirl), Genie, and our friends
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Ballston Lake, NY
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 46,162
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 94
Likes (Received): 241
Thanks (Given): 0
Thanks (Received): 139
Pixie Dust (Given): 3
Pixie Dust (Received): 4
Amazing pictures of Warsaw! The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was really beautiful. It's sad that the cemetery was so overgrown. Some of those stones looked really old. But I could do without the ticks, YUCK!!
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
What a beautiful city. It's somewhere that's not on my radar at all and doesn't get much press as a place to visit here, but there's certainly a lot to see.
What a nice day in Warsaw. You can definitely tell that Warsaw had to do a lot of rebuilding after WW2 because of the "newest" of the stone and brick compared to Prague. Warsaw's doesn't look as weathered as Prague's.
Good call in watching the games from the safety of your hotel room. I heard it quite nasty between the Russian and Polish fans before the match.
Warsaw is lovely! Definitely a good call to choose to watch the game from your room! Especially with yummy room service!!! It's a good thing I'm about to head to dinner right now, because looking at your pictures made me even MORE hungry!
Amazing pictures of Warsaw! The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was really beautiful. It's sad that the cemetery was so overgrown. Some of those stones looked really old. But I could do without the ticks, YUCK!!
I could do without them too!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
It's terrible that the cemetary is in such sad shape, especially if it's still being used for new burials. Yikes on the ticks!
I agree...especially since we had to pay admission to get in, it kind of made me wonder what that money is used for. I would have thought it would go to upkeep. Apparently not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
What a beautiful city. It's somewhere that's not on my radar at all and doesn't get much press as a place to visit here, but there's certainly a lot to see.
I'll admit it was never on my radar before either. In fact I said that to Kyle as we were on the train headed to town - "I can't say I ever expected to be in Warsaw." But I'm glad I got the chance to experience it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OneLittleSpark
Great pics Ashli! I love seeing Poland, I like seeing where my grandma came from. Though she wasn't from Warsaw, some small village close to Germany.
Ticks, OMG! I would be flipping out. Me and ticks don't mix. You know this.
I love room service, I don't know why. I guess it's just that someone brings you the food. It's just so fun!
Can't wait to hear more!
I love room service too, even though it's usually ridiculously overpriced. (Although it wasn't too bad in our hotel there.) We'll be in a town closer to the German border when we get to Poznan towards the end of our trip...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Timothy Mouse
Good call in watching the games from the safety of your hotel room. I heard it quite nasty between the Russian and Polish fans before the match.
I heard quite a bit about this when I was over there. Although, it definitely seemed to be conflicting depending on whether you heard the news reports or talked to actual people who were in the area. The news seemed to make Russian fans out to be the culprit, and the people seemed to blame the Polish fans (and this is from Polish people!). I don't know during that game, but I do know that when we went to Russia/Greece, the Russian fans I saw were fine but the Polish fans (who were rather numerous since it was in Warsaw) were being pretty obnoxious.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Principessa_di_Fata
Warsaw is lovely! Definitely a good call to choose to watch the game from your room! Especially with yummy room service!!! It's a good thing I'm about to head to dinner right now, because looking at your pictures made me even MORE hungry!
That was really good room service. I know some people are anti-veal but it sure is good. And gnocchi...well, I'll always be happy with gnocchi.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DisneyDana
No on the Bachlorette, they go on these amazing dates all over the world. That's the main reason I like to watch. Some of the places are just gorgeous. My favorite place so far has been...wait for it....Switzerland!
Interesting! The only place in Switzerland I've been to is Geneva, and I was incredibly underwhelmed. It was really dirty and the people were really rude (although that is the part of Switzerland where they speak French so that could explain a lot... ). I would really like to go to Zurich and other areas though. I've heard they are beautiful.
__________________
MNSSHP 2015: DH (Bane), Me (Batgirl), Genie, and our friends
DAY 7: Wednesday, June 13, 2012 – Gdansk: a BeautifulCity by the Baltic and my favorite Fan Zone of them all!
Today we were saying goodbye to Warsaw and heading to Gdansk. Despite only having been in Warsaw for one full day, I wasn’t too sad to be leaving. We got a lot done in the day we were there, and I was ready for a new adventure. We got up and had breakfast and the hotel’s wonderful buffet again. After that we checked out, loaded up the car, and were on our way. Now this is where we got a little happy payback from our journey to Warsaw where the new interstate wasn’t finished. The GPS told us that the interstate to Gdansk wasn’t finished, but in reality it was. We had a brand new lovely interstate to take us the entire way. Thus, instead of the 6 hours our GPS was forecasting, it only took about 4 ½. Yay! It was a pleasant drive with pretty countryside scenery. I also really like Poland’s interstates because the speed limit is 140 kph (that’s almost 90 mph!). We were zooming along. With only one little stop for gas and bathroom breaks, we were pulling into Gdansk in no time.
Northern Poland countryside
Gdansk is a beautiful town located way up north in Poland, right near the Baltic Sea. Some of you may be familiar with it’s other name, Danzig, which it was called during the time between WWI and WWII. Since it is so far north, it was a little chillier here than where we had been so far, but we actually had beautiful sunny weather for the most part so it was not too bad. As we pulled on to the little island that sits in the middle of the river in Gdansk, we easily found our hotel with the help of the GPS. It was called Willa Billia Lila. Kyle was cracking me up because he kept calling it Willa Billa Lilla, and pronouncing the “w” the way we do, not as a “v” the way they do in Poland. He never did quite catch on to that the whole time we were there. I guess it was easier for me since I was used to it in German. (Not that Polish and German are ANYTHING alike.)
Our hotel is the red brick building in the middle with the green writing at the top
The hotel was small, but very nice. We checked in and put our bags in the room. Then we decided to go explore the town. Our hotel was situated perfectly, about a two minute walk from the center city area. We headed that way. I was so excited to see all of the Spain fans! Spain played all three of their group stage games in Gdansk, so this was pretty much home base for their fans. We wandered all around this beautiful town and took lots of pictures.
The strange looking building is the Gdansk Crane. It's one of the oldest boating cranes in Europe. It dates back to 1300s.
Statue of Poseidon in the city center
All of the host cities were decorated to the hilt!
One of the few remaining grain silos on the island where our hotel was. The island used to have over 100 of these.
One of the few buildings that was not rebuilt after 1945...
When it was nearing 6:00, we decided to head over to the town’s Fan Zone to catch the Portugal/Denmark game. The Fan Zone wasn’t right in the center of the city, but it was just a short (very short) tram ride away. We had asked the lady at our hotel reception desk and she told us which number tram we needed to get on to get to the Fan Zone. There was a tram stop right across the street from our hotel, as well as one on the other side of the city center. The right tram came quickly and we hopped on. Just a few short stops later, we got out directly across the street from the Fan Zone. I loved the Gdansk Fan Zone. It just seemed set up so well, with lots of room to move.
I know, I know. I can't resist getting a shot of Cristiano on a giant screen.
It also had the best food, but more on that in a minute. The Portugal game was just about to start, so we found a nice space to sit and watch. I loved that everyone at this Fan Zone sat to watch the games! It was so much nicer than standing for the whole thing. At half time we decided to hit the food tent and get some dinner. They had all kinds of great looking things – kebabs, roasted potatoes, sandwiches, crepes, etc. – but we both chose pierogies. We’re in Poland, right? They had about ten different flavors, but we both went with the Russki ones – cheese and potato filling. You could go with ketchup for your sauce or some sort of creamy garlic sauce. I got ketchup, Kyle got the garlic sauce. They were DELICIOUS.
As much as I loved Telepizza and the trdlo pastry, if I could bring one thing back from that trip it would be these pierogies. OMG they were so good. And they gave you a huge portion, which was awesome. That was one thing that was nice about the Fan Zone and stadium food in Poland – it was not ridiculously overpriced like it is here in the US. Our giant bowl of pierogies was less than $3 US. We took our pierogies and drinks (Coke Zero for me, beer for Kyle) back to our spot and sat to eat and watch the second half of the game. Portugal won (yay!), so we were happy. By this point it was just starting to become dusk, and it was getting cold fast. I had not realized how much colder it was going to get at night, so I had mistakenly not brought a jacket, nor had Kyle. We decided to head back to our hotel for the evening’s second game (Germany/Netherlands) so we didn’t freeze. On our way out, I stopped at the merchandise tent and got a Spain scarf. It was pretty cool because it was an “official” Euro 2012 scarf. On the back it has the years that Spain has won the Euro. I guess I need to figure out a way to write “2012” on there too now! LOL
We got back to our hotel pretty quickly and watched the game. Germany won. After some warm showers, we went to sleep. Tomorrow was the day I had been waiting for – my second ever Spain game in person!
Up Next: Day 8 – Is That Two Year Old Wearing a Gucci Jacket???
__________________
MNSSHP 2015: DH (Bane), Me (Batgirl), Genie, and our friends
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
Melanie
), but I get too tired on long drives.
I'm not surprised you were exhausted and hungry when you got to your hotel.
But that pizza looked yummy! 
They are VERY proud of him though. I think we only saw one Russian Orthodox church (it was in Warsaw), and unfortunately it was too late to go in it that evening.
It was very nice, the best breakfast buffet I’ve had at a hotel. They had the most amazing granola with raisins and dried apricots and all kinds of wonderful oats and things. 
I thought it was a little strange at first when I realized that the milk to put on the granola was hot, but it actually worked really well because it softened up the oats nicely. I was hooked. I also really liked that they had these huge juice glasses so I didn’t have to keep going up to the buffet twenty times to get more. I’ve already discussed my giant intake of juice at breakfast when it’s free to refill. 
Funnily enough, an older gentleman heard us trying to communicate with the woman and came over to ask if either of us spoke German. Apparently he didn’t speak English either, but could translate between German and Polish. Well, it just so happens that I’d had 5 years of German in high school and college, and (amazingly 
) remembered enough to figure out that for the ticket we wanted, we could just buy it on the train. I guess the lady at the ticket booth only sold one way tickets. Strange, but ok. We got some change from the lady at the booth, and then turned to go back to the platform and wait for the train. As we turned around we realized the train was actually there already, so we ran back across the street as fast as we could. Fortunately the conductor saw us running and waited a second. 
We started to head towards Old Town Warsaw. Since Poland’s team was playing Russia that evening in Warsaw, just about everyone walking in the city was donning either a Poland scarf or something equally patriotic. We decided to get in the spirit, so we stopped at a store (I can’t recall the name, but it was similar to a Walgreens) and bought some cheap Poland scarves. Had to support the home team today! 
We continued walking all around the OldTown area and taking pictures, then we ended up walking to the New Town area as well. The city was very picturesque in these areas. It was amazing how well they had reconstructed these buildings. For those who don’t know, Warsaw (and much of Poland, but especially Warsaw) was completely destroyed in 1944. The city tried to fight back against the Nazi invasion, and the ensuing battle tore Warsaw apart. It was totally decimated, but they have done such a wonderful job bringing the historical buildings of the city back to life. I was looking at our map and decided that the Jewish cemetery didn’t look that far, so I’d really like to see it. Apparently I was not quite reading the scale on the map correctly, because it felt like we walked forever to get there. 
Once of the super touristy areas, Warsaw wasn’t quite as nice. We didn’t feel unsafe or anything, it was just lots and lots of Soviet era block apartment buildings and not much else. 
While I was reading about it, I noticed Kyle had sat down on a bench and was playing with his socks and pant legs. I asked him what he was doing, and he said looking for ticks. 
) and standing in the midst of a huge crowd to watch a game I honestly didn’t care one way or another about (there was no way either of those teams were getting to the final) was starting to sound like a really BAD idea. 
I also had visions of trying to catch the train with all of these people AND all of the people pouring out of the stadium after the game (the stadium was one stop from the Fan Zone). No bueno. Kyle felt the same (especially about the train situation), so we decided to just call it a day and catch the train back to the hotel now. (When I saw the coverage of the Fan Zone later during the game I was SO happy we hadn't stayed. It was completely packed - every last one of the 100,000 people the area could hold was in there. They didn't look like they could even move!)
I had a bit of a headache (from not drinking enough during the sunny day, I am sure) and relaxing for the rest of the evening in our room sounded like a winner. The room service was delicious, and of course I was happy because they had gnocchi! 
(I did find one more tick…I shudder just thinking about it…when I was getting undressed for my shower. Fortunately, though, it was just walking up my leg and not attached so it was easy to grab and kill. 
YUCK!
PassPorter Guide Author
"Sparky"(My first trip.)
and heading to Gdansk. Despite only having been in Warsaw for one full day, I wasn’t too sad to be leaving. We got a lot done in the day we were there, and I was ready for a new adventure. We got up and had breakfast and the hotel’s wonderful buffet again. After that we checked out, loaded up the car, and were on our way. Now this is where we got a little happy payback from our journey to Warsaw where the new interstate wasn’t finished. 
Spain played all three of their group stage games in Gdansk, so this was pretty much home base for their fans. We wandered all around this beautiful town and took lots of pictures.
Linear Mode
