Day 69 30 May 2015 Berlin Warsaw

Leaving behind the lovely Ritz Carlton Hotel, a few people commented that it was the loveliest hotel they had been in. We chatted to our breakfast waitress who speaks English, German and a little French and is Vietnamese and she has been living in Berlin since she was 2. Arriving at Berlin’s central railway station about 8.30AM, we were about the only ones there. However, within 30 minutes there was a swarm of people, often football supporters singing raucously and often carrying a crate of beer. Tonight is the German Football championship final and one of the teams was staying in our hotel.  On football, Sepp Blatter and FIFA is dominating the news here. I absolutely support Sepp Blatter as FIFA president, ever since I received this as the small brown bag of unmarked Euro notes.

We hopped on the train and we were in a 6 person compartment with our cruise buddies and it was a pleasant conversation and looking at the native wildlife of Poland that seem to consist of a large moth and several cats. I now realise why David Attenborough hasn’t produced a three part series on “Wildlife in Poland”.  Poland is flat and boring.  That’s not exactly true…it is scenic enough with small farming hamlets, the occasional church spire, open fields, clumps of woods and economic refugees heading to Germany or hoping to star in a British crime show.

All through Europe security has been tight so we are hoping it might be more lax in Poland. 

Warsaw looks interesting and the tour guide told us how much Putin hates Poland…sounds like a bumper sticker and how much the Poles like Tony Abbot because he confronted him at the G20 last year (how old is Emma Rose now, our little G20 bundle of joy?) and how the Poles were afraid to because they didn’t want to upset him. The Poles love Tony…if only they could vote for him.

The Sheraton Warsaw is quite nice, our room is as spacious as anything we have had but it is quite plain, hence no photos of the room, although we do have nice views of the city. Tonight we had a three course dinner in a local restaurant which was quite nice although the venue essentially looked like a wedding venue with all the white feathers and long white corridor. No white doves but ornamental geese.

Crossing the Oder River the Polish-German border, 

Leftover picture from Berlin "I know there is a Lego giraffe here somewhere".

The view from our hotel room looking towards the centre of Warsaw.