Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Warsaw

Wizz Air (Warsaw to London Luton)

A quick breakfast in the lounge and I’m always delighted to have a Greek salad. I had two as I was so delighted. This is the Etiuda Lounge which is in the non-Schengen one, although I usually go to the Preludium Lounge which is in the Schengen area. My logic is that I’ve been caught at border control for quite some time on a few occasions and I now prefer to clear that bureaucratic gauntlet first, lest I be detained indefinitely while someone scrutinises my passport like a cursed manuscript. I noticed that the border control agent was being very assiduous with the stamps of the passenger in front, indeed, the English traveller said “I’ve got too many stamps” which didn’t bode well for me. Anyway, the border agent looked through my passport and looked like he didn’t have the energy to deal with it, so just stamped it.

After my starter and main course of Greek salad, along with mochas and Fanta, I had a dessert of chocolate and beer. I think there are some healthy elements to that meal.

Anyway, after a peaceful time in the lounge, it was time to board. Yet again, the process was well managed, clearly signed and efficient. They were doing numerous bag checks but they didn’t look very long at mine, the benefit of having a soft bag. It’s the firmer type bags they stop, with a few customers charged £80 or so for having bags that are too big. The moral of this story really is pack like you’re going on a short hike and not moving house.

I had a middle seat, but when I boarded there was someone in my seat and I queried it in my perfect English. The Polish guy pointed at the lady in the window seat and said “wife here, I sit here, you sit there?” pointing at the aisle seat. This to me was a win, I like an aisle seat. He did proceed to spill slightly into my seat space like an enthusiastic houseplant, but I forgave him. The aisle seat was mine, and that was victory enough. The seating Gods work in a mysterious way.

The aircraft was 9H-WDX, an Airbus A321 which has been in the Wizz Air fleet since December 2023 and yet another aircraft that I don’t think I’ve been on (this exact one, I’ve been on rather too many A321s….).

And back at London Luton. The whole process was efficient again, nothing of note to write about as the crew were friendly, the pilots were informative and the aircraft was clean. The border at Luton Airport was busy, but I was through within twenty minutes. That now means I have two hours in McDonald’s by the railway station before my train back home, but I’m sure it’ll speed on by.

June 20, 2025
Wizz Air (Warsaw Chopin to Dortmund)

Today’s early morning flight was from Warsaw Chopin to Dortmund and since I was at the airport soon after the security area opened, it was certainly a quiet airside. Although I accept that’s because normal people don’t arrive at airports as early as I do……

The corridors weren’t yet bustling.

The restaurants not yet packed.

I went to inspect the gate for my flight, which was scheduled to leave at 06:05. I realised that this meant I had time for a flying lounge visit, although it only opened at 05:00 so it wasn’t going to be a lingering one.

A little queue had formed for the lounge.

The excitement of it all….

As usual, I was eyeing up the chocolates (in that basket on the right of the photo).

And a breakfast of a Greek salad, blackcurrant juice, Fanta and a hot chocolate. I soon added chocolate, a banana and two shots of espresso. It transpired that I had twenty minutes in the lounge until they called customers to go to the gate, but that was sufficient time to get enough food and drink. Fortunately, my lounge pass is unlimited as I wouldn’t have paid for such a short visit.

The boarding process was efficient, although it was a bus gate which is never entirely ideal. The seating Gods had given me a middle seat, but it’s only a short flight and I was asleep for nearly all of it anyway. The route from Warsaw to Dortmund (and back again) has only just been launched but it was a nearly full flight. This is the exciting thing for airlines such as Wizz Air and Ryanair, they can open new routes and have a near guarantee that people will want to travel between the two locations.

The aircraft was 9H-WBZ, an Airbus A321 which has been in the fleet since October 2022, which I don’t think that I’ve been on before.

Safely into Dortmund and it was a little warmer than Warsaw.

Dortmund Airport is, if I’m being honest, bloody awful. The terminal was built in 2000 and designed for many fewer passengers, so it’s struggling to cope with the current higher volumes. There aren’t enough toilets, it’s not clean and it didn’t feel very well maintained. There was limited seating, the signage was confused and the on-line reviews are appalling, they desperately need an entirely new terminal. I can’t say that I’m looking forward to flying out of the airport in a couple of days.

Anyway, it was in my eyes a successful flight as it cost me under £9, it was on time and everything seemed well managed and organised.

June 13, 2025
McDonalds Poland – Pistachio McFlurry

It seems silly to come to a country and not eat the local food so I decided to try this rather delicious sounding Pistachio McFlurry. The promotional text says:

“Discover the new McFlurry® Pistachio and be amazed by the combination of velvety vanilla ice cream, thick pistachio sauce and crunchy cookie topping. Be warned, it may mess with your head!”

If I’m being honest, this is just a little rustic and there is perhaps a need to work on the presentation of this as there are some subtle variations from the promotional photos. However, I will say that it works in terms of the taste with the pistachio sauce having some depth of flavour and the pistachios themselves adding texture. Anyway, I’d better and have some pierogi to restore the authentic Polish balance.

June 12, 2025
Warsaw – Metro System : C05 Ulrychów (Visiting Every Station)

And the next in my series of visiting every metro station on the Warsaw network. I have a backlog of these, but then again, I have a backlog of lots of many things I’m meant to be writing up.

The station is on M2, located in the Wola district along Górczewska Street and next to the Wola Park shopping centre. It was officially opened on 30 June 2022 as part of the extension of Line M2 westward from Rondo Daszyńskiego towards Bemowo. It takes its name from the Ulrich family, who established one of Warsaw’s first commercial gardening enterprises in the 19th century on this very land, with quite extensive greenhouses and nurseries. Work on the construction started in 2019, although groundbreaking work started in late 2018. Despite Covid, the project remained on schedule (this is Poland) and it officially opened on 30 June 2022.

And here’s the aforementioned Wola Park shopping centre. During the planning stage of the extension, the station was going to take the name Wola Park but perhaps they didn’t pay enough for sponsorship as in October 2018 the name was changed to Ulrychów.

Inside the shopping centre as I had to pop in. I might have accidentally tripped into the McDonald’s self-service machine and ordered myself a Jalapeño Burger as well by accident as well. At just £1, they continue to surprise and delight me.

This is Osiedle Przyjaźń, a hastily erected housing estate built in 1952 which was designed to house the thousands of Soviet workers who were building the Palace of Culture and Science in the city centre. It was composed almost entirely of prefabricated wooden dormitory pavilions for the labourers and some smaller bungalows for the more senior staff. At its peak, it could house 4,500 people and the structures were painted in either blue and white or red and white colour schemes to make them look colourful and exciting. There was a residential area here before, but that was quickly demolished although alternative accommodation was offered to those living in the area.

After the Palace was completed in May 1955, the Soviets cleared off and that left a handy campus area already constructed, which was given to the Ministry of Higher Education. The dormitories were used as student halls and the bungalows were given to academics and their families.

It’s a slightly odd area today, there are quite a few buildings which are boarded up, but evidently there are plenty of people who live here.

No-one paid much attention to my meandering around, it’s quite a peaceful area.

Some of the colourful buildings probably need a little painting.

This exploration is tiring, so I popped into the Auchan supermarket for a yoghurt based drink. I got a Mullermilch as well, but that’s getting its own post as usual.

Back to the metro station. Incidentally, the shopping centre were going to build an underground tunnel to the station, but they didn’t bother, but that’s perhaps because they were annoyed that the station wasn’t named after them.

Another packed platform, but it’s functional and clean. It was designed by a consortium of Metroprojekt and AMC Andrzej M. Chołdzyński, the same architectural team behind many other Line M2 stations, and it was designed with the expectation that the copper walls will oxidise over time, gradually changing colour and developing a natural verdigris patina. Very decadent. For anyone interested, and this is stretching the engagement of even my two loyal blog readers, the station is 120 metres long and was constructed in a 160 metres station box, all constructed using the ‘cut and cover’ method of making a big hole, putting in the station box and then resurfacing it.

The station sign and the architects noted that:

“The ceiling of the platform level is covered with coffered acoustic panels also finished in a warm copper tone. In combination with the green walls and pillars, the copper ceiling creates a feeling reminiscent of an autumnal palette.”

Nice. To be honest, this extension is a little uniform in its design, it could probably do with some exciting art installations going on to make the stations feel a little more individual. There was some controversy that the planned nearby Warszawa Górczewska rail station wasn’t constructed as an interchange with this metro station, but the designers said if they had moved it then it was no longer near where people lived, nor the shopping centre. They have a good point there and they’ve likely ignored the mocking ‘węzeł spacerowy’ or ‘walking interchange’ that some have nicknamed it.

And here comes the train, taking me back to the city centre. The network considers this to be the most copper filled of any of their stations, a fun fact I’ll try and remember although I doubt it’ll come up in any quizzes.

June 12, 2025
Warsaw – Thai Me Up

It’s an interesting name for a Thai restaurant, but I needed somewhere suitably exotic to celebrate the end of this wave of dental treatment and I also hadn’t been here before so that seemed reason enough to visit.

The food menu and for those from the UK, divide by five to get the equivalent amount in pounds.

The drinks menu which seemed suitably broad in size.

I was greeted promptly at the door and offered a choice of seats, but I liked the window seat as it meant I had a view over the restaurant and also the kitchen. I could see from my viewpoint that everything was being cooked fresh in the kitchen, it certainly seemed authentic with the woks being flung about excitedly and flames coming from pans. The aroma of the restaurant was also enticing, the open kitchen meant that the Thai flavours lingered across the interior.

The starter was the chicken satay and this is the best presented version of that meal that I’ve ever seen. The chicken was tender and generous in portion size, with what I think is called Achar which is a diced fruit and vegetable arrangement, alongside prawn crackers, the satay sauce, along with what might be mung bean sprouts but I’m unsure. I haven’t been to Thailand, but I will work out a trip there at some point.

They had some Polish beers, but adding to the Thai authenticity I went for a Singha beer. It’s a pale lager, but it seemed light and appropriate for the meal, although I suppose in that sense it’s both exotic and banal. It came in a bottle, but the team member poured it into the glass and took the bottle, which doesn’t help for Untappd photos if I’m being honest but I was there for the food rather than my Untappd feed.

The main was the chicken green curry with rice, which was mentioned to be spicy hot. It was hot in terms of the spice, although not overly so, but was certainly piping hot in the temperature sense. The chicken was tender, the curry was rich in flavour and it had all those vegetable things that I think are meant to be good for you. The jasmine rice was light, although in an ideal world I would have rather have had a bit more of that because of how large the green curry sauce portion was.

The atmosphere in the restaurant was laid-back and informal with an authentic feel only diminished slightly by the customer with a loud Glaswegian accent. It does get rather confusing at times, planning a trip to another country whilst being Poland, eating a Thai cuisine and listening to customers speaking in English (well, Glaswegian, but they have similar roots). They had a side room and downstairs area, so they could cope with very large numbers here, but it was still moderately busy for a Wednesday evening.

The pricing was reasonable, especially for an on-trend city centre restaurant in the capital, with the service being polite and attentive. The food and drink all met or exceeded my expectations in terms of the taste, temperature and presentation, with the portion size being larger than I had expected. At the end of the meal, it wasn’t quite as easy as I would have liked to get the bill, but I wasn’t in a rush and I could have forced the issue if I had wanted with my passive aggressive look. And it just gave more time for people watching, so I remained happy and would merrily recommend this restaurant to others.

June 12, 2025
Wizz Air (London Luton to Warsaw Chopin)

And a flight to Warsaw for my last week of dental work and I’ve been very brave by all accounts. For completeness, I thought I’d include the photos of the lounge visits from my Priority Pass card before the flight, as I’m like that….. I received a notification that the aircraft was running around thirty minutes late, which allowed a little extra time for these visits. This is Big Smoke and the chicken tenders and Electric Eye beer which was hazy, hoppy and a bit tropical.

The Calamari and pineapple juice at Nolito, primarily as they’d run out of orange juice.

And the My Lounge, which was full when I first went but I joined the on-line queue and headed to Nolito instead. Thirty minutes later I received a message saying that I could check-in. The cutlery here was filthy as usual, but everything else felt clean and organised. The staff were friendly and the beer, Birra Moretti, was generic and dull.

Anyway, I digress.

This is the first Wizz Air flight that I can remember where the boarding process was unclear. The priority (not me) and non-priority (me) queues weren’t very clear and a staff member came down after some time to try and resolve the confusion. The gates are poorly marked here rather than it being a Wizz Air issue, but fortunately I arrived early enough to work the whole arrangement out, but I noticed some stressed customers after me.

There we go, confirmation that I was in the right queue…..

It felt a longer wait than usual to board the aircraft, but nothing unreasonable, and all of the staff seemed helpful if not one that seemed a little frazzled by customers. The aircraft was HA-LVE, which I don’t think that I’ve been on before, an Airbus A321 which has been in the Wizz Air fleet since July 2019.

The seating Gods had given me an aisle seat towards the rear of the aircraft, which I felt was very agreeable. Two other customers had been barging past other customers and I just let them past me, they seemed to have an issue with personal space and numerous other customers just let them go by. It transpired that they were sitting next to me on the aircraft, so it was efficient that they had gone ahead of me given that I had the aisle seat. The flight was without issue once again, with the pilot making regular announcements. I think I was asleep for most of the flight, I get easily tired now that I’m 30.

And safely into a rainy Warsaw around an hour after the original expected arrival time. As the flight had cost me under £9 with Multi Pass, I was happy with the whole arrangement. The border control was efficient and more personable than I’ve experienced recently, some others ahead me in the queue were being asked the purpose of their visit, but I just got “welcome back to Poland” so perhaps they’ve got fed up with asking.

June 11, 2025
Warsaw – Metro System : A2 Natolin (Visiting Every Station)

Next in my series of visiting every metro station on the Warsaw network was Natolin and, I have to admit, I did struggle to find a great deal of interest around here as it was so residential. It’s relatively near to two other stops, limiting the option to walk a little further in search of excitement.

The sun was shining and it was too hot. Not that I moan about the heat…. The metro station takes its name from the district that it’s located in, Natolin.

I found a small park nearby, Park Lasek Brzozowy, or ‘Birch Wood Park’. It’s nice, but I wouldn’t recommend that people come from other countries just to visit.

I went to walk around a housing estate, trying desperately to find anything old.

A little shopping centre.

Going back into the metro station. The metro station was on the first stretch of the network that opened, on 7 April 1995.

The decoration on the platform.

It wasn’t overly busy.

The plan of the metro station.

And leaving…. I must admit, this is likely to be one of the dullest metro station reports and I likely set the bar quite low with the whole concept. But, I don’t rule out going back and trying to find something which will surprise and delight my two loyal blog readers.

April 22, 2025
Warsaw – Archaeological Finds at Pałac Saski w Warszawie (Saxon Palace)

I’ve followed the progress at the Saxon Palace in Warsaw for some years and it’s all looking very exciting. It was destroyed during the Second World War, like nearly everything else in Warsaw, but finally the Government is kick-starting change at the building. But, as some more detailed history…

Initially, the site was occupied by the Morsztyn Palace, a baroque structure built in the latter half of the seventeenth century. In 1713, King Augustus II the Strong (I love names like that), who was the first of Poland’s Saxon kings, purchased the palace and initiated its expansion and transformation into a grand royal residence. This project, overseen by prominent architects, gave rise to the Saxon Palace and the development of the surrounding Saxon Axis, a significant urban plan that included the Saxon Garden. The palace became a cultural hub, even more decadent than Wetherspoons.

Over the following decades, the palace complex expanded with the addition of adjacent noble residences, including the Brühl Palace and the Blue Palace. However, after the death of King Augustus III, the Saxon Palace lost its status as a primary royal residence and gradually fell into decline, though it remained in Saxon hands and was rented out to whoever would have it. In 1794, during the Warsaw Uprising, a major battle took place in front of its eastern side which I suppose would have added some excitement to the evening for the residents. In the early nineteenth century, the Warsaw Lyceum was housed in the palace and the family of Frédéric Chopin resided there for several years. After Poland regained independence following the end of the First World War, it became the headquarters of the Polish General Staff and, in 1932, Polish cryptologists working within the palace achieved the groundbreaking feat of breaking the German Enigma cipher. Then the Germans blew it up in December 1944. Only a few fragments of the central arcade remained survived and that has housed the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but recently there have been plans to restore the building to surprise and delight residents and visitors.

There’s a bit of an archaeological dig taking place and these are some of the finds that they’ve located.

This is a fragment of stone cladding from the former Beck Pavilion.

A fragment of a sculpture.

Some glass bottles from the second half of the eighteenth century.

A ceramic pot with a handle from the second of the eighteenth century and a Kiddish cup from the first half of the twentieth century. There’s a lot of poignancy in the latter, this would have been owned by one of the large Jewish community who lived in the city, but who were nearly entirely wiped out during the Second World War.

The remains of the central arcade.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

The archaeological dig.

And the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier again. I didn’t want to take photos of the two members of the Polish military who were guarding it, although I don’t think that there are any restrictions on doing so (within reason). They are planning to open a new building by 2030 and I will watch developments with interest…..

April 22, 2025
Warsaw – Execution of 70 Poles on 14 December 1943

This memorial is located on ul. Wierzbowa, opposite the Polish National Opera building. Although the situation in Warsaw had been terrible since the German occupation, the Nazi terror had increased in the city primarily because of the appointment of SS-Brigadeführer Franz Kutschera as the SS and Police Leader (SSPF) for the Warsaw District on 25 September 1943. In a system of evil, he was one of the worst examples of hate and it’s no real surprise that special efforts were made by the Polish Army to execute him which is something they achieved on 1 February 1944.

The campaign of terror that took place in Warsaw involved various branches of the Nazi occupation apparatus. Roundups were typically conducted by officers from the Gestapo (the Secret State Police), the SD (Sicherheitsdienst – Security Service) and the Ordnungspolizei (Order Police) which were all often supported by members of the Waffen-SS. In some instances, regular members of the Wehrmacht (German Army) and Luftwaffe (German Air Force) as well as members of the Hitler Youth, also participated in these operations.

One of the executions on 14 December took place in full view of the public at ul. Wierzbowa 9/11, located near Plac Teatralny (Theatre Square) – a prominent and culturally significant space in central Warsaw. The selection of such a visible and symbolic location aligned with the Nazi tactic of leveraging public executions for maximum psychological effect and intimidation, they wanted fear. By staging the killing near a major square and theatre, the occupiers not only took lives but also defiled a key emblem of Polish civic and cultural identity, intensifying their message of terror and asserting total control over the heart of the city. As if things weren’t bad enough for the remaining Poles, the German leaders wanted to ramp up the pain even more.

The seventy condemned prisoners would have been transported by truck from Pawiak prison under heavy guard and the Nazis wanted this to be seen by as many people as possible. It’s not entirely clear which prisoners were murdered that day, but they included members of the Polish intelligentsia, political prisoners, resistance fighters and likely just some members of the public just randomly arrested on the whim of some Nazi guard.

The informational sign located underneath which mentions the execution of seventy Poles rather than the one hundred and thirty Poles that are mentioned on the stone memorial. The reason for this, I think, is that they included those killed on the same day on ul. Bonifraterska, again murdering prisoners from Pawiak prison.

April 22, 2025
Warsaw – Complex Pedestrian Crossings

As another random, and to be fair irrelevant, post…… There are a few of these crossings dotted around Warsaw and I’m always slightly confused when using them as although they are logical in their appearance, car drivers often look very confused at them. Warsaw pedestrians seem confident with them, but I’ve watched car drivers and there’s some sharp braking and erratic driving going on rather frequently at them.

April 22, 2025