everything & no less;

I am on the bus back from Warsaw now..
It was a realy good time. I like the city a lot.. its much more urban than Gdansk, and has elements of so many different eras & stuff. I love places that are just overflowing with culture & history.
Friday night I got in at like 7 or something so we just basically ate dinner and did nothing. Saturday we got up rather early, went to the Royal Castle which is in Old Town.. walked through that area a bit, then went to some old churches.. and some monuments. Normal touristy stuff basically. Then we went over to this other castle.. don't remember what it is called but it was recently renovated and is really pretty yellow with light blue trim. There are also some gardens (which are currently covered in snow) and a stream there so we walked around there for a bit. Then we parted ways, and Marianna, who I was staying with, went to visit her grandma and I took the bus to Lazienki Park. It is basically the Central Park of Warsaw... lots of monuments are there, a palace, lots of awesome stuff. So I walked through there, saw the ampitheatre, walked along the water.. and then I got to another monument thing and all of a sudden I look over and there are TWO PEACOCKS JUST CHILLIN. What. The. Fuck. I have never seen such a thing. I mean, lots of people were around and they were just hanging out there... there were actually like 5 of them all together, in different places around that area of the park. So then of course I had to have a photoshoot with the peacocks.. haha. Then I walked through the rest of the park, Marianna picked me up, and we went to a restaurant for PIEROGIIIIIIIII!! :D I love that stuff. I had the kind with spinach & mushrooms inside. So good. Then we went on a walk around the area where all the expensive clothing stores are.. gah. Such pretty stuff. So tempting. Then we went back to the Old Town because it is kind of cool there at night... the mermaid statue is all lit up, and there was a band (4 guys) playing right by the Royal Castle. They were really good! haha Then we went to see the University, the president's house, and this thing that I can only describe as the "Mister Rodger's Neighborhood" version of a Nativity Scene.. like, there were flat people and animals on this little track gliding by... it was really elaborate. And they were playing Polish Christmas songs. It was actually super cute and really entrancing.
That was pretty much everything from Saturday.
Then today, we woke up earlyish again, and went to this super old cemetery which was really cool. Then we went to the Warsaw Rising museum. It was super informative and very interesting. There is SO MUCH about eastern European history that I had NO IDEA ABOUT. Goodness. So that was really good to see.
Then we went to 2 really old/cool churches.. BOTH of which were having mass when we got there. So! I went to mass today. Twice. The end of one and the beginning of another. SO cool. I love the reverence with which the Catholic faith is approached. Its refreshing to see that.
Then we went to the "praga" area (am I spelling that right?!?).. Anyway its this neighborhood in Warsaw.. half of it is very poor/unsafe/etc. but the buildings are super old and stuff.. and then the other half is super rich and fancypants. That was fun. After that, I decided we should eat so we went to a Kabob place and had shaved meat with fries, served with carrots, cabbage and some sort of weird beet root thing.. haha.
ANNNNND then I went to the bus place. And as I write, I am on the bus back to Gdansk. It was a great weekend and I am really glad I got to go there! :)

*Pictures of all this will be on facebook within the next 24 hours. haha. The only things I didn't take pictures of were the cemetery and Warsaw Rising museum. Fyi.