The Ham Nomads

6 Aug 2015. <PL> Warsaw, Poland —

We were going to leave Warsaw today, but as our 24-hour transport passes weren't used until 1.30pm yesterday, we still had until that time to continue using them, so we decided to go in and have a look at the Palace of Culture and Science. On our way to the bus stop, we noticed a rather modern mosque-like building, so went over for a closer look. It turned out to be the Islamic Cultural Centre. Near it is a memorial to a British Liberator crew downed on August 15 1944 while dropping relief supplies to the Uprising.

The Palace of Culture and Science was constructed 60 years ago, right in Stalin's period of absolute control. The Poles had little to thank Stalin for, especially after his intentional inaction during the Warsaw Uprising, so this building was (and we presume still is) a reminder of the subjugation of Poland. But the Poles are nothing if not ingenious — they have kept and still used the building, but right alongside it they have constructed such superb modern buildings that the Palace looks like the uninspired Soviet-styled building that it is.

We went on to the Złote Tarasy next door, and found a delightful shopping mall covered by an undulating glass ceiling created from triangular shapes, much in the same way as a geodesic dome. We had our choice of coffee houses to choose from for our caffeine fix — but Costa Coffee was just inside the door...

Then we went round to the Palace. We went in to what we thought was the front entrance, only to find it a side entrance, leading to a cinema complex. Appropriately directed, we walked round to the front and went in. There is a viewing platform on the 30th floor, and this is where virtually all tourists go. Well, we thought, why should we be the exception! The lift up is quick, and the views of Warsaw spectacular. We found inside the 30th floor a little exhibition of models of the building made by schoolchildren.

Anyway, the deadline on our transport tickets was approaching, so we made our way back our of town, pulled up stakes in Warsaw and set our sights for Vilnius (in Lithuania). This is not a short trip, so we were planning on taking a couple of days.

We didn't get out of Poland, but pulled off into in a parking area by the highway, on route 61, about 61km north of Stawiski, near the town of Świdry-Dobrzycev — about 180km from where we started the day. This was our worst stop ever — the rubbish bins hadn't been cleared, and were surrounded by flies, which got into our van to annoy us. Add to this a constant to-ing and fro-ing of trucks in the stop (including cattle trucks) and ... but we Hams have learned to sleep through anything! But our can of fly spray will be considerably lighter in the morning!

Distance driven — today, 113 miles ( 182 km ); to date, 25,146 miles ( 40,469 km )