We wake early, before the 5:30 alarm, to pack, check out and meet our 6:30 taxi. Dawn is just breaking and it is raining. It seems to rain often in this coastal city. The taxi drives us through a part of the city we have not seen on the way to the international airport.
It is still early it seems, for things are pretty quiet at the terminal. There are not many signs in English. David stays with the bags while I go upstairs, but this is the arrival floor, so I go back to the first floor and we sit towait until we can see an agent. Finally a woman comes to sit on a stool. We show her our documents, and she says, "Too early, wait 20 minutes." We sit at a cafe and have tea and coffee. A queue is forming in front of the woman, but no one is going through. Finally, she lets people pass. We get in the line and again show our documents. Showing documents will become a habit as long as we are in Russia--we just have to keep them out because we repeatedly need to produce them. Now in the departure hall, we are at the end of the long line waiting for boarding passes. When we finally get to the desk,we show papers--not just our etickets, but passports. The agent looks things over and finally prepares the boarding passes, but she says we need to pay for our bags. She sends us back into the terminal to the "cash desk".where we show our documents plus the slip the agent gave us. She takes David's credit card,but says it is declined. He can'tbelieve it! First he is not happy about having to pay for the bags, but now the clerk says the card is declined. He handsher an Am Ex card and she says they do not accept them. So he gives her another Visa card and pays the fee for two bags--a whopping $90 US!
We take the receipt back to the clerk who gives us our boarding passes. Another hurdle passed! the next line is passport control--of course, we have to show documents again. Now the queue is for security-a long wait, but finally we show documents again, put our things in baskets and walk through the metal detector. We are also patted down. The agent finds water in my carry on, but asks if I want to drink it, so I do. I thought that was very nice.We head to the boarding gate, but not for the plane, instead for a bus to go to the plane.People are allowed a few at a time to go up the stairs to board the plane and find our seats. The 737 takes off. When beverage service comes, we need to pay, but they will not take russian rubles, so we decline. This first flight is one hour and 40 minutes to Latvia, a stopover point to change planes. It is a smooth flight and good weather, great landing. As we enter the terminal, believe it or not, we go through security again and another ppassport control--this is a different country!The long lines have become very tiresome. We follow signs to the gate and wait about 45 minutes to board. Again there is a bus to the plane. I sleep most of the way from here to Warsaw. We are losing two hours as we fly from Russia to Warsaw, so we arrive at noon, with our bdies thinking it is 2 pm.
Deplaning in Poland, I am amazed there is no passport check. We simply claim our bags, walk through the "nothing to declare" line and get ready to walk out of the terminal. David stops at an ATM for Polish currency. I ask at the tourist info desk about a taxi, then step outside to the taxi stand. We load our bags and drive to the hotel. Our reservation is in order and we check into our room. We both are hungry and stop at a restaurant just outside the hotel. Good decision! Great Polish food and generous portions. David orders a huge Pilsner and a plate of kielbasa, sourkraut and dark bread.I have to try the Polish staple, perogies. Yum!
Back at the hotel, the doorman tells us how to catch the #4 tram just across the street to ride to Old Town. We buy tickets at the kiosk and hop on, but are not sure where to get off. so we are off too soonand have to walk a ways.We walk around Old Town, but it is after 4 and the palace is closed. We look at the river, buy ice cream, walk around more and decide to head home. I am wrong about which direction to take the tram. Since we got off early, we do not have the drop off point as a departure point. David is correct and we cross the street and ride the crowded tram back to the hotel. he has selected a hotel at a great location--easy off and on the tram and closeto the atractions. It has been a long day, we got up early and we are tired. We find a corner market to buy soda and water, stop at the front desk to find out how to use the internet and head to the room.
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