Thursday, September 5
This was undoubtedly the roomiest hostel shower i've been in on this trip, and yet, somehow, still the easiest to accidentally bump the handle with your ass and freeze or burn yourself.
I checked out of the hostel a bit before 10:30 and started walking toward the train station. It should be about a 35 minute walk, and my train was at 12:30. Plenty. Of. Time.
Still, i figured it would be best to get to the train station first, then find some food in that area, just to be safe. I'd hate to take too long eating way out here in Užupis and then have to scramble to make my train.
I passed that water fountain/bottle filler again, so i stopped to read the sign and see the paper jellyfish in the daylight. It tells the story about Lithuanian folk legend/household deity Naminukas, who used to live in this alley, but the ravages of history (i'm gonna go out on a limb and say this is in reference to the Soviet Occupation) destroyed it, and he became depressed. However, the alley was rebuilt, and he came back very happy, and discovered this magical spring. So have a drink for good luck, and please tickle Naminukas's belly button, he likes that.
Okay so i guess that's what the figure on the top of the fountain is supposed to be. There's also a larger one off to the side. They both have outies. I rubbed both, to be safe.
I may have avoided the Park of the Hills today, but i went through another park further away which required me to hike up a huge staircase over a hill. As i came to the top, i saw a round fortress with cannons in the turrets at the top. This turned out to be the Bastion of the Vilnius City Wall, the last surviving piece of Vilnius's 16th-century city defenses. I had read about it before, i don't remember on which web site, but i hadn't made it out here. It was much rounder than i expected it to be, nearly a perfect circle.
Further down the road, i did end up taking a wrong turn and walking almost a quarter of a mile before i realized. By the time i turned around, i had gone almost as far in the wrong direction from the previous intersection as i would have needed to go in the correct direction. Good thing i planned ahead and left early! Take that bit of advice and send it back in time 20 years straight into young Trevor's skull, it'll save him a whole lot of trouble in life.
At the train station with an hour to spare, i searched for food, and found a very highly-rated yet shockingly low-priced restaurant a tenth of a mile away, called Obiadopodawcy. They served traditional Lithuanian food. Perfect.
I couldn't find the place. According to my little blue dot on Maps, i should be right in front of it, but it's not here. After walking back and forth down the block twice, i checked the photos on Google, and it looks like the place is actually called Čeburekine. I recognized the logo, i'd definitely walked right past that place.
I walked in, and it looked like it was set up more like a cafeteria than a restaurant. The whole menu was in Lithuanian, so i couldn't read anything. There was no line, so i stepped up, trying to see if there was anything recognizable on the menu. All of the food slots in the bar were closed.
The clerk recognized that i was having trouble, and asked if i needed an English menu. Yes, thank you. This made things a bit easier, but only from some of the descriptions of what was contained in the things. I still didn't know what any of the actual menu items were.
They did have cepelinai, which was highly recommended on the reviews on Maps, and what i had intended to order when i got here, but this was the moment that i figured out that "cepelinai" was what i'd eaten yesterday. Yeah, i loved it yesterday, maybe i will have it again! Or, i could try a different new food!
I ordered the pork and cheese čeburėkai, which looked like some kind of a fried dumpling. From the photo on the menu, it looked like it was not going to be very big; it covered the plate in the picture, but i felt like that was a saucer, a little snack plate.
Nah.
That was a full dinner plate.
This thing is enormous. A deep-fried square of dough the size of a sheet of typing paper, filled with a flat, round disk of pork, a thin layer of cheese betwixt the two.
It was greasy. It was delicious. It was far more food than i was expecting to have to eat. I thought i might not need to eat again today.
But i did. I was back at the train station just after noon, and i was already feeling snacky. One of the food stands in the main hall had signs up for ice cream cones, and for some reason, that was tickling my fancy.
It turned out not to be freshly scooped cones, though; it was prepackaged ice cream treats. I still wanted a cone, so i still got one. The clerk didn't seem to understand English, so i ended up with a flavor other than the one i was trying to order. I don't even know what flavor it was supposed to be, the whole thing was kind of mediocre. The cone itself was stale and chewy.
On the platform, there's a statue of an ape sitting atop a mound of old appliances, mostly TVs and boom boxes, holding a hair dryer like a gun. It has a plaque which reads "#ape tit," with no explanation. I had seen it when i came in a few days ago, but i hadn't noticed that he also has a toaster before. I guess that's relevant to my interests, i had a flashback to Dārta calling me "Toaster Man" on the way back from the shooting range, because she couldn't remember my name. That works.
There's also a fifteen-foot-tall statue of Tony Soprano in his boxers and a bathrobe. I had noticed it on the ride in, but hadn't parsed it at Tony Soprano, i only know that it is because i found it on Atlas Obscura later. It was originally designed for an event at the Vilnius Film, Theater and Television Museum in 2009, then was moved around the country for various exhibits, and now seems to have found a permanent home where it can greet new arrivals to the capital city.
I was about to head over and get a closer look at Mr. Soprano when my train rolled in. There was still over fifteen minutes before departure, so i thought i'd still just go do that, but everyone else on the platform swarmed the doors to the train, and i couldn't get through the crowd. I was planning to hang back, i don't need to get on the train right away, i've got a seat reservation, i'll just jump on before it leaves. Then i saw a message scrolling across the bottom of the monitors on the platforms: "All passengers going to Poland, please select any open 2nd class seat. Your seat reservations will be honored when you transfer in Mockava."
Oh.
Alright. I guess i'd better get in there and find myself a seat before it all fills up.
I never watched The Sopranos anyway.
Wifi on the train wasn't working. I had to finish yesterday's log anyway, so i just worked on that.
When we got to Mockava, everyone deboarded the train onto a middle platform, with another train on the other side. People were milling about the platform, i couldn't see anyone leaving it, and neither direction seemed to have an obvious path to the train station. The other train was clearly labeled for Krakow.
Given my experience the last time i needed to make a quick transfer, when that train almost pulled away without me, i had been a lot quicker to get off of this train and try to find the next. But now i was panicking a little; i'm in the middle of two long trains and i don't know which way to go and i don't think this is my train.
Finally i saw a railway employee. "Excuse me! I need to go to Warsaw, do you know which train i need to get on?
He grunted and nodded, and pointed at the Krakow train.
"For Warsaw?"
He nodded again.
Oh. Okay.
After i got on the train, i checked my ticket, and it does indeed say that i'm boarding a train "toward Krakow." I checked the map and, yeah, Krakow is south of Warsaw. For some reason, i thought it was north. I must have been thinking of Białystok, another city i had considered visiting in an earlier draft of these travel plans, and which i will pass through.
The train was mostly empty. Surprising, since i booked with "only 8 tickets left." As we got underway, the conductor came through to check tickets. He did not speak English very well, but from what i gathered, i was in the wrong car. He made motions with his hands to not worry about it, but i suspected that at some point, whoever did have this seat would come looking for it.
And it did happen. I made it all the way to about 4:15pm in that seat before someone boarded, and told me i was in his seat. I don't know what language he spoke, probably Polish, i had crossed the border by that point, but i knew what he was saying. I made a bit of a show of checking my ticket, then looking up at the car number, and saying, "I'm in the wrong car." He and his friend chuckled a bit as i gathered my things and moved.
I was only off by one car, i was in 14 instead of 13, so i moved back, expecting to find an identical train car where i would sit in an identical seat.
Nope.
Car 13 is a sleeper car.
So now i'm packed into a little box with five strangers, which seem to be four kids and their mom. So far they're all pretty quiet, just reading or scrolling their phones.
Three more hours to Warsaw.
---
Car 12 turned out to be a dining car, so shortly after i finished typing the first part of this log, i slipped over there to see what i could get.
I found, ordered, and was served two fried, breaded patties of camembert cheese, as an entree, with a side salad. I don't know if i've ever had camembert before. I'm not sure if i like it.
This feels weird, but i suppose it's not any stranger than having mozzarella sticks for dinner, which we've all done, c'mon.
The youngest kid did eventually start to go stir crazy in that sleeper car. The mom's two teenagers were less obtrusive, mostly zoned into their phones, but there were moments when some light horseplay happened between them. The young kid - i don't know, eight or so or whatever - unfortunately was the one sitting right next to me. His bony limbs did bang into me from time to time. I tried to ignore it as best as i could.
The sixth occupant of the car, the one sitting directly across from me, i figured out quickly was not part of the family. She was also transfixed entirely by her phone. I do not think i saw her look up from it or leave her seat one single time during the entire ride.
When i got off in Warsaw, the rest stayed on. They were all there before me, they'll all be there after me, all the way to Krakow, i assume.
As i was walking through the station, i saw a couple whom i'd shared a table with in the first train. Looks like they were traveling from Vilnius to Warsaw, same as me. We went separate ways on the platform, but i bumped into them again near the exit. Probably the last time we'd ever see each other, but who knows. Maybe this is foreshadowing yet another chance encounter out in the wild.
I don't actually know, i'm still current on my logs, i can't see the future. These logs are literally me just trying to preserve everything i can remember before my brain clears its cache. Stream of consciousness, baby. If i took the time to edit these, they'd probably be half as long. This entry is going to roll my log over 100,000 words.
Warsaw seems nice! I couldn't find a bathroom at the train station, so i just started heading for the hostel. Should be about a 40 minute walk, if i didn't get distracted, but of course i did.
Coming up from the underground, which, i'm not quite sure how i was in the underground, if i'm being honest, i thought that i heard live music. I kept looking around to see if i could find the source, because if there was a free outdoor rock show happening on the steps of one of these fancy old buildings right as i got here, i would absolutely go straight there and check-in could wait. This hostel has 24 hour reception.
I didn't know the first song, but the second one was Come As You Are by Nirvana. Whoever's singing is absolutely nailing Kurt's voice. I don't know, the guitar tone is also too perfect. Is this a DJ, actually? The drums sound live though.
I finally got close enough to see that, no, yeah, that's exactly what's going on. It's a busker with a full drum set, playing along to recorded music on a huge speaker. Absolutely killing those drum parts, though. If i were going his direction, and if i had appropriate currency, i'd drop a tip in his bucket.
But i wasn't, and i didn't, so moving along.
Lots of impressive old buildings, all around me, for the full duration of the walk. Once again, the streets all seemed much more modern, though, and easy to walk.
Word number 100,000 is: boba.
I accidentally missed a turn, and came to a boba place called Bear Boba. It had a cute sign, with a bear, and a boba, hanging out over the sidewalk to catch your attention. And then it had a neon sign in the window with line art of a cup of boba and the words, "SUCK MY BALLS" in cursive. Also another neon sign inside that said, "YOU MAKE MY HEART GO BOBA BOBA."
Charming! I took pics of the signs and sent them to Alyssa, i knew she'd get a kick out of that.
But also. These signs are luring me in. I have to try it.
I got an Oreo and Cheese Cream drink. Usually, at It's Boba Time in Los Angeles, i would get a frappe, which is pretty thick, but this was a thin, milky beverage. And it tasted so good! I keep trying boba places in Madison, and i have not enjoyed any of them. This is literally the first time i've had good boba outside of Los Angeles.
I was getting very close to the hostel when i saw a building with an enormous sculpture display outside of it. I was heading in that direction, to go check it out, when i stumbled across a Chopin bench, like the one in Tallinn.
Holy shit! I was gonna go looking for these, the Atlas said there were more of them in Warsaw, and i found my first one by accident!
This one had a clearly marked "play" button, and was not wet, so i pressed it.
Nothing.
I sat on it.
Nothing.
Well dang it. Maybe because it's at night? Maybe the music would disturb people? I don't know. It's close to the hostel, i'll just try again tomorrow during the day.
The huge sculpture turned out to be another Atlas Obscura thing that i was planning to go look for, the Warsaw Uprising Monument. This collection of statues pays tribute to the fallen soldiers and civilians who, in August of 1944, after five years of Nazi occupation, rose up and attempted to expel the invaders from their country. It's estimated that 16,000 fighters and between 150,000 - 200,000 civilians were killed in the 63 day uprising, which ultimately failed, due to Russia withholding the support they were expected to provide. 90 percent of the city was destroyed.
Tough to segue out of that one, but the hostel was only another block away.
It's called Oki Doki Old Town.
It's nice so far. It's a more modern style hostel, which i like. It has the fullest bar of any that i've stayed at, and also has a calendar of events for each day of the week. When i arrived, they were just starting "Speed Friending," like speed dating, but platonic. I don't see that going well for me, the way i am nowadays, but i might have made myself try it if i weren't sweaty and exhausted from traveling all day.
Instead, i got to the room, found my locker, put my things away, and went back downstairs. I found the kitchen, refilled my water bottles, and looked for a place to chill out for a minute.
There's a patio just off the kitchen, so i went outside and found a table to sit and finish my boba and drink a whole lot of water, because i haven't had many opportunities to hydrate today. I did buy one bottle of water on the train. Accidentally got carbonated water again. One day i'll learn that, in Europe, you have to specify. I knew this 11 years ago, and still i keep forgetting.
On the inside of the bathroom door, there's a sign with a worried-looking anthropomorphic toilet paper roll saying, "Please flush the toilet paper!" in three languages. I think this hostel is acutely aware that many travelers are coming straight from Lithuania, and the presence of the sign tells me that some people have maybe not made the correct decision in this situation several times.
Alright, it looks like i actually have the opportunity to get to sleep before midnight for a change, so i think i am going to take it. I have some very interesting things i wanna go see tomorrow!
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