Turned up for my Warsaw bus which was due at 11pm to find no mention of a bus to Warsaw! Turned out though that wasn't the end destination, though and it was due at 11 right enough. Well I waited and waited till it disappeared off the board- late with no estimated time of arrival. Fortunately there were others waiting too: a bloke and a couple with no luggage other than a carrier bag. Eventually the bus arrived at about 12ish - now the ammalgamation of a couple of services and with 2 drivers who spoke no German or English, but with a bit of signlanguage we got the gist. Turned out the couple only wanted the box in their carrier delivered to somewhere on route. Don't know how Citylink would react to that request. Although the bus was busy I got a seat and fell asleep quite quickly, waking briefly as we crossed the border - although there was nothing but empty booths there. When I woke again it was about 4am and we were just passing a sign for Tescos. I thought I was dreaming, but no there was Tesco in a wee provincial Polish town. The bus had emptied through the night and there were just 6 of us left for the last couple of hours. It was during that last leg that I began to feel I had moved out of Western Europe. There was a definite bygone age feeling to the cars houses and settlements . . . and driving standards changed aswell! I began to real;ly look forward to getting back to trains as we and others raced along and overtook on narrow roads wacky races style.
Poland was also much flatter than I'd expected and at times it reminded me of Manitoba. For some reason I found myself thinking of the drive back to Winnipeg from Gimli. Also a bit strange was that despite the huge investment there has obviously been in the Polish motorway network, the closer to Warsaw we got the narrower, twistier and bumpier the roads became. We were down to single carriageway roads with wearing edges which were too narrow for two larger vehicles to pass without slowing (not a common trait on the roads) and pulling right over to the side. But, we finally reached Warsaw about 10am and the bus station was out in the suburbs with no bilingual signage and apparemtly no English speakers. A bit of a wake up call to say the least. I had a bus number to reach my hostel but no way of finding the stop - there were only 2 evident at the bus staqtion and neither were mine! With no sign of a tourist desk I found a warsaw map at a kiosk and the girl there found a friend behind the scenes who wrote down the polish name of the central station and 2 bus numbers to get there. At another kiosk the girl pointed me in the direction of the stops and I found my way to a very full bus where me and my pack took up a lot of room, but with a bit more pointing I got to the centre, and set off walking. After a while I could see someone ahead obviously looking for a hostel too and, to cut a long story short, Miko, from Finland, and I eventually discovered we were way past the street and had to backtrack. Having both come off overnight busses it was a hot detour we could have done without - especially for Miko who'd walked in from the bus station. However lo and behold when we got to the hostel I discovered there was a large bath in one of the bathrooms so I was soon able to have a cooling and refreshing wash, do some laundry and come to before heading back into the city centre. Warsaw is a city of maniac fast drivers who screech round corners, crossing lanes and junctions at will and hooting horns for no apparent reason! However, I got back to the centre and found a bus agency with some english understood and after a bit of a struggle booked my overnight bus to Tallinn for the next evening. I also got details of a city tour for the morning, and had a wander round the centre and took the lift to the 30th floor of the cultural palace ( a 1950s gift from Mother russia) for the views. I could see the old town in the distance but frustratingly couldn't see how easiest to get there. It looked pretty but the centre is not.
The next morning on my city tour I was the only english speaker on it so like Bruges again it was almost a personal tour. Most interesting was: the Jewish area - the scene of the impounding of the Jews and Gypsies by the Nazis, the uprising and their point of deportation to Treblinska; the "old town" completely rebuilt in the 50's after having been destroyed in the war, but using all traditional materials and original designs, the only exception being the cathedral which was rebuilt from the bricks of the destroyed houses and in a style more local than the previous design.
Heading out for my bus at night we got caught in horrendous traffic jams and the normally 10 minute journey took an hour. I'd allowed for delays fortunately and went for my bus, but no-one else was there. I checked my ticket and lo and behold I was 24 hours early!! Fortunately I was able to get back in to my hostel and just have some extra time. The next day Miko was leaving too so we said our goodbyes - significant as my first travel buddy parting! - and I got the bus ok this time! My travel companion was A Dutch girl Desha who is planning a similar trip to me. She got off at Riga for a couple of days but it was nice to have the company to blether to.
Crossing the border to Estonia was the first time I'd had to show my passport at a border and although not a big deal I liked the feeling of officially marking the entering a new country. Estonia looks a pretty country - much greener and lusher than I expected with a fair bit of woodland. Definitely had a feel of being a nice place to visit.
Safely arrived in Tallinn I had only half a day to see it so I just headed out and wandered round the old town. It is really picturesque and lovely for meandering around. The place is definitely geared up for the more affluent cruise tourists, though, with lots of lovely but expensive craft and souvenir shops. There was also a craft market in the town square so it was nice to look at and to listen to some of the traditional music being played. A short but enjoyable visit.
