Warsaw

[highlander]

Work has asked me to go to Poland next Monday to perform a network install and IP telephony rollout in a new office in Warsaw. I'll be there 9 days, returning on the 2nd of November.

Anyone familiar with Warsaw? Any tips on things to do and places to see / eat / shop?

I'm savvy enough not to rent a bicycle on the off-chance I'll be mown down by an ex-pat in a C5, but other than that, fairly clueless about Poland, never having been to the country before.

[DiscoPol]

Wahoo , my thread i think . so are we meeting up for a pint/coffee/lunch etc etc etc (delete as applicable) then?
when do you arrive?
i could meet up and tell you everything you need to know rather than waffle on with my tips, if you are up for it just drop me a pm and i will give you my mobile number and we can meet up in your first few days here and i will do my best to ensure your stay goes as smoothly as possible.

if you need any specific questions answering before then just ask.

Disco

oh bring warm clothes, winter is coming thick and fast.

[406loon]

The food, beer and women are top notch (as with any Slavic country)

[DiscoPol]

The food, beer and women are top notch (as with any Slavic country)

well to be quite frank the food is a bit iffy unless you like cabbage and cucumber but being the capital city there are plenty of foreign cuisines on offer so you dont have to eat the local stuff,

the beer is indeed top notch but if you aren't a drinker that's of little help

and the women well, I'm biased, I married one

[Doggy]

Shouldn't this thread be moved to 'Cruises and meets'?

(said doggy, without even a trace of envy).

[DiscoPol]

Shouldn't this thread be moved to 'Cruises and meets'?

(said doggy, without even a trace of envy).

come on doggy, grab a cheap flight and you can buy me that breakfast you owe me

so a quick check shows me you can grab a flight out on friday the 28th for 26 quid plus tax,
out on the 28th and drive back over with me that Saturday if my diff bearings show up in time, you know you would love to spend 30 hours in a Disco with me towing a trailer at 55mph all the way back to the UK then I reckon i could kidnap Bailes for the return trip and post him home on the return flight on the tuesday, hmm i feel a cunning plan coming together

[Doggy]

a quick check shows me you can grab a flight out on friday the 28th for 26 quid plus tax,
out on the 28th and drive back over with me that Saturday if my diff bearings show up in time, you know you would love to spend 30 hours in a Disco with me towing a trailer at 55mph all the way back to the UK

Sounds like a plan.

(if it wasn't our busiest weekend of the year, fraid doggy's got to graft, Saturday too).

[highlander]

Back!

... and a million apologies to DiscoPol - no meet, unfortunately. The whole trip was a complete clusterfuck from the outset. I got there Monday the 24th and had a whole crapload of work to do, so I was pulling 12-hour-plus days til the Friday, and that's when I started coming down with a horrible cold, which hasn't really gone away. Snot city, dizziness, nausea, headaches, etc, etc. Not a lot of fun. I didn't get a lot of free time while I was away because there was so much to do, and with the little free time I had available, I didn't want to subject you to a biohazard.

I was meant to fly home on Wednesday, but on Tuesday, LOT flight LO16 belly-landed on the runway at Frederic Chopin airport, closing the airport til Wednesday at 23:00. There's an amazing video of the landing here: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/01/world ... index.html

So I called my airline (Scandinavian Air System) and got them to put me on the same flight on the Thursday, and got an extra night in the hotel. But my rescheduled flight home was cancelled too, due to fog (the plane I was meant to fly home on wasn't able to land in Warsaw). So I had to go reclaim my baggage, then had to queue for more than 2 hours to get put on to a last-chance flight (else I'd be going home on Friday). Thankfully I got put on an Air France flight via Paris Charles-de-Gaulle airport, and got home on Thursday night at 9 PM.

Brakes on the Coupe had bound while I was away, requiring a bit of gentle persuasion to get her moving. Took her out for a run around town (not going anywhere in particular, just trying to get the engine warmed up and all the parts lubricated with the oil). Sweet as a kitten now. Also sitting in my house are a set of nice alloy wheels that the Wifely Person was kind enough to get for me for our 10th wedding anniversary (that was on Wednesday, which I missed out on due to the belly-landing). Will get them on the car when I'm feeling less f*cked, and will put up a photo. This does mean I'll have a set of 16in Hoggar alloys in reasonably good condition available for sale soon.