Warsaw
Little bit of heads up here, this is probably going to be one of my longest posts yet, but I promise reading it through is 110% worth it. At first, I’m going to talk about my time spent in Warsaw, Poland and then it’s going to switch up a little bit in order to tell you the story of one of my favorite memories and experiences I’ve ever had, attending the Poland World Cup Qualifying game. I’m convinced everything in this amazing life happens for a reason. I hope after reading my story, you’ll begin to see it is as well!
After arriving by train from Kraków, I dropped off my bags at the hostel and had dinner at this amazing restaurant (called U Szwejka) that the receptionist recommended. I’m now recommending it to you as well, because I went there twice during my stay and loved it both times! On my first day there, I visited a park close to my hostel and walked around for a bit, it was very beautiful, but I only wish I kept going because I later found out that I was only a few blocks away from Łazienki Park, which my tour guide deemed one of the nicest in all of Europe. This is definitely on my list for next time. There’s plenty of sight seeing and shopping to do, especially in the Old Town district and down the Royal Route, which is filled with shops and restaurants. An essential after a day of shopping, is to visit a bar called PiwPaw Beer Heaven. They have almost 100+ beers on tap, plus the atmosphere is fun and lively. My last but absolute must when visiting Warsaw, or pretty much anywhere in Poland, is to have a Pączki. It’s their version of a donut, but it’s much richer and is usually filled with a cream or jelly of some sort, and they are absolutely mouthwatering.
The only two cities I’ve been to in Poland have been Warsaw and Kraków. But I can assure you that the rest of the country is certainly on my list. Not only is it relatively cheap to visit Poland, but the atmosphere is incredible. The people are so kind and helping. And though I only knew a little bit of Polish, and some casual phrases, the people there were so appreciative and grateful that I even attempted to learn and try to speak their language. The food and cuisine are so thought out and carefully prepped and prepared. Often with tons of meat dishes, and hearty soups, the food was one of my favorite highlights. Poland isn’t often thought of as a “hot spot” destination for travelers, but I assure you it’s been one of my favorite countries, and I have a good feeling it would be one of yours as well!
A little background information before I get to my story. I planned out the beginning of my trip to make sure that I was going to be in Warsaw for the game, and the during the months leading up to my trip, I would check literally every website I could think of in order to find tickets to the game, and I had zero luck. Not one website. So, my next plan was to just go to the stadium the day before the game and see if they had a ticket booth or a way for me to get tickets there. Again, no luck either.
So, it was October 7th ,2017, the day before the game and it started out like any other day. I went down to the Old Town District of Warsaw in order to grab some food before I went on one of the free walking tours there. Though as I was waiting, it began to downpour, so I had to get to cover in this restaurant that turned out to be both expensive and just alright. After finishing my lunch, it was still raining so I booked it to one of the museums and waited for the rain to pass while in there. Once it passed, I made my way over the bridge to the stadium in my attempt to look for a ticket booth. And with no luck, I walked the half hour back across the bridge to find something quick for dinner. Now since there were still qualifying games being played tonight, I had planned on finding a bar to watch them, but after being cold and rainy all day, feeling defeated from missing the walking tour and not finding tickets, I decided to just stay in the hostel and watch tv on my phone.
That lasted about twenty minutes until one of my friends from back home facetimed me and said how he wanted me to send him pictures of the bars and what it was like there. Knowing that I would never hear the end of it from them if they knew I sat in bed watching Netflix instead of going out and having fun, I said screw it, changed my clothes and went searching for a place with the games on.
Here’s where it gets good. From a previous relationship I had, I developed a love for Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese team and even picked up some Portuguese words and phrases. And since I knew Portugal was playing that night, I figured it would be smart to try to watch the game at the Brazilian restaurant/bar that was on the same street as my hostel, seeing that many Brazilians speak a dialect of Portuguese. However, I walk in and the only game on is the France game. Probably over 10+ TVs, and all showing the same exact game. The waiter said this was the only game they could put on, but there was another bar, that was more of like an American type sports bar about 15 minutes away. Well, my 15-minute walk turned into like a 45-minute walk and after being ready to accept defeat, I decided I’ll go one more block. Lone behold I found it. They had all the games on and I asked them to put me right next to the Portugal TV. After a few minutes of watching the game, the waiter sat two Portuguese guys my age right next to me. And after hanging out for a bit, I told them about my dilemma with not being able to find tickets to game, and like magic one of the guys pulls up a website on my phone and within minutes I have tickets to the game tomorrow. I spent like 4 months trying to find tickets, and this guy finds them for me in a matter of minutes. I was ecstatic. Not only did they help me get tickets, but they invited me to hang out with them and a few of their college friends to go barhopping. My night went from me sitting inside watching Netflix and being upset, to not getting home until 3AM, with my golden ticket to the game tomorrow. All because of a facetime call and the unbelievable way life has of working itself out.
Today was the day, October 8th, 2017. I woke up after only a few hours of sleep from my night out because I was too excited, but also worried about the tickets working. I printed out my tickets, got breakfast and headed to the stadium, like 2 hours early because I wasn’t sure what to expect. And sure enough, the tickets worked. I didn’t even mind waiting in the stadium for the game to start because I was just so happy to be there. Poland ended up beating Montenegro 4-2 and secured their path to the 2018 World Cup. Every goal, every touch, every second of the game was incredible. This sea of red and white throughout the crowd was standing up, loud and crazy for the entire 90 minutes.
They shut down the bridge so all the people could walk back on it and not have to worry about cars. And though the walk back to the hostel from the stadium was a good hour away, I could’ve cared less. I was surrounded by people singing in Polish, laughing and smiling, all dressed in jerseys and national colors. Though I probably looked like an absolute idiot walking back by myself with this huge smile on my face, I loved every second of it.