2014-12-30: Train Travel

Cultural Observations: Restrictions

America is the Land of the Free. Australia considers itself reasonably open and free as well I think. Certainly we are both countries where the stated aim of "reduce unnecessary government interference in our lives" would be something that turns up on polls. Poland is ex communist and therefore has a legacy bureaucracy (I finally spelt that word correctly first time, wheee, travel does broaden the mind!) which can get a little "excited" at times.

Pretty sure not God of the Half Arsed Traveller but all help welcome.

I am told when the EU regulation said that milking bays for cows had to be easily cleaned the Polish government types interpreted that as "Everyone must have tiled milking bays".  Despite a lack of tiles available for such bays or the money to build them.
When recycling was brought in here a similar impulse kicked in and they have 4 (? maybe more) separate rubbish types.
Probably similar to the ways that all the anti tobacco groups around the world keep trying to outdo each other in "signal victories" rather than actually stop cancer. But I rant....

Like a baby in a candy shop.

The Polish public servants certainly have the capacity to over regulate and get involved for no reason other than justify their jobs.

So how in hell am I allowed to buy fireworks with no ID or certification? (same with SIM cards actually, they gave out free SIM cards with rail tickets as a promotion the other day turning half of Polish phones into so-called burners.)

In Sydney I need a license to make and display fireworks, I think I'm still allowed to buy them in Canberra, maybe. In NZ I don't think I am even allowed to buy them.

I have a suspicion it might be something to do with the Poles recalcitrant nature. They are proud of having a default state of "disobedient". Hence the bureaucrats can only force through a couple of silly things at a time.

Rating 9/10 (I get fireworks)

You can see why Poland could be considered a decent place to get your armies together for a bit of a fight. I have many pictures of flat landscape, this one has a wind turbine and therefore is interesting

Getting fireworks and playing with them with an appreciative audience (Ewa) means going to Krakow.
Actually "appreciative" might be better described as "I am allowed to play with fireworks if I don't drink more than a beer an hour and am under supervision the whole time and exactly where are the insurance documents".

So off we go to Krakow. I like Krakow.

You're a unique snowflake? They all look the same to me

Couple of hours to Warsaw on the old train, couple of hours in Warsaw then Pendolino! to Krakow.

Tourist Checklist: Fast Trains, Poland Edition.

I like trains. They are my favourite form of travel. I especially like super fast trains. I feel like I am in the future I was told about as a kid.

Piwo Picnico Pendolino! Perfecto!

Pendolino! (they spell it without the exclamation mark which I feel is a marketing mistake, I like to say it with arm gestures as well) is an Italian high speed rail train. In Poland they are using the non tilting version of the train which slows them down a bit. Still pretty quick - about 200km/hr on some parts of the track; Warsaw -> Krakow in about 3 hrs (on the old train I think it took us twice that). Power supplies in the seats but no wifi I don't think. There was a buffet car (but I had already bought stuff for a train picnic). Free coffee and suchlike (but I had already bought train beer).

We found a McDonalds. Didn't buy anything obviously.

There is a lot of bad feeling about the Pendolino! because the price is quite high compared to the old trains and also the trains can't operate at the planned 250km/hr due to Polish track infrastructure.

Poles seem happy about this as it means they can complain about government incompetency and foreigners not understanding Poland (plus it is probably the Russians fault in the first place).

I think we were sitting next to a celebrity chef type (he was nonchalantly reading a book that had photos of him in it) and a politician (he was making complaints about the implementation of the Pendolino! but he didn't use his arms when he said things so I didn't pay attention). Still, possible celebrity (minor) association.

Rating 6.5/10 (+0.5 when 250km comes in and +1 if they get tilting, I like tilting trains)

A bar argument regarding Warsaws viability as a tourist attraction was not resolved. It's pretty though.

Food And Beverage Review: Bojan Kokosowe

I have many resources I call upon when doing new things. Google maps for new destinations, yelp, tripadvisor etc for new cities and RateBeer.com for new beers. With all of these I have varying levels of trust.

RateBeer is not as bad as wikipedia (Queen of the harpies I tell you) but obviously people have poorly developed palates (they disagree with me), have local prejudices (I rise above those), can be ill informed (I am a genial genius) and can be flat out socially retarded troglodytes (who must be destroyed when encountered).

Lack of focus due to me dancing to keep warm. Warsaw Cold Today!

I usually try to buy two of a new beer. One to taste immediately, then do a bit of reading about the beer / brewery / peoples opinions etc and then have the second one. Partly to see if I am influenced by what I have read and partly to see if there were things I missed.

This was after the tasting. Still closed. Staying closed.

For widely available beers I am usually in general consensus with some of the raters that seem to have similar preferences to me. Less common beers can be all over the shop due to the above mentioned lackings found in fellow travellers on this earth.

In this case almost everyone hates this beer. I concur. Heartily. If I still entered ratings on those sites I would just put a "Please for the love of me stop encouraging this brewery by buying this".

Rating 0/10 (+1 if you are a big fan of malibu but can't step up the couple of bucks LIDL sells an imitation bottle for)

You have boring parking lots in your city? Seems a shame. Oh well, Come to Krakow!

Achievements:

• Krakow Reached.

Plans:

• Fireworks!
• Meat in the square!

Notes:

• Remember to buy some walnuts.