August 17, 1998, Monday

Most of Monday was spent on the bus from Tallin to Warsaw. Most of the passengers were young backpack people. Several were from Berlin, two girls were from Canada and some from Poland. There was a couple of Pols with their three-year-old daughter and an older Polish woman named Lydia, who spoke fairly good English and worked as a tour guide. She talked to me about giving me a private tour of Warsaw but it sounded too expensive. She did talk to my taxi driver about price and gave him my hotel name. It was difficult to communicate with taxi drivers. One driver took me to the airport after I told him to take me to the bus station. Another took me to the American embassy after I requested old town.

The bus driver was talkative but she didn't speak English. One girl or a sure where the Canadian logo. I asked her if she was a Canadian. She said no, only her shirt was Canadian. I never discovered what nationality she was.

The taxi ride to the Sobieski hotel was short and I thought too expensive. The hotel was a four-star hotel and had all the amenities of a good American hotel. At the tour desk I made arrangements to take the city tour in the morning.

On the ride south to Warsaw through the countryside we passed through miles of national forest in both Lithuania and Poland. There were interesting told him polls somewhat carved figures of local figures in folk costumes. The poles were intricately carved and some brightly colored.

The land was flat and was being cultivated for many crops. It appeared to be fertile and productive land. We saw almost none of the picturesque horse-drawn carts of the past. Modern machinery was in evidence everywhere. Some of it looked pretty old but serviceable.