August 18, 1998, Tuesday

The buffet breakfast included in the room price was quite adequate with a variety of fruits and salad vegetables but no eggs cooked to order. As usual, I made myself a salad for lunch. At 945 a young good looking woman came into the lobby carrying a sign that said “city tour.” The van type tour bus and driver were waiting outside. The tour lady sat in the front seat by the driver and using a Mike explained that buildings and monuments as we drove along. Another woman from the hotel and myself were the only ones on board. It was interesting. We walked in old town and stopped at a shop for ice cream cones. Excellent ice cream! We entered St. John's Cathedral, which was destroyed along with 85% of Warsaw. But since the war it has been restored. On many of the bombed out buildings the restoration was continuing.

We went through the summer palace of King Augustus. We saw many priceless paintings and furnishings. And we went to the ghetto to see Memorial to honor the victims of the Holocaust. It was a pleasant three hours well spent.

The railroad station was not far from the hotel so in the afternoon I walked there to give my real ticket. They were about 15 ticket windows all busy. I didn't know which window to go to so I asked for help at the information desk. I didn't know which window to go to so I asked for help at the information desk. The men there rode out in Polish information I would need to get a ticket. The woman working with her computer issues be a ticket. I looked it over and thought the departure date was wrong. When I got the woman's attention I complained. She spit out a series of Polish words at me. A woman waiting in line behind me showed me where I was reading the date in the wrong place. I gave both when an apology a smile and they smiled back.

I tried writing in the afternoon I rode a bus to the Main market. My first bus turned off the way to the market so I got jumped off and climbed into another. At the market all the booths were closed without a soul around. I took a return bus back to the Sobieski hotel and walked a block to a restaurant with outside tables. The weather was good all day with no rain and warm enough to be comfortable. It was pleasant eating out in the open.