So how many Pollocks does it take to change a light bulb?

No really...cause like there is one burnt out in my hostel room.

Just kidding folks.

So I woke up and headed down for a goodbye breakfast downstairs. I had about three Maß of beer at the small bar across the street while watching MMA. I figured some beer would help me sleep through the night. And for the most part it worked perfectly. But my belly was a little bit off, which any amount of beer over two seems to do nowadays.

Got me a cab to the airport and headed out. The Riga airport was clean and neat, though small. I had to wait for about a half hour to get my boarding pass - then another half hour for my check in luggage to be taken in. The belt behind the boarding gates was busted, so the entire airport had to use the oversized luggage belt - the only one working. Meh, whatever.

The flight was only an hour and the plane was clean and in better condition than most of the jumper jets I've used in the US. Chopin Airport (Warsaw) was a fairly big airport with some international flights. Got my luggage and headed over to the taxi area.

Its a good thing I read up on Warsaw taxis. There is a "recommended taxi area" at the airport where they suggest getting a taxi from. I didn't see it right off the bat. The second I got out of the customs area, some big Pole comes charging up "You want a taxi?"
"No thank you."
"You want a taxi later?"
"Yah, maybe later..."
"You want taxi? Let me take you to cash machine."

Uhm yah. At that point I completely blew the guy off. No fucking way was I getting in his taxi as he was obviously going to rip me off. Instead I headed to information and asked where the taxi kiosk was. She looked at me funny, but when I explained I wanted a reliable taxi and didn't want to get ripped off she said to just go out front to the recommended taxi area. The big pole followed me continually asking if I wanted a taxi but I didn't even bother looking at the guy.

Anyway, I got a taxi to get me to my hostel for 50 zlotys, which is fair considering the price it said on the Internet was around 40 to get to the main station. My hostel was a little bit past that and I figure I'm paying a price for the recommended taxi. The "rip off" price with the uber fast meters from non reputable taxis is between 80-100. IF they don't take you for a massive ride all around the city. Apparently the crooked taxis in Warsaw are infamous - hence having to have a "recommended taxi" station at the airport and signs throughout the airport to go there for a taxi.

The hostel in in a courtyard behind a locked gate. I had to buzz and holler a couple times to get the desk guy to let me in. But there is only four rooms here - three four bed, two bunk rooms and my room with just a double bunk. There are two pretty nice bathrooms downstairs. To get after check in, you have to type in a code to the gate keypad, then type in a code to the front door (sturdy door), and then my room (which I rented both bunks) has a key on a sturdy door. While some of the streets down by the station are sketchy, along with the main drag, there is a university a couple blocks away where the hostel manager and his buddy go to. So the streets right where I'm at are pretty nice and safe. On my stroll around the block I seen some ladies of the evening walking by me. I say ladies of the evening simply because it would have to be midnight without a moon to make them look good. When they gave me the eye, it made me cringe a bit.

I ended up finding a small cheap cafeteria near the train station with a sign in English. I ended up picking up some kraut/sausage/mushroom thingy with a Pepsi served by a dozen hard working Polish peasant women linebacker types. Seriously, if you would have put treads on them, they could be tanks. Not a lot of smiling but the food was dirt cheap and kinda tasty. It wasn't enough to fill me so I ended up stopping by a mini-mart (I had to anyway to get water) and picking up milk, some kind of sandwich (which I could only eat half of it was so hideous), and some cookies. I put them away quickly and headed out to the main street to find an ATM. This is when I seen the streetwalkers on the main drag.

So the place aint that bad. There is a bar next door, but it doesn't look like a big nightclub - more of an inexpensive student joint. The road out front doesn't get a lot of traffic and there is a small courtyard to block off the street noise. Warsaw itself looks like it is somewhat ugly, but I'll figure out. If it turns out to be that bad, the train station is down the street and I'll just take it out to nearby areas to have fun.