May 29

RESTAURANT TRIPPINGS AROUND WARSAW

It's hard when you eat in a restaurant and the menu is not translated in English. And most especially, if you don't have the bucks to pay for your bill, that's another headache. That's why we went to Champion's Sports Bar in Marriot Hotel and TGI Friday's last June 14 and 15.

Champion's Sports Bar and Restaurant - A good suggestion for sports buff and for those who craves for big servings. We went here after we bought a train ticket at Warszava Centralna Station. As usual, I didn't order beer unlike my company, Jonjon, Darius and Pope.

TGI Friday's - Almost every Friday, Filipinos in Warsaw meet in TGIF. Nice, right? The better news is that we can order any beverage/liquor! Since I don't take alcohol, I indulged myself in three cups of mocha frappucino! Yummy! They don't have a Starbucks here so they satisfied my craving. We went to Arkadia once again to meet another Filipino guy and for them to drink beer again. The good thing is that they have this crispy pata -- the Polish version so at least I have something to do. Click here.

OLD TOWN V.2.0

Pics from my poor digicam. Enjoy! Click here.

RANDOM WARSAW PICS

HP Sandwich - In HP Poland, an HP sandwich is available for employees. A free sandwich for breakfast (even for lunch and dinner) sounds terrific. :D Most of the time, a sandwich has ham, lettuce, mushroom, cucumber, sandwich spread, poppy seeds etc.

Cooking 101 - One night, I was industrious enough so I cooked for myself: Grilled Chicken with gravy, mushroom soup and steamy rice. Together with a glass of apple juice, it's like a typical Pinoy fiesta. I miss the banderitas! Weird thing, I had my dinner at around 7PM and the sun was still up.

Sphinx Resturacja - It is like Poland's McDo's fine dine version. You can find one branch at almost any block. The service is not that good since they have limited English-speaking waiters. Steaks here are quite cheap -- I paid around 500 pesos for it. :)

Arkadia - some say that this is the biggest mall in Poland and even in the whole Central Europe. Click here.

PALACE OF CULTURE AND SCIENCE

After paying some Zloties, we were able to reach the top of the palace, the landmark of Warsaw. It is the highest building in Poland. :) Click here.

Using my low-tech camera. :P Click here.

OLD TOWN V.1.0

Note: You are viewing Version 1.0. Thanks to Darius' digicam for these marvelous pics to remember!

We had a chance to visit the Old Town since today is a national holiday due to Corpus Christi. The Old Town by the way is by far the most attractive area of Warsaw. It stretches between Wybrzeze Gdanskie Street, Grodzka, Mostowa and Powale Street.

The heart of Warsaw often resembles a quaint provincial town, which is fitting as for around three hundred years that is exactly what it was - a fortified town of modest stature. Warsaw was founded by the Dukes of this region of Poland, Mazovia, in the late 12th century. Their castle, which was transformed into the royal seat in 1569, was the most important edifice and it remains the focus of the area to this day.

The Old Town was utterly destroyed, like the rest of Warsaw, in the closing phases of the Second World War. Some of the hardest-fought battles of the Uprising took place here. Afterwards it was reconstructed with the utmost care. The Royal Castle, which stands over Plac Zamkowy, was the last great landmark to be restored, its rebuilding commencing as late as 1971.

Today, summer strikes as the temperature clocks at 31 Celsius. Click here.

ST. ANDREW'S PALACE

Here's the place I am currently staying. I am sharing the unit with Darius with two big bedrooms. Jonjon has his own unit! (Team Leader eh! :P )

Some pics while we were strolling around the city. However, it rained (and the temperature dropped heavily) that's why we postponed our picture taking and just shopped at the nearest supermarket. Click here.

DAY 1: FIRST DAY OF WORK

After getting a short nap, we went to HP Office to meet the folks there. After work, we bought a pass which entitles us to an unlimited use of trains and buses for a month for 66 Zloty (around 1300 pesos). Not bad.

We also went around Warsaw but promised to come back for some picture taking. Nice city! However, they really speak Polish and hardly speak in English even their products in the grocery! The sun rises at around 4AM at sets at around 9PM. A long day indeed.

Anyway, I'm enjoying our stay here. It rained yesterday that's why our photo shoot was postponed. :) Click here.

PHOTO BLOGGING

Hi everyone!

Kindly visit my Multiply site. I've uploaded some albums there -- photo blogging indeed.

I'll try to migrate again here in blogger sooner. :) Leave some comments there!

SCHIPHOL AIRPORT, AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

We arrived finally at around 6:35PM (Amsterdam time) after almost a day in the plane. We just have less than 1.5 hours to connect to the flight going to Warsaw. Connecting flights are thrilling especially when you watch The Amazing Race.

The sun is still up like noon in Manila! Click here.

GOOD MORNING NAIA!

I've been to Ninoy Aquino International Airport before when we make hatid of my father. But this is a different case, ako na ang aalis! Nasa NAIA ako 3 hours before the flight at muntik na kaming di makasakay ng airplane.

Our departure time is 10:45AM but we are still in the Immigration queue at 10:41. So after the machine scanned my belt bag and footwear, we rushed like Amazing Racers to the plane. What a way to start my trip. Exhausting. Click here.

KLM 1346

So it's my airplane debut. I was fortunate enough to sat near the window. For a first-timer, that was really the best seat in town.

Our route is Manila, Philippines -> Amsterdam, Netherlands -> Warsaw, Poland. To sum it up, it was an 18 hour-travel and the sun did not set for the first 17 hours. That was the longest day of my life!

Some highlights:

The personal multimedia system is awesome! I can do the following: watch TV episodes like Extreme Makeover, Friends, Two and a Half Men, X-Files and more; listen to a wide range of music; watch movies like Pan's Labyrinth, The Departed, Babel, Blood Diamond, Letters from Iwo Jima and other recent films. (Note: I watched some parts of these films but I finished Dreamgirls, Shrek, Finding Nemo and Music and Lyrics); play single-player and multi-player games and more!

The foodies especially chocolates are over-flowing. They served salad but I don't eat salad! Some of the flight attendants were quite not that young. :P I had a flashback of my elementary science days when I looked at the clouds. Cirrus? Cumulus? Haha :P Click here.