Warsaw 1985 #2of3

We had parked our camper in front of a very distinctive building with a dome, with a cluster of pillars at the entrance, located next to a large parking lot. After walking block after block in downtown, we returned to the camper from a completely different direction, from a different part of the city.

When we saw that building again, we consulted our map and noticed we were still a block or two from the street intersection we had noted when we first left the parking lot. According to the map, the building shouldn’t be there, or we must be on a different street, or maybe we can’t read a Polish map. We just can’t be where we started from, but we must be. We looked in the parking lot and could find no sign of the camper (which usually stands out like a sore thumb), and all the time I kept saying, “This can’t be, this just can not be!”

Turns out it's a round building with an identical entrance with columns and pillars on opposite sides. Really did think we had a big problem there for a minute. Then we drove to Warsaw’s campground, just a couple of miles from the center of town. Campgrounds and facilities were just fine.

We drove all over downtown Warsaw the next morning, crossed the Wisla River and drove some more, and found a street market with many food stands. Went back across the river to the old town, the part that was rebuilt in the pre-war design. We found it entertaining, but no one building was too exciting. We walked some more, then stopped in a store for bread, butter and milk. The line was not too long, but was unnecessary. There were five clerks, and one of them waited on a customer once in awhile. There was plenty of bread and plenty of butter, but the clerks were not about to be busy.

We met a man who spoke English. He was a citizen of the USA, who was born and raised in Greece, and was visiting his elderly father who now lived in Warsaw. He thought we must find it easy to get around in Warsaw because of the few cars, but he could not imagine why we were feeling uncomfortable and paranoid in this country. He said no one will bother us, and he of course was right about that, but that didn’t help much.

Our uncomfort comes from seeing long lines of unhappy-looking people, and the apparent shortages of most everything.