Time proceeded to pass in Holland. It was still hotter than hell (especially at work), but I went out and saw what I could in my free time and like all good things, this came to an end as well and it was time for me to go and move on. I'm sure this must have been a great relief for my employer, who (since my "painting the inside of the jeep with tar" incident) was a little more cautious and "on edge" about me being around his equipment. I'm sure he must sleep better at nights now that I'm far away.
Normally I would have gone straight to Belgium and see my relatives, but since I didn't see my friend on the island of Borkum, I thought I would go and see her in Poland (after calling her in advance).
The train trip through Germany to Poland was pleasant enough, that is until I reached German-Polish border. We arrived at one o'clock in the morning and although I was smart enough to have my friend meet me at the station, I was not fully prepared for the "Polish train system." Which isn't to say that it's a "bad" or "good"…it was still very post Soviet (remember it was the early 1990’s) and very different than from what I had experienced before.
When we reached the border the train stopped and I looked out and saw I sign that said we were in “Szczecin” (the town I wanted to go to), but there really wasn't a station there, just a little house for the guards and no one else was getting off so I decided to remain in my seat. Eventually the border patrol came on and stamped all of our passports and we took off again. I was a little nervous that I didn't get off then because the sign did say "Szczecin", but I didn't see my friend so I assumed that I had done the right thing. The train rode about five more minutes before stopping at another station; again with the sign "Szczecin" in front of it. Again, I didn't see my friend, but I didn't know where she would be waiting, so I got my luggage and was ready to get off. While I'm doing this the woman sitting across from me tells me in broken English that this isn't where I want to get off and it's actually the next station that I want to go to. Why this woman thinks she knows where I want to go I'll never know, but “ok” I thought I might as well sit down wait. Once the train started moving again I began to panic and think that perhaps she thinks I want to go to Warsaw and that the next stop is actually Warsaw not Szczecin! Ten minutes passed and by this time I was pretty "squirrelly." In that time period my mind was racing thinking what am I going to do if I end up in Warsaw; "after all I don't speak a word of Polish and the only Slavic language that I know is Russian and I didn’t think I'd be very popular with the locals if I run around asking questions in Russian."
Luckily though the train did stop in Szczecin (I'll be damned! The woman was right!) and my friend was there to meet me and take me to my hotel (whoa! A plan coming together!). She then asked if I wanted to go to the beach the next day. Because Poland was equally as hot as Holland I jumped at the chance, but I had to be ready in a couple hours to catch another train to the sea side. "ugh! Another train!" I thought. "I just got off this one,” but I can’t pass up the opportunity for the beach.
She came by early the next morning to pick me up to go to the station where we had to wait in line for TWO HOURS to get train tickets (I guess everybody wanted to go to the beach). Normally this wouldn't have bothered me too much, but because of the heat, no ventilation in the station and the fact that we were crammed around ticket booth fighting for tickets (at the time very typical post-Soviet behavior) made this experience a little less enjoyable.
Now let me take a minute to get back to the Polish train system of 1994. When the train arrived, everybody got on the train expressing the same courtesy that they did at the ticket counter. Fighting and clawing for a space. People were jammed into the seating compartments like sardines; people sitting on one another and standing up in there so that there was no room to move. The corridors were just as packed with people practically standing on top of each other, leaning halfway out the windows, etc. Now remember that it is incredibly hot outside and we're all tightly packed in a little metal box which the sun is beating down upon in increasing degrees. At first I thought this to be rather fun and humorous. I mean Szczecin wasn’t that far from the beach. We could be there in…what?...30-40 minutes? And it would have been if we were moving faster than a three legged syphilitic goat! I swear I could have walked faster than the train. After spending three hours in a "sweat box" on wheels staring at the man who's face was about two inches from mine because we were all packed in there so well and smelling the vodka and kielbasa on his breath, I soon discovered that "fun and humorous" aspect of the trip wore thin rather quickly. And even though he offered to share his drink it didn't really help matters (although I'm convinced that he had the right idea and the only way to tolerate and/or appreciate such a trip is when you're mildly or completely inebriated).
I can say though that after spending three hours of humming the theme from "Schindler's List," that I began to think about the trying to appreciate the little things in life just a little more….you know, like breathing fresh air. Regardless, we eventually made it to the beach which was great. After some time there, my friend asked me if I wanted to see Warsaw.
-"Warsaw! Sure, I'd love to see Warsaw!"
-"O.K., what we need to do is take the train back to Szczecin, I'll drop you off at your hotel so you can get changed, I'll pick you up later and then we can take the evening train to Warsaw. We'll get there tomorrow morning, O.K."
Of course, the experience of just getting to the beach was fresh in my mind, so I must admit that my enthusiasm did waver a bit.
-"Uh...yeah, a couple more train rides…that sounds fun"
Once I was back at the hotel I began to think (I do that on occasion) that I've seen where Warsaw is located on a map it can't possibly take that long to get there from Szczecin. This will be an easy trip, a fun trip, no problem. Well, as I'm in the shower I hear a knock at the door and my friend's voice sounding rather panicked. Not thinking I grab the first thing I could reach to cover myself and ran to the door to see what the problem was. When I opened the door she stood there looking like she was ready to cry and saying something about how she lost her key at the beach and didn't know what to do. Of course, her disposition quickly changed when she saw me. It appears that in my haste for the door what I grabbed was basically a face cloth (not exactly what I had in mind). So the lesson for this part of the story is that I advise all travelers that when running from the shower to purposely grab a towel even in an emergency. Again, I digress. In all the stress of her losing her key and my "appearance" at the time only added to her confusion of whether or not leave and come back later or come in and wait for me to change in the bathroom. Needless to say, I didn't really feel like debating the issue right then. I mean people were walking by and what they see is me standing in the hallway wet and naked trying to cover myself with a face cloth talking to girl who looks like she's ready to cry soon. Not a pretty picture. Anyway, she comes in and after I put on some clothes we decide that she'll have to go to her parents house to get a spare key. Now here comes the fun part; to get to her parents house we have to take the train there and back so we can catch the train to Warsaw that evening.
I'm not exactly sure what village her parents live in, but I do know that it took us about an hour to get there and two hours to find where her mother was working that day (what part of the hospital). When we do find her mother she give my friend the spare key and then announces that not only have my friend's mother and step-father decided to get a divorce, but because of the divorce money will be scarce and that my friend will have to drop out of the University and get a job. “OUCH! Well this will be a fun trip" I thought.
To be honest, I would have been more than happy to cancel, mostly because being on a train and touring a new city with someone who has obvious reasons to be depressed is rarely a good time (a joke – I’m kidding!). Although I felt bad for her, there was very little I could do except talk, listen and hope that the trip would take her mind off her troubles for awhile. Actually, she seemed to take it much better than I expected (thinking she would be crying hysterically all the way to Warsaw and back). Granted, the train ride there did consist of strangers basically sleeping on my lap and a persevering through a heat that did not seem to yield to the night, but overall I must say it was a nice ride there.
Warsaw. A beautiful city! Everything that I've heard about the city was true. The buildings, statues, parks and monuments are old and absolutely wonderful to look at and visit. I have since heard that there are many social problems in Warsaw with criminals and Mafia, but I am relieved to say that I neither saw nor encountered any of such activity. Which actually surprised me. I figured if anyone was going to be raped, beaten, robbed, and left for dead on the street in broad daylight, it would be me. Soon the evening came and it was now time to take the train back home. Again no problems, that is if you don't mind sharing your compartment with man drinking heavily in front of you as you wonder whether or not he'll rob or just throw up on you while you're asleep.
After the arrival back to Szczecin was rather uneventful (then again, compared to our “pre-departure” news it would be hard to compete with that). But again, it was time to move on and knowing that my train left at four o'clock in the morning for Belgium I decided that it would be a good idea to be all prepared to go. So I packed my bags, bought my train tickets in advance and made arrangements with my friend to sleep on her apartment floor. This way I wouldn't have to try and check out at three o'clock in the morning. Actually this was a good plan because she had to get up very early to go to her aunt's house anyway. A good plan.
Of course, the alarm clock didn't go off and we both over slept. Until six o'clock. Although I missed my train I hoped that the next one would come soon. Dream the impossible dream. I made it to the train station by myself since my friend had to go to her aunt's and when I arrived I looked at the train schedule on the wall which said that the next train for Berlin (where I would change trains for Belgium) left in twelve o'clock noon, it was now seven o'clock in the morning.
As I waited in the station I walked to the wall opposite the one with the schedule on it and noticed that there was schedule there as well, only the times were completely different for the same location. This one said the train for Berlin was leaving an hour earlier. I never fully understood the wisdom of putting up two different schedules and I don't think I ever will, but ever hopeful I went to the platform from which the earlier train was supposed to leave from.
When the train did arrive the other foreigners and myself almost did a little dance of celebration. I looked on the sign on the outside of the train which marked the destination point and was to Berlin. "Wonderful!" I thought as I boarded my steel chariot; feeling much like Julius Caesar embarking on a new conquest through Europe “Onward to Germania!”. This feeling and fantasy was soon crushed in the ever popular and traditional manner of reality coming in and beating it's ugly presence into my brain with a powerful and painful discovery. As the train started to move while I was lazily gazing out the window in a state of calm bliss and serenity I noticed that the train wasn't going in the direction I thought it should be. In fact, it was going the complete opposite direction! "My God!! I'm on the wrong train!!!!" Actually I thought many of many different words and colourful metaphors to describe what I was feeling at the time, but have decided to edit them out in retrospect. What had happened was that some train attendant didn't bother to switch the signs and I was on the train back to Warsaw! I am glad for one thing though. No one else was in my compartment with me at that time to watch me as I hysterically ran around trying to get myself organized and wonder about what to do. In fact, I behaved much as I though my friend was going to. Isn't fate…humorous.
Luckily the train stopped at the next station where I and all the other disgruntled and frantic foreigners jumped off wondering what to do next. We did the only thing we could do: wait for next train to take us back to Szczecin. Actually that train came relatively quickly and the wait wasn't nearly as long as I expected. On the train I glanced at my watch and saw that it was still before noon and I could make the train to Berlin.
Well if it's of any consequence to anyone, I saw the train to Berlin. My train was pulling into the station just as the train to Berlin was leaving. I heard the laughter of Fate ringing in my ears as I watched the last few cars of the train slowly making its' way to the West while I was left to ponder my future. I could 1) have a nervous breakdown at the station and hope the police will have gentle or at least humane treatment of village idiots 2) turn in my passport and become a Polish citizen, or 3) hope that I wouldn’t have any visa problems and get on ANY train out of the country as long as it was heading West. I decided to act on my third choice. But I must admit that it was a tough decision between the first and third one.
So I went into the station and bought a new ticket for a small village in Germany (I didn't care where it was in Germany, as long as it was Germany), checked the schedule and found out the train left at seven o'clock at night. To recap how I spent the day, it was that basically I spent eleven hours at the train station and one hour taking an accidental train trip to a village on the way to Warsaw and back all in the effort to get to Germany.
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