Frist Step of a New Adventure

On Friday I left my home in Minnesota and arrived in Warsaw, Poland, at 10 AM, Europe time, on Saturday. We left out of Chicago one hour late, but arrived in Warsaw only about 10 minutes late. I was a bit startled by the colors inside the plane. The seats were sage green with a red inset in the seat area. The flight attendants wore red and green, too. I thought, perhaps, LOT had changed its decor. Then while waiting to get out the plane I began to wonder why the announcements on the seats about the location of emergency equipment were done in Italian, English, and German. When I got out of the plane -- and out we did for we had to ride a bus to the terminal-- I saw that the plane said Air Italy and suddenly the color scheme made sense. I laughed when I saw a van with a sign that said Air Italy Polska. Obviously some sort of merger is under way???

The flight attendants consistently spoke Polish to me, even though they spoke English to other American passengers.

Upon arrival I walked across the street to the Courtyard by Marriott. This is the first time I've stayed here. I've been told it is very expensive, but I got a very good rate booking online under a one minute rate. I was delighted to be able to check into  my room, too, at 10:30 in the morning.

I had not slept well the last night in Minnesota and slept about three hours on the plane, so I was at a sleep deficit. I  set an alarm for mid-afternoon and crawled into bed. It felt so good. Later in the afternoon I walked back to a coffee shop in airport and had a cappuccino and sernik. I wanted to check out about my flight to Budapest on Sunday. I had received e-mail messages with a change in my departure time and even got a phone call from Poland about this while in the shuttle going to the airport in Minnesota. The plane, according to the departure schedule, was leaving yet at the later time I'd originally booked. I decided I would just go back to the airport at 15:00 on Sunday; that would be early enough if Sunday produces a new schedule. All in all, I'm impressed with LOT's effort to let me know the schedule is perhaps changing!

My room here overlooks Terminal A.

Yet there isn't any noise from the airport in the hotel. One really wouldn't know it was there.

In mid evening I went to the bar and had a club sandwich. I was quite struck about the electronics. There were two TV monitors showing video from two different programs. But the sound, thankfully, through the bar/restaurant was very nice jazz.

Jet lag well in place caused to me look out the window at intervals.

Here's the airport at night. It was very quiet when I walked over there about 10 PM to get a bottle of water. I was quite surprised to see it was hopping place at 3 AM. Lots of cars and taxis and people about. Sorry I had not taken the camera with me for the 10 PM stroll. I walked over a bridge and looked below to see the below there waiting for the 175 bus to central Warsaw. One man was wearing a huge sombrero. Sorry I missed that photo!

I notice now a lot of Polish flags had been placed out. I think this has something to do with the May 1 beautification of Pope John Paul.

Nice to be back to a place where one really can get the news. There is so much difference between CNN we see in the United States and what others see on CNN in other countries. I've already found two programs that relate to the Global Health Issues course that I'm developing for next Spring Semester.

Now if I can just conquer jet lag life is good!