Day Five (Wednesday 25 September): another bloody train trip!

Last night’s trip had only whetted our appetite for a walk in the restored Old City of Warsaw, so we federated with Gail and Barry and following Leigh’s leadership, staged a mutiny. It was a very mild one but we didn’t want to waste the most beautiful sunny day on a museum. Our walk through the CBD did nothing to improve our impressions until we turned off the main drag and walked into what looked like Georgian architecture. Away from the reconstruction and transport redevelopment that characterises every town we have visited so far this trip — and this applies to both Paris and particularly London — is a pocket of prewar city that has been restored and, in many cases, rebuilt.

We only had a couple of hours and just walking around took most of our time, so we did no interiors, but the faithful restoration of the exteriors made for great photographs. Again, a city we would come back to so that we can fill in the gaps. A couple of photos have to suffice because I haven’t even had time to understand what we saw, but return we will to see glorious churches, museums and especially the castle.

In the afternoon, we were reunited with the rest of the group and made our way back to the train station. The trip took three hours and it was marked by some hysterically funny moments, although we have collectively worked out how to board the train and pack an impossible amount of luggage into two small compartments and then throw sixteen adults on top.

Sohailia had the bright idea of a picnic, so wine, beer, cheese, bread and meat came on board with us. Drinking semi-sweet red from plastic shot glasses is not top-shelf drinking, but washed the food down, especially some delicious sausage. Our sister compartment finished off the rest, amidst a considerable amount of mirth.

We disembarked using a similarly organised approach, with a lot of luggage going out the windows, and made it to the coach on time.