Day 12 - Tour Day 1 Baltic States & Russia Sun 14 July 2019 - Warsaw.

Sunrise:         4:31am                                  Sunset:          8:51pm

I closed the drapes tightly last night and didn’t set the alarm. I didn’t wake up until 7.45am, feeling very refreshed and ready for the next tour.  Went down to breakfast just before 9 and caught up with Leanne, who is flying to London and spending some time with a friend in the UK.

I also caught up with Carolyn, just before she took her transfer to the airport and then when I was looking at the new tour info near the elevators, I also met the new TD. Her name is Anna Luthi.  She was about to head out to the airport for her first pickup of the day.  The group is meeting at 6:30 and then going out for the Welcome Dinner.

There is a huge shopping mall, Złote Tarasy, about a kilometre up the road from the hotel, so I decided to go for a walk there.  I didn’t expect any of the shops to be opened, and they weren’t but it gave me some exercise and the weather is quite pleasant.  Last time I was in Warsaw, I took a taxi to that mall as I needed to visit a chemist to get some more pain killers and to see if they had any Scholl inserts, which thankfully they did.  I remember that just having the arch support, made walking slightly less painful, I’ll go back there tomorrow, as I need to buy a couple of cosmetic items. On the way back to the hotel I took some photos of the Palace of Culture and Science

I was going to have lunch in the hotel dining room today but they were offering a brunch for 189 zloty, so I gave that a miss and just ordered off the menu at the bar. Far more inexpensive.  The brunches must be very popular with the locals, as from what I could see, the majority of the people doing the brunch were locals.

While eating my caesar salad, John & Kathy came by. Their room was being serviced, so they were giving the maid some space. Bernice & Rommie also came by.  They were heading out of the hotel to look for a place to eat.

It was 2pm before I returned to my room. I updated this journal. Added more photos to my Flickr account https://www.flickr.com/photos/spiderb2/albums  showered and washed my hair, ready for tonights dinner.

As the people arrived, Anna was handing out the luggage tags. Anna is Russian.
I had #1 tag again, so I guess I was the 1^stperson to book this tour, same as the Poland tour. 

I think this is a full tour or 40 people. Nicole & I sat with a Canadian couple from Ontario, who live in a town about 2 or 3 hours out of Toronto. 
She has an unusual name, which I didn’t write down. I know that it starts with Syd and her husband is Bill. There is a couple who may or may not be on their honeymoon, 2 couples from New York, 2 younger girls, 2 ladies, a group of 8, either family or friends of varying ages. I met Wendy & Michael from Melbourne. There are 2 guys of Chinese origin and I don’t know who the rest are.  
I’ve decided not to do the included city tour tomorrow morning, as I have already done that on the Poland tour and will have another ‘leisurely’ day, doing my own thing.

Our dinner was at the Restaurant Zapiecek and the meal tonight was very filling.  The starter was 5 different dumplings, my main was baked duck, that was very delicious if a tad to large, so I didn’t finish it all and a fresh fruit salad with a yoghurt sauce and I didn’t take any photos.

Its just after 10pm, so I’m heading for bed.

Steps Walked                     5,648

Hotel: The Westin Warsaw.