Do You Have to Print Your Train Ticket?

Yes! Yes! Yes!

If you do have the chance, it will be better if you print it.

First of all, (as far as I know) there are 5 types of train in Poland that run by PKP Intercity:

• Pendolino/Express Intercity Premium (EIP), this would be the fastest train, with maximum 250km/h speed. It connects most big cities in Poland like Kraków, Katowice, Gdansk, etc. If you have 1st class ticket you'll get free drink and snacks and only drink for 2nd class ticket.
• Express InterCity (EIC) with 160km/h speed, connects most of big towns in Poland and international routes to Prague, Vienna, and Berlin.
• InterCity (IC) fast train connects most of cities in Poland.
• Twoje Linie Kolejowe (TLK) or Your Railway Lines. When you are looking for a cheap train to hop on cities in Poland, this will be your choice. It has more stopovers than IC, but sometimes you'll find it's the only train you can choose to reach a destination, like a-direct-morning train from Warsaw to Zakopane. It has sleeping cars for night travel.
• EuroCity (EC) and EuroNigth (EN), offering international route from Poland, travelling under EIC and IC brand.

All tickets that offer in Poland are include seat reservation. So you will have your seat number and wagon number printed in your ticket, not like in Germany, for example, they have reserved and unreserved seat ticket.

EIP and EIC brand offers Wi-Fi on board powered by T-Mobile.
When I try the Berlin-Warsaw Express, the wi-fi works well only at Poland side (either the train departed from Berlin or Warsaw). When I travelled from Prague to Warsaw, the wi-fi works fine at Czech side, and it got slower after getting in Poland.
It's very different with the wi-fi facilities I got when I travel from Budapest to Prague, it worked all the way long.

If you buy ticket like at least a week before, you'll get cheaper price than buying it online in D-2 or D-1, or the D day at the station.

For TLK, IC and EIC, you can buy ticket from the officer on the train. Buy it before the train leaves the station. When he approach you first when train leaves, you'll be fined.

Online selling ticket only for domestic routes. For international trip, you'll need to buy it at the ticket office. You can buy roundtrip from and to Poland, and oneway ticket from Poland. You cannot buy ticket from Prague to Poland in Poland, you'll need to buy that in Czech or through Czech Railway online website.

I've been travelling throughout Poland with intercity train, whether with Pendolino, EIC or IC. Most of the time, I didn't print my ticket because once I forgot and it was okay. So it became a habit. When I travelled to Berlin, I always bought the ticket from the ticket office, then I always had my printed ticket.

So today I got problem with this habit 😅
I bought Prague-Warsaw ticket online. All my online tickets (bus, train, or plane) always had caution that I should print it anyway, but I never. I always had my mobile ticket or pdf form ticket in my phone with the thought it will always be scan-able even if it's in my phone.

So with this pdf form ticket in my phone I successed pass the ticket check twice in Czech side. When I entered Poland's side the ticket officer ask for my paper ticket. After explaining that I don't need to show my paper ticket when I'm in Czech, seems it didn't help me. So he urged me that I have to pay another ticket. I was in Katowice already, but he explain that I need to buy ticket from the first city after out from Czech, Chałupki.

I thought, okay let's just bought another ticket that probably will cost me hundreds zloty since I also thought that he would fined me because it seems I'm passenger who don't have ticket. Fortunately he only costed me 65 zloty *fiuh.

Don't ever think that those conversation about me explaining my condition and he explaining the rules was smooth. He speaks only Polish while I don't speak Polish. So we need a passenger to be our translator, thanks God she was so nice and didn't mind to help.

Lesson learned, from now on, I will always print my (international train) ticket (if I happened will travel in Poland's region).

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Noc Muzeów w Warszawie - Long Night of Museums in Warsaw

This is my first attempt to join this event after a complete failure last year (taunya setelah selesai).

So this annual event is inspired by the same event called Lange Nacht der Museen which took place for the first time at 1997 in Berlin.

Some museums in Warsaw have free admission in a particular day in a week (with some terms e.g in a specific hours on that day, on specific part of the museum, no guide tours, or with limited passess) like:

• The Warsaw Rising Museum is free on Sunday
• The Fryderyk Chopin Museum in Warsaw is free on Sunday
• The Royal Castle in Warsaw Museum is free on Sunday
• Warsaw Railway Museum is free on Monday
• Poster Museum is free on Monday
• The National Museum in Warsaw is free on Tuesday
• Museum of Caricature and Cartoon Art in Warsaw is free on Tuesday
• The Birthplace of Fryderyk Chopin and Park in Żelazowa Wola is free on Wednesday
• The Royal Łazienki Museum in Warsaw is free on Thursday
• Museum King of Jan III's Palace at Wilanow is free on Thursday
• Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art is free on Thursday
• Zachetą - National Gallery of Art is free on Thursday
• Museum of Pawiak Prison in Warsaw is free on Thursday
• Mausoleum of Struggle and Martyrdom is free on Thursday (website only in Polish)
• Polin Museum of the History of Polish Jews is free on Thursday
• The State Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw is free on Thursday
• Polish Army Museum is free on Saturday

Just wonder why the Centrum Nauiki Kopernik have no free admission day. But maybe because it looks like it's the coolest museum in here (If you've seen the Fryderyk Chopin Museum and you said is cool, than you'll be curious how the Kopernik would look like) .
Those are just a few percents of the total museum in Warsaw, there are others that I can't mention (or even don't know if such a museum exist, it's too many).

So what makes this event attracts a lot of people every year?
Well, here's a hint:

in this event, it's not just the museum that open free for public until 1 or 2 am in the next day, but also certain places that aren't open for public in any other day.

So this is event probably is the only chance to get in those places.
This year there are (according to the guidebook).
Some start open at 6PM or 7PM until midnight or until 1AM or 2 AM in the next day.

You think you can visit as many of them as possible?
Naaaaahhhhhhhh....

So, again, a reminder, this event atrracts so many people, even for Polish. So you'll get stuck in a long queues in almost every place. You may even end up queueing for about 2-3 hours or more at favourite places (I even heard there are some spending 5 hours!). So, advices: choose 2 or 3 places that you really want to visit and the most important thing is GET THE GUIDEBOOK (hardcopy or softcopy since they're provided the download-able version) ASAP!!!
And don't mind to buy the all-day ticket for transport (I use mine just once -_-!), the city provide exra buses with extra routes for, wait for it,
freeeeeee... (this year they have 9 additional routes, running from 6.30pm to 2am)

My mistake this year that I've planned to get the guidebook at the D-Day, since I already know where to go.
But I end up felt sorry for myself after queued for almost 3 hours.
So this year I've planned to visit the Wedel Chocolate Factory (see this kinda factory only open for public 3 times in a year, or that is the info that I get, all I know it's definitely open at this event).
The factory apparently gave free tickets via their Facebook page and their website. If I have the ticket, I'd only need less than 30 minutes before got in the factory.
And.... the factory was already open at 12 noon.... and I got there almost 5 in the afternoon. What is more devastating than knowing that.

So after long waiting, I can eat chocolate as much as I want... but I didn't... I have to remind myself as an adult to not compete strongly with other children when the factory allowed us to take chocolate as many as we can. So 2 bars of Pawełek and few of filled milk chocolate got into my pocket and I think I managed to eat few pieces of their filled chocolate bars before we were heading to the factory.

 

Wedel is the oldesst chocolate brand in Polish, started in 1851 by Karol Ernest Wedel, a Germany. The icon of the chocalte itself is actually Emil Wedel's signature,the son. This building is the second factory that the Wedel built in Warsaw. In WWII the factory only produced chocolate for Germany. Long short story, Cadburry owned the chocolate until 2010, it goes to LOTTE.

The famous product of Wedel (their flagship product that has been awarded many times for its taste) since 1936 even until now is Ptasie Mleczko, a Wedel chocolate that covers marshmallows. Up till now there are 8 varians and an addition 2 varians of Delcino only for this product.

Basically we didn't see the whole process because (IMO) each groups only have abput 30 minutes inside. But they do have (looks-like) volunteers to explained how this factory really worked (of course it's all in Polish, so I just enjoyed the chocolate and keep took pictures.
They do really serious having all these everything-made-of-chocolate like for an exhibition. So the smell of chocolate really filled the room.

When were finished, I definitely not hoping that they will gave us "souvenirs", well, they gave us a chocolate bars each, and free to choose the flavoured, and balloon for children... yippppyyyyyyy, this is what I called a visit to chocolate factory.
And I just wished I were there with more friends so we could take crazy pictures with their photo booth.

 

Payed off!

Almost 10 means I still have 1 place to worth visit.
Called a neighbour if she already in a queue in Belweder Palace, and yes the next 25 minutes I already in a another queue. This one felt like forever since today I've been standing for more than 6 hours and spending numerous clovers in Pokopang. And still to get in the palace I still eed another 2 hour-ish. Being the third last group to get in it around midnight (it is my long night at Warsaw!). Our tour leader even sounds exhausted. I don't know how many times did she repeat all of those words (90% of them are Polish words) that day.

This Belweder actually a residential, for the President of the Republic of Poland. But according our tour guide, President Duda, the present President isn't live in here.

So if you planned better and have all the information earlier... you probably may had chances to visits maximum 3 places (if you are that ambitious), or 2 places without getting really tired for standing in lines.
I'll have to make myself sure that I'm ready for the next year.

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Pomerania Pt. 1: That Eerie Feeling

My first ride with Pendolino is going to Gdańsk,

kota pelabuhan di Polandia,
tempat menyeberang ke Swedia,
salah satu kota bagian Pomerania
which is in Slavic means by the sea.
(Hey it rhymes XD )

Tujuan utama sebenarnya adalah kota kecil sekitar 50km dari Gdańsk, Sztutowo. There it is... the Stutthof Camp.

Awalnya tertarik dengan tujuan seperti ini, more and less disebabkan kunjungan ke sini.

It takes about 3 hours from Warszawa Centralna to the Gdańsk Główny.

I don't have much time for this short weekend visit, so right after I arrive at Gdańsk at 10.57, next thing is find the bus.

Fortunately, the bus terminal is right behind the station, just 5 minutes walking.

The schedules are normal for summer, probably there'll be less buses in other season. Back on February, the bus was every 2 hours.

Ticket fares

It's a long trip.... To get to the concentration camp you need 13 złoty and make sure to stop at Sztutowo Museum.

Stutthof Museum: The Death Gate, The Command Building,
inside the SS-Guardhouse displaying inmates' shoes that was taken at the moment the came to the camp.

This is one of German Concentration Camp that exist in Poland since September 1939. Most of the inmates were Poles, Russians and Jews.

The camp is huge and I only have about 1 hour to look around. It feels like visiting a regular museum, but after passing the gate that lead to the crematory and gas chamber, somehow, I loose the enthusiasm to take more pictures and to explore the camp, just need to finish this visit a.s.a.p.

Maybe because there were less people who visited the museum that time (it seemed there were less than 15 people and we were scatters in that vast place) or maybe because it's just me seeing how was the infirmary looked like, the bunk bed, how was the building was build not used as it plans to... (too much watch movie about it before get in here).

The Command Building seen from inside the camp, the crematory and gas chamber at the end of the path, on the way to the Stutthof Camp, the debris of the jewish camp, the Monument of Fight and Martyrdom Symbol.

I don't know how many blocks and barracks are there in this camp, but we can see the signs of the block VIII, block VIIIA, block II, block III, block VI, block VII, new camp and jewish camp.

Most of them are now just marked with stack of bricks whether because it was burnt down or purposely were teared down.

There is holocaust stake outside the barbed wire where corpses were burned during midnight at the end 1944 and beginning 1945, of course I just read this from the guidebook.

There are some places that are not part of the museum or not for sightseeing like the new kitchen, the factory, the stake, etc. So when you get in here, imho, my decision for the 5 złoty guidebook is worth to have. 

The entrance to this museum is free, at the administration building, they have a lot of books and dvd's about the camp.

There are films are shown in the ex-headquarter building/the command building, but it was renovated last February so there were no film screening, only cost 3 złoty.

It is possible to request guided tour in English, German and Russian, cost 140 złoty, just visit their website as it has virtual tour too.

KL Stutthof, from the Guidebook

The museum was closed at 3 PM while the next bus would be 16.27 PM.

So the next 1.5 hrs, luckily I met a couple and a mother with her 2 children who has just also visited the museum, we spent the time in a restaurant that we met after 15 minutes walking in that quiet city.

I just need to get back to the city since I still felt that eerie feeling.

Note to myself, won't go to any camp by myself anymore XD

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