This time the trip was actually planned and I had all my tickets bought the day before. I was supposed to leave the house a bit after 7 to catch an 8:00 train from the neighboring village to Widzew. The Esperanto train was scheduled for 8:16 — the shortest connection from Łódź to Warsaw, only an hour long. I was so sleepy I totally zoned out and missed my stop at Widzew, only getting off at Łódź Fabryczna, by which point my train was long gone. I quickly bought a ticket for the next one, but I was angry at myself — not only was it leaving at 8:35, it also took 1 hour and 37 minutes. To make things worse, it was 26 minutes delayed. So right from the start I’d already lost an hour of walking time.

I brought just one console with me — the Nintendo DSi — and spent the whole day playing one game: The Urbz: Sims in the City, a Sims spin-off I totally fell for. I already wrote about how wonderfully weird that game is when I described how it starts after my last Warsaw trip. Today I’ll just add that one of my favorite things about it is how the conversations work.

You come across all kinds of quirky characters in the game. When you talk to them, you always get four topics to choose from, which show up in random combos. Your job is to figure out which ones they’ll like, to build up the friendship bar. At first it’s mostly trial and error, based on their look, clothes, and how they introduce themselves. But over time, you start picking up on their personalities and can make better guesses. Usually you can rely on pretty stereotypical logic, but sometimes the characters surprise you. I get such a kick out of these talks— the replies are hilarious whether you get them right or totally mess them up.

The weather in Warsaw was warm and sunny. Blue skies with just a few clouds hanging over the city. That day, the Polish Cup final in football was happening at PGE Narodowy (National Stadium) — Legia Warszawa vs. Pogoń Szczecin. Around the stadium, which I passed by, there were tons of police cars, foot patrols everywhere, and even a helicopter in the sky.

While still on the train, I spontaneously decided to wander around Praga district this time — and that’s exactly what I did. I took photos of street art and buildings that caught my eye. I noticed on Google Maps that there was a CeX store in Galeria Wileńska — that international chain that sells used electronics — so I dropped by and bought a random game. Well, almost random — I do know I like Japanese visual novels.

On the way, I found two buildings connected at the top by a double-story bridge. Super odd but also awesome. I’m curious how it works in practice — do the apartments span both parts?

I also stumbled across a place called the Centrum Praskie “Koneser” — a complex of restored red-brick buildings with various spots inside. I didn’t have time to explore everything, but two places immediately caught my eye.

The first was a Paper Concept store — my go-to dealer for watercolor sketchbooks. I’m just a hobbyist, so I like something decent quality without spending too much on my scribbles. They have these Talens Art Creation sketchbooks that are great quality for the price. I usually get the 9×14 cm (3.5×5.5″) size, but this time I picked up a 12×12 cm (4.7×4.7″) one because I’ve got an idea in mind.

I also finally found something I’d been looking for — a tiny palette for watercolor half-pans. I already have two palettes — one from Renesans (really nice polish brand) and one from Winsor & Newton. The Renesans one is metal (which I love), with two fold-out wings (which is a must for me), but it’s huge — it fits nearly 40 half-pans, so it’s really just for home use. The Winsor & Newton one is plastic, holds 12 pans, has room for a waterbrush, and is about half the size of the Renesans one. It’s great for short walks when I’m carrying just a few things. But for trips like “half a day in Warszawa,” I’ve been dreaming of something even smaller — every bit of backpack space counts in those situations.

I found an empty mini palette from the Kraków-based brand Roman Szmal, from their new series. I haven’t tested it yet — didn’t paint anything during that walk — but on paper it’s perfect. It’s metal. It’s tiny — about half the size of the Winsor & Newton one. Has two fold-out wings. There’s a finger ring on the bottom. Holds 12 half-pans on a clip-in tray (best solution), which you can take out to wash the rest of the palette without getting the paints wet. The store only had one color option, but I liked it anyway.

The second place I visited in Koneser was the Muzeum Sztuki Fantastycznej (Museum of Fantasy Art), which had an awesome painting and sculpture exhibit (more about that in a separate post).

I also accidentally stumbled across the longest building in Warsaw — which I later learned from Wikipedia is called the “Jamnik” (Dachshund), “Deska” (Plank), or “Mrówkowiec” (Ant Farm). Compared to Gdańsk’s famous “falowiec” on Obrońców Wybrzeża Street, this one is shorter (860 vs. 508 meters) and architecturally less interesting, but it was still cool to see. I’d love to spend more time there someday and chat with the residents, like I’ve done many times with people living in the falowiec blocks.

Podczas takiego tak długich spacerów robię od 400 do 800 zdjęć, z czego ostatecznie używam małą część. Bateria mojego smartfona, Samsunga S21 Ultra, pada wtedy mega szybko, szczególnie jak jest słonecznie i ekran cały świeci pełną mocą. Nie tylko rozładowałem sam Smartfon, ale też powerbank 20000 mAh, więc musiałem gdzieś nakarmić smartfon i siebie. Początkowo próbowałem coś znaleźć w Google Maps, ale jakoś mi nie szło, więc wsiadłem w tramwaj i pojechałem na Stare Miasto, do multitapu Same Krafty, który już znałem. Niestety, nie było w pracy barmana, z którym wtedy tak dużo rozmawiałem. Powtórzyłem pizzę z kozim serem, oscypkiem i żurawiną, wypiłem piwa wędzone i pograłem trochę w “The Urbz: Sims in the City”, gdzie od jednego z bohaterów otrzymałem… deskolotkę z “Powrotu do Przyszłości”. Poza tym odkryłem, że jak masz gościa i usiądziesz na kibelku, gość stoi obok ciebie i się patrzy. Kocham tę grę!

During these kinds of long walks I usually take 400–800 photos, of which I end up using only a small portion. The battery on my Samsung S21 Ultra dies super fast in sunlight with the screen at full brightness. I ended up draining not just the phone but also a 20,000 mAh power bank. So I had to go feed both my phone and myself. At first I tried to find some new place via Google Maps, but that wasn’t working out, so I jumped on a tram and headed to the Old Town, to the Same Krafty multitap I already knew. Sadly, the bartender I chatted with last time wasn’t working. I repeated my goat cheese + oscypek (Polish smoked cheese) + cranberry pizza, had some smoked beer, and played a bit more of The Urbz: Sims in the City, where one of the characters gave me… the hoverboard from Back to the Future. Also, I discovered that if you have a guest over and sit on the toilet, they just stand next to you and stare. I love this game!

On the way back to Warszawa Centralna Station, dark clouds started gathering in the sky. That chaotic wind started picking up — the kind that always comes just before a storm. It drizzled for a bit, and then came the downpour, with a few rumbles of thunder. I was fully prepped. Had rain gear in my backpack for both myself and the bag.

While waiting for the train back to Łódź, I finally had a moment to read about the Switch game I bought at CeX — Archetype Arcadia. I bought it almost blind, only knowing that it’s one of my favorite combos: Japanese visual novel. The box says, after translation: “Sink into a dark visual novel full of mystery. Uncover the truth behind a deadly disease that has wiped out most of humanity where a virtual world is the only escape.”