Wild About Warsaw (#769)

16 December 2025

I don't think I've ever been more surprised by a city than I was by Warsaw. Admittedly, I had done very little reconnaissance ahead of this trip so my pre-conceived notions of Poland were overly-influenced by memories from letters from a friend of mine who worked here in the post-Solidarity, re-opening to the "west" days of the early 1990s. Letters which painted an expectant and hopeful society, but bleak skies and an even bleaker infrastructure. I fully recognize that was over thirty years ago, so I should have been prepared for a massive change, but I wasn't.

The bleak skies remained, but it's December in Europe, so that's par for the course.

What I found beyond the weather was a beautiful, very modern and extremely lively city. It's hard to describe, but the wide boulevards, ample bike lanes and pedestrians who religiously abided by the walk/don't walk signs (even when there was zero car traffic) made me feel more like I was walking in Toronto than a European city. This city has an expansiveness to the downtown that I don't see in most European cities, but was still peppered with enough "local" architecture that did let me know I was not in North America. What was decidedly European, though, was the packed streets, with people of all ages enjoying holiday lights, more languages than you could count floating by, and a safe-feeling exuberance to the evening.

I only planned for one new pool and was delighted by my swim at the Warsaw University of Medicine's Sports Rehab Centre's 50 meter pool (now #769 on my #1001Pools list).

This is a stupendous, ten-lane, 50-metre facility. Beyond the great pool, I loved four features of this pool.

A digital clock that offered both a "digitalized analog" traditional sweep pace clock and a pure digital pace clock. I understand that some people still like the old school analog sweep clock, but I prefer a digital clock. Maybe it's because I'm just sight-impaired enough that analog clocks are a bit too blurry for me, or maybe it's just the extra sense of precision with pure digital. This incarnation was the perfect "give anyone what they want" approach!

Next, I appreciated their locker system. I've seen a similar version of this at other pools (like in Amsterdam) where the wrist band you get when you pay your entry fee acts as your entry access and your locker key. This was a single step improvement from the Dutch version, as this one didn't open just any locker, but only the numbered locker. Which is great, because between stroke counts, lap counts, repeat counts and mentally tracking times during my swims, I have had more than one occasion (OK ... many occasions) where I emerge from my workout and forget my locker number!

But the best feature of this facility was the shoe bouncer. That's my name for it. I have no idea what this guy's official title is ...

... but you cannot enter their locker rooms without handing over your outside / street shoes first to this guy. Like a coat check, you get a number tag and retrieve these after your swim. I've ranted before about pools where people cannot seem to master this simple courtesy and hygenic practice -- stop bringing your outside muck into the pool locker room by removing your street shoes first. Canadians are world-class "outside-shoe-taker-offers." I've found common ground with the Poles and great respect for their simple, but effective "assurance system." Their locker room floors were pristine.

And, finally, this pool had a cafe ... which doesn't sound unique (and isn't). What was unique is that this cafe made fresh, very tasty food and even better espresso. How can you not love Warsaw with all this goodness happening?

While I only did this one swim in Warsaw, I did have a serendipitous swimming connection over lunch on Monday that has me scheming with my wife for another similar trip in 2026. As we were nearing the end of our meal, a woman sat down at the table next to us, wearing hoodie from the European Masters Championships. She was French and, while she spoke English and the waitstaff did, there was something getting lost in translation as they each spoke to the other in their second (or third or fourth) languages. My wife (who speaks French) jumped in to help and we got talking with her about the competition, food and travel.

She pointed out to me that the 2026 Long Course version of this event will be jointly held between Slovakia and Austria - two countries that are not yet on my #1001Pools list!