I'm going to be honest with you: I don't like Poland. In fact, I have yet to meet anyone in this country or others who liked Poland (check that: I know people who like Krakow. Since I have yet to make it there, I reserve complete judgement until I've done that) From my experience, Poland (again, sans Krakow) should just be skipped over.

Essential Facts

The national language is Polish, a member of the Slavic family. Most Poles, except the young, speak only Polish.

My friend and I were in the Warsaw train station, and had a couple of days before we had to be in Munich. Since we had heard good things of Krakow, we checked our Eurrail books, saw that there was a Warsaw-Krakow run and decided to take it. Going up to the ticket counter, we smiled and asked if the women spoke English. She did not. My friend asked if she spoke German. Again, no. I asked if she spoke French. No. A long-shot, I tried Italian. Still just a blank stare. We resigned ourselves to sign-language and the few Polish words we could string together and inquired about a train to Krakow. Haughtily, the woman just stared at us and exclaimed "Warszawa!" My friend and I turned and looked at each other, and countered: "Krakowa?". "Nie! Warszawa!" It was clear to us now that the women thought that we thought we were Krakow, and in her way, was trying to inform us that no, we were in fact in Warsaw. She must have thought that since we didn't speak Polish, we also couldn't read the roman alphabet. Despite our agreement that we were aware that we were in Warsaw, the women would just yell "Warszawa" in response to any query we posed her about going to Krakow, Munich, or any other destination.

It only took a few minutes of this for us to give up and buy tickets to Berlin from another ticket-seller.

Long story short, don't expect Poles to be anything but monolingual and not very helpful in trying to overcome the language barrier. Sure a generalization, but better to prepare for the worst. I have been told that many Poles do understand Russian however, and having imposing-looking men bark commands in Russian at Poles gets the job done, though doesn't earn any friends.

Poles are Catholic, quite Catholic. Poland used to have a large Jewish population and with Lithuania, was one of the centers of Ashkenazie Jewish culture. WWII pretty much wiped that out. I've been told by some of Jewish friends who have visited Poland that the average Pole still harbors intense anti-Semitism and isn't shy in expressing it. Take heed.

The currency is the Zloty. Currently worth about 4 to the USD, Zloty can be hard to get rid of outside Poland, so try to minimize excess left-overs. Polish exchange booths also will not exchange Lithuanian litus, don't even try. On the subject of money, be careful with Polish ATMs. I managed to get money out of the one at the train station, but it seems i was in the lucky minority, as numerous others were getting rejected or worse, in the case of this British guy behind me got his card taken (Now that would suck!).

Getting there and away

Bordering seven countries, Poland is the largest country in Eastern Europe.

Assuming you can get tickets for them ( see my story above) Poland is fairly well-connected to both Western and Eastern Europe, with numerous trains to major cities in Germany, the former USSR and beyond. I found Polish trains to be decent and generally on-time. Crossing by car and foot (at least at the Gorlitz - Zgorzelec border) is also possible; while the western borders are easy crosses, eastern borders can be long waits - i've heard of 2-3 day waits at the Belarussian border. LOT Polish airlines is the national air-carrier, it's passable but rarely cheap (though LOT tickets can often be found at Asian bucket shops at heavy discounts, so i've been told). One note of warning: all trains between Lithuania and Poland, despite sharing a border, pass through Belarus. Everybody needs a visa to transit Belarus (despite the fact that you are on Belarussian soil for about a half-hour and never leave the train), which costs like $50. I have heard of people getting kicked off the train for not having a visa beforehand as well. Considering this, I think it's better to fly between Poland and Lithuania. Buying tickets in Tallinn, student fare on Lithuainian Airlines (Vilnius - Warsaw) cost about $70 one-way, roughly equal to the cost of train and visa, and taking about 1/10th the time. I think it's worth it.

Krakow

I have, sadly, never been to Krakow. It is suppose to be the nicest and most picturesque city in all of Poland, and for many people, the saving grace for the entire country. I'll let you know my impressions once i make it there.

Warsaw

Thankfully my time in Warsaw was brief. It is one of the ugliest cities i have ever been to. Not surprising since it was leveled during WWII and re-built under Communist rule - Communists are just not known for their architectural skill. The combination of the filth, commie housing, unkept grass and scraggly trees just made it an unpleasant place to be - one i have no desire to return to.

Zgorzelec

Zgorzelec is this ugly depressing town right on the German border in Southwestern Poland. There are no attractions and no reason to come here. Why then did I go there - well, we wanted Polish food.

We has just left Dresden and before heading north, decided to go to Poland, for no other reason as to go to Poland. Parking our car in Gorlitz (Germany), we walked across a bridge into Zgorzelec, getting odd looks from the Mushroom and Berry vendors crossing into Germany to sell their wares, and the border guards who commented on the "Amerikaners" crossing at this remote location. We didn't have any definite plans, but did want to grab brunch somewhere - checking a few places we discovered that nothing opened until 11am, a few hours hence. Killing time in a town with nothing to do can be difficult - but we tried admirably: we stopped at a bookstore where my friend bought a bunch of books in polish (he doesn't speak Polish, but wants to learn), and bought a copy of Polish Playboy as a gift for another friend back home (He reads it "for the articles"). After walking around some more and commenting on the Commie housing and how decrepit it looked the hour had arrived. We made it back to the restaurant only to discover it still closed. No sign, no warning, Nothing. "Accursed Poles! I want Pierogi!" voiced my friend, but it was to no avail. Dejected, we re-crossed the border and ate in Germany.