1936 On the Continent

room in a good hotel may cost anything between 8 and 18 zl., the latter price including a private bathroom.
    Tipping is unnecessary, except in the hotels, where the tip usually amounts to 10-15 per cent. of the bill. In the restaurants and cafés the waiter always adds 10 per cent. for service to the bill, so that there is no obligation to give him anything above its amount. In Zakopane and other summer or winter resorts the price of a room with complete board ranges from 7 to 15 zl. per day, 10 zl. assuring a really good standard (the price amounts to about £2 10s. per week). The cost of living in the country is even lower, and would seldom exceed 8 zl. per day. All amusements are relatively inexpensive.
Information
    Special facilities are available for students and young people, who can stay in students’ homes for a fraction of the cost of a hotel, and travel at half fares. The students’ organisation “Liga,” Trçbacka 4, Warsaw, can supply all the particulars and give assistance to foreign students visiting Poland for study or pleasure.
    The principal Polish Travel Office, “Orbis,” has branches in most towns, and enquiries concerning travel in Poland can be addressed either to the central office in Warsaw, Ossoliskich 8, or to one of the foreign branches (in London 25, Cockspur Street, S.W.1).
    There is in Warsaw a Tourist Association, which has its headquarters in the Opera House, entrance from Wierzbowa Street, opposite the Town Hall. It supplies guides who are not full-time professionals, but rather free lances with a knowledge of foreign languages. They are always willing to adapt themselves to the requirements of the traveller; but there are also the standard sightseeing tours in coaches for those who like doing things thoroughly. Telephoning should present no difficulties, at least as far as obtaining the right number is concerned—the dialling works on the same principle as in other countries and the exchanges are automatic in most towns—but, of course,when it comes to talking Polish over the ’phone some hitches may be expected.
    On arriving in Warsaw from London one cannot fail to be struck by a certain peculiarity of aspect and character. The furs and fur hats worn by both, men and women in winter, the strange presence of the Jews in their medieval garb, and of peasants in top-boots and sheepskins emphasises this impression. A London crowd, in view of the sameness of dress, seems rather monotonous by comparison with a Warsaw crowd. Perhaps the officers in their uniforms add something to its character. The numerous and very polite greetings exchanged by almost everyone with a good part of the people they pass are also rather surprising. It sometimes looks as if practically everybody was friendly with everybody else. The habit of frequent salutations is practised particularly in the cafés, which are a sort of open social club.
Working Hours
    The offices close at 3 p.m., after a continuous stretch of work from 8 a.m.; at about 4 o’clock comes the principal meal of the day, and from then on, till at least midnight, the average Warsavian tries to enjoy himself as he best can, beginning in a café and proceeding from there to a cabaret or night club as soon as a sufficiently large party is formed. On alternate days he plays bridge, while birthdays or “name-days” of friends and relations provide entertainment for about two days in every week.
    This mode of life might suggest great opulence, which is certainly not generally apparent in Poland. The solution of the problem is simplicity itself—amusements are cheaper in Poland than almost any other commodity. This fact may be of some interest to the visitor, who can easily become the principal guest of the evening and benefit from all the honours thereto attached for an expenditure which would only pay the price of the bare necessities of night life in most other capitals of Europe.
    The Warsaw theatres are good, though they often stage plays which in London would be regarded as being entirely in the domain of the repertory company. The small theatres devoted to song and political satire are in a class by themselves, and it is a good class. The language,it is true, makes the appreciation of this art rather difficult for the foreigner—but I think that a visit to a good Warsaw performance might be amusing even for one practically ignorant of Polish. It might also be quite interesting to see Shakespeare in a Polish interpretation—sometimes