Warsaw

So originally myself and Emma had planned to go to Warsaw for a little tourist trip, but sadly she had to cancel her holidays, so I used it as an opportunity to catch up with some good friends and check out Sneakerness Warsaw.

I knew as soon as I booked the flights with Air France and the short connection in Charles de Gaulle that there would be issues, and rightly so… my bag never made it from one plane to another. Big up Air France, nice job. Thankfully, I got my bag delivered to the hotel the next evening.

I stayed at the Radisson Blu Centrum for three nights, and thankfully it’s location meant that it was perfect for being able to reach the Sneakerness Warsaw event in under 10 minutes walk, as well as only being a short distance away from the main tourist spots. Definitely recommend it.

Arriving quite late in the evening on Friday, and after the carry on with my bag still being in transit, all I wanted to do was chill out, and get my bearings for the Sneakerness Event on the Saturday, so I headed to the Pałac Kultury i Nauki where the event was being held to check it out.

Now this place is pretty cool, and extremely tall, stands out like a sore thumb in the middle of Warsaw, but definitely the craziest place I’ve ever been to for a sneaker event.

It’s pretty great that I can go to so many different places in the world, and be able to meet up with people who I have met through collecting trainers. A big shout to Diana and Pavel from Moscow who were on their travels in Europe but took a detour to Warsaw for the weekend, really great people.

And of course, my Suede&Mesh boys – Arek, Maciek, and Radek. First and foremost, those guys are the absolute shit, gotta say a big thanks for all their hospitality over the weekend, and a huge congrats on an extremely successful Sneakerness event, curated by them!

Radek, Arek, Maciek, Pavel, and myself, photo taken by Diana.

Friday night was spent catching up with those guys, and helping out a bit at the event, getting prepared for opening on Saturday, but I was exhausted so it was time for bed.

Pałac Kultury i Nauki by night.

Saturday –

9am alarm, and time for Sneakerness Warsaw!

You can check the full write up by clicking here.

After checking out the event for a bit, myself, Pavel and Diana decided to go on a little wander to Warsaw’s “Old Town”, which was pretty close to the Pałac Kultury i Nauki, and is apparently the main tourist district of Warsaw. That was soon realised when you see the price of foodand drink start to increase the closer you get, whereas it’s very very very cheap away from this area!

We literally had no plan, and just walked and walked, so here are a bunch of shots below of what we found on our travels.

Big thanks to Maciek for the Legia top, I’ll wear anything when I have no other clothes to wear.. 😉

These guys were putting on quite the show in one of the squares in Warsaw Old Town, so we spent some time checking out their skills.

After our little trip around the Old Town, we headed back to the event to catch up with the guys, and then had a few stops to make.

Firstly, we went to the nearest shop to get some necessities as I still hadn’t heard anything about my luggage, so I grabbed some underwear, toothpaste and a toothbrush. Definitely necessities, right?

Sunset behind the Pałac Kultury i Nauki.

We then went to where Pavel and Diana were staying, and then back to my hotel to see about my bag, and of course, it was at reception! A phone call, text or email would have been appreciated from Air France to let me know it had been delivered, which was promised, but anyway, I got it, that was the main thing!

So I got changed, and by this time, the Sneakerness Event had finished for the Saturday, so we headed to Arek’s apartment, and passed a McDonalds on the way, so obviously we grabbed some quick munch. They have these machines to order your food and then collect at the counter, new to me, clearly the UK is a little behind!

Looking towards Warsaw City Centre from Arek’s apartment.

Sadly, I have nothing to show for Saturday night in the form of pictures, but I can assure you that on Sunday I had one massive hangover! It was a crazy night. The Polish sure do love their vodka, and their crazy secret clubs.

It was also great to meet old and new faces, and be able to have a drink together and chat all things footwear! Shouts to Pavel, Diana, Arek, Radek, Robert, Chris, Francky, Tebar, Lorenzo, Diana and everyone else for an awesome night!

Sunday –

Sneakerness is a two day event, so nursing a vodka hangover, I headed to the event by midday so that I could get some shots for my blog post on the event, but I had left my camera at Arek’s, and he forgot to take it, so we had to swing by there and grab it.

I literally just spent the day at the event, drinking, and chatting, really chilled out vibe, and then we tidied up at the end, and said goodbye to Sneakerness Warsaw’s 3rd Edition.

Apparently the best method to put up and take down the Sneakerness banner from the roof…

Pavel and Diana had an early morning flight back to Barcelona, so we said our goodbyes and then we headed back to Suede&Mesh HQ, and grabbed some beers!

The guys wanted to go for some food so we went to this place (I’ll get the name) where they pretty much had a shot of vodka with every course, and they had around 8 courses! One shot of vodka was enough for me, thanks!