My time in Warsaw concluded. I’d had a great time exploring the city, relaxing, and recentering myself… it really was a singularly gorgeous area, and I’m exceptionally thankful for the relaxation and recovery I was able to gain during my time there. Amazing art museums, beautiful gardens, and calm evenings cooking dinner at home.
I was ready to leave Warsaw, and step onto the path of my next adventure – a pathway that stayed within Poland for a time, heading in a Southern course toward Krakow. Me being me, I didn’t jump into this adventure unprepared – to the surprise of no one, I’d visited the Warsaw train station on my first day in town to confirm details for my train and train ticket. Everything was in order, and with little fanfare or anxiety I soon found my way whisking toward Krakow.
On my way back into the city after visiting the CD Projekt RED studio, I noticed a gate with a garden behind it.
The gate was open.
I mean… how could I not walk through? That would just be rude, right? Right.
I may have watched “the secret garden” one too many times as a kid. I admit to nothing.
Now, to be clear, this wasn’t just some random small garden that a family owns. I mean, okay, it was a garden that a family owned at one point, if you want to be technical. But that family was the family of Casimir the Great, in the 1300s, who happened to be the king of Poland. So… kind of public access these days.
Anyways.
It was a garden, it was lovely, and I enjoyed taking a few moments to wander around and appreciate the cool air filtering between the trees. The fountains, the shade, the quiet greens… A very lovely escape from an otherwise quite warm day.
Years back, in 2009, I broke my arm. It was rough, but I took it as a chance to replay an old video game that I’d tried a while back but hadn’t ever had a chance to finish. A game that’d been gifted to me by a friend from Poland, who’d gotten it from her Dad, from when he was in Poland.
It was the first game of The Witcher series, and trying it out a second time… it resonated a bit more for me. Maybe because I was stuck indoors with a broken arm, who knows. What I do know is that this second playthrough really clicked with me, leading me to play through the second installation in the series as soon as it came out, and then to cherish the third installation as what’s likely my favorite video game to date.
Seriously. I don’t talk about video games much on this blog, but The Witcher 3 was unequivocally the best video game I’ve ever played.
Between the second and third installation, I read all the background books that built the world behind the games. It turns out, there was a whole series in Polish… Eight books. Interestingly, from what I can tell, the author meant to have 11 books… but the final three books became the three video games that I so adore.
Years later, the same game studio released a game called Cyberpunk 2077 – another game I adored, though it didn’t quite live up to the glory I’d felt playing through The Witcher 3.
Why am I mentioning this, in a blog about my adventures travelling through Europe?
These games are all made by a studio based in Warsaw.
I was in Warsaw.
I went to visit the studio.
Now, keep in mind. This is a video game studio. Which means that there’s a lot of people staring at a lot of computers with a lot of code and 3D models of swords and trees and stuff, and they don’t give tours because programmers spook easily and they’re probably already behind schedule on their current projects.
My visit was a brief one, because of that… simply a quick stop into their entryway, to stare wistfully at the excellent breakroom that their employees get, and to be impressed by the amazing statues that they’d commissioned, sitting in the front lobby in front of the massive wall of awards.
Still – a brief visit was better than no visit, and the studio wasn’t in a section of Warsaw that I’d otherwise have visited… so it was a nice opportunity to explore the city a bit more, and see some new views. All while paying my respects to a singularly excellent game studio.
