Beware dogs that bark in Polish

Regina and I believe we get a better feel for foreign countries if we stay out of cabs. That leaves us walking, taking city buses, subways and trains.

Each trip usually is an adventure and less expensive, but not always easier.

The cost of a cab to the Warsaw central train station from the airport recently was $30. We rode the city bus, along with the horde of vacationing college students, for three bucks.

It would be a 45- minute trip on Bus 170 and we could get our first taste of life in the capital of Poland. We hoisted suitcases aboard and took seats on opposite sides of the aisle and near the rear door. The bus wasn’t yet full and that allowed us to put our suitcases in the empty seats beside us.

Things changed as the bus made its way along the route. Local residents boarded, and we began to experience Warsaw life in gulps.

Regina and I wound up with the only seats left to share, so we did. I invited an elderly man to join me and Regina eyed a middle-aged woman who tried to keep her balance and hold a complacent dachshund.

People without automobiles carry strange things on buses and trains, so no one but us took notice.

“Why don’t you offer to hold her dog?” I asked, in jest.

Regina smiled at the dog and the woman smiled back.

“Would you like to sit here?” she asked the woman, motioning to the empty seat.

The woman must have replied something like, “Well, I thought you would never ask,” before she clamored into the window seat with her dog.

Regina continued to eye the dog, which was eyeing her.

“Nice doggie,” she said, as she raised her hand to cop an ear rub.

“Grr-Grr-Grr, yelp-yelp” the dachshund roared back, its snapping teeth seeking retreating fingers. Now everybody paid attention.

A shaken Regina recovered and thought of the possible consequences of a dog bite.

“Nobody back home would believe that a little Wiener dog waylaid my vacation,” she said.