Night train to Krakow

It's always a little nervewracking for me to make  travel connections.  I get such anxiety about getting on the right train/plane/bus and in the right seat.  Those nervous feelings are compounded when I don't speak the language.  Once I know I'm in the right place, I settle down and achieve a semblance of calm.  I say semblance, because the truth is, I'm not completely settled until I'm at my destination.  And by destination, I mean in my hotel room.

Our train was scheduled to leave Prague at 10:30 p.m. Our ETA in Krakow was around 6:30 a.m.  We didn't have sleeper cars, so we were prepared to sleep sitting up in our seats.

We got to our car and were shortly joined by a Czech woman wearing a Green Bay Packers sweatshirt.  She had very few words of English, but we had NO Czech.  We did manage to exchange names and destinations.  Her name was Lenka and she had just returned to the Czech Republic from Milwaukee after visiting her daughter over the Christmas holiday.  Her home was Ostrava, 166 miles and four hours from Prague.  After managing to learn all of that, we exhausted our conversational options. 

It felt rude to talk without including Lenka, plus it was quite late.  I had packed away my reading material, so the only option was to try and sleep.  Unfortunately, Lenka wanted to keep the light on in the compartment.  Finally, Lenka agreed to turning off the light.  We couldn't really get comfortable until Lenka arrived at Ostrava at 2:00 a.m. 

We traveled on to a place called Bohumin, right on the Polish border.  Apparently, Bohumin is a major railway center, which seemed clear when we realized the train cars were uncoupled and recoupled.  It was impossible to sleep through all that noise and movement.  We were able to stretch out on the bench seats, but we woke every time the train stopped.

I probably slept more than Cindy because all of a sudden she said, "We're at Auschwitz".  We looked out the window at a very austere landscape.It was frankly eerie. After adjusting to that sense of discomfort, I fell asleep again, only to wake suddenly, assuming we had arrived at Krakow.   I pulled down the luggage from the overhead rack, which woke Cindy.  She asked me what was going on and I said, "I think we're here."  Cindy reminded me that Auschwitz is a good hour plus west of Krakow, but I couldn't be dissuaded.  Cindy's favorite story about my nerves for the trip was when I said, standing, looking out the window, "It's a city of some size."  The truth is, I couldn't really tell, I was just ... (say it with me now), ANXIOUS.

Finally, we arrived at the Krakow train station around 6:30 a.m.  After we disembarked, an elderly man caught my eye and gestured at me to go down the lift.  I tried to ignore him, but he kept following us.  Finally, we realized we needed to go back to the lift the elderly man had indicated.  Cindy knew right away that the man wanted money, but I was inclined to see him as a kind man helping two foreigners.  The man then helped us find a way to leave the station--which proved challenging for two very tired, disoriented women.  He chatted with us briefly, indicating he had family in the U.S. As we aimed for the exit, the man said "What will you give me?"  Cindy's instincts were dead right.  I indicated that all I had was Czech Koruna in coins.  He wanted paper money.  I gave him 80 CK.

We moved as quickly as we could  to avoid anyone else who might want money.  We headed for the nearest hotel and asked at the check-in desk for a recommendation for a coffee shop.  The clerks encouraged us to eat breakfast at the hotel restaurant.  The porter took our bags and we ate at the buffet.  We ate our fill and drank a lot of coffee.  Once we were ready to head out to our hotel, we asked directions to Florianska Street.  We got a little turned around, but finally, we figured out where to go.

The St. Florian Gate, located in this photo, is one of the most famous gothic towers in all of Poland.  It was built in the 13th century to fend off the Turks.  According to the web, St. Florian is "a Christian saint, and the patron saint of Linz, Austria; chimney sweeps; soapmakers, and firefighters."

Florianska ulice (Florianska Street) is deemed the most expensive street in Krakow, and the third most expensive street in all of Poland.

Cindy's Polish contact arranged for us to stay at the Jagiellonian University Guest House.  We had to be buzzed in from a street door.  It was only 8:30, so we were worried we wouldn't be able to check in to our room.  Fortunately, the clerk showed us to our room and we were able to shower and rest.  The room was spacious, clean and comfortable. 

After a two hour nap, we headed out to explore the town, but that's the subject of tomorrow's post.