It was biting cold at night, any colder and I’d have had to buy some extra protection. But for the time being, my gloves, Barca monkey cap & 4-layer clothing were doing their job!
At the station, I hoped to take a leak and grab something nice to eat before I got into the train. To my utter shock, all the toilets were locked and I was left wondering where I’d get to relieve myself. I was beginning to see a whole new reason why there were so many trees around the station. I quietly let fly on one and suddenly the world was a warmer place!! I can’t remember the last time I did that in India, but I certainly was going to remember this for a long long time to come!
A burger and fries later (yes that counted as 'nice to eat' at that time of night), I picked up my luggage, just as I had left it and headed to catch my train. It was going to be a 4 hour or so journey to Bohumin, then about half an hour’s stop-over, a train to Katowice, and almost an immediate train out to Krakow. I had picked up alternate schedules in case any of the trains were late, so that I didn’t have to go around asking when I can get the next train.
The train arrived at the platform a good 10 minutes before the scheduled departure and I found myself a nice little compartment. A tall geeky looking chap joined me and I asked him whereabouts he was headed. It turned out he was Czech and was a scientist with the European space agency, based out of the Netherlands. This was his regular route home and when I told him I was just coming from the football game, he told me to expect the train to be full of Czech football supporters. True to his word, within no time, a swarm of football fans flooded the relatively tiny train (must have had about 6-7 carriages at max). There wasn’t going to be any lying and sleeping that night; that was for sure! I was quite exhausted with walking all day and there wasn’t really any scenery to catch so I had a good sitting-sleep session! A large part of the crowd, including the scientist, cleared out at Ostrava and Bohumin was the next station.
I got off to be welcomed by the usual deserted platform. It was dark and I needed to figure out which platform my next train would be from. After a walk on the subway connecting the platforms and a close-look at the displayed time-tables, I figured which platform to wait at for the train, and got there. Again, nobody in sight. It can get quite unsettling, especially when it’s cold. I was just hoping my mind was not going into hypothermia when it was reading the time-tables and platform numbers. The train arrived a good 10 minutes after scheduled departure time, and I had a feeling I was going to be late for the next one.
The journey from Bohumin to Katowice was quite uneventful. I was expecting Polish officers to come checking for passport, visa etc., but nobody turned up. The train reached Katowice station a good forty minutes behind schedule, and I was going to have to wait for about an hour for the next train. I got out of the platform onto the train entrance where there were about eight chairs, all full of people sleeping. I was reminded of some of the scenes from a game I used play, Max Payne, and also from the Matrix where Neo has his whole fight scene at a train station with Smith. I wandered around for a little, hoping that one of those sleeping would get up and I’d get some place to sit. Luckily enough, someone got up within a few minutes and I could get place to sit and begin my thumb-twiddling. It didn’t look like a particularly safe place, the station, with some rather sorry looking people occupying the chairs. All I was thinking about was when I was going to get on that train.
It was scheduled to depart from a side-platform which was made EXACTLY like the platforms 6 & 7 at Andheri station, just that there was only one instead of two. On it stood a joke of a train, 3 bogies long, a tin-box that seemed to be made out of scrap metal at best. AND, the doors wouldn’t open! I wondered if it was the right train. I paced back to the train schedule display board and it said that that was going to be the platform where the train would be. I walked back to the train. 5 minutes to departure. As if on cue, it breathed into life, lights in the compartments, and the doors slid open automatically. Phew! I stepped in, and was one of only three in the train as it chugged off the station.
I finally caught some much needed sleep but it wasn’t quite enough as it was quite a short journey. As the train pulled into the station at Krakow, I distinctly remember hoping that the weather was going to be kind to me, despite the forecast saying that it was going to be 0° C, and raining. The sun was shining at that point, and I needed a map, as usual. There was a big sign saying INFO where I was hoping I would get some directions to my hostel. Instead, the lady at the counter just shouted “NO” when I showed her the name and address of the hostel. Not quite what I was expecting for a city that’s famous for tourism in Europe. I asked a few people on the street, and surprisingly nobody seemed to know. AND, I couldn’t find a map! So, the last resort of a tired tourist, I went up to a cabbie and asked him to take me there. After a lot of bargaining, he agreed to take me to my hostel, for the equivalent of 200 Indian rupees, a grand distance of 1km from the station.
Hostel Mundo was suspiciously tucked at the back of a derelict building. As I approached the entrance, I wondered if this was indeed a hostel or some kind of shady, druggy, place. Luckily, on entering, the reception and interiors were posh and there certainly weren’t any shady people lurking. It was a neat hostel with Country themed rooms and I got to stay in the USA room (Duh!). There was an India room too, and that made me momentarily cheesily proud!
When I looked at the map that they handed out to me at the reception, (the journey from the station to the hostel was my judge of dist
ance), it became quite clear that Krakow was a VERY small city. Another walking tour beckoned. I had a quick shower, and headed off for my first Polish lunch. At the foot of the Wawel Castle was a restaurant by that name (in Polish of course – Pod Wawelem), and I had THE MOST AWESOME 7 course lunch meal for just 600 rupees. Poland was clearly not nearly as expensive as Western Europe! And it helped that the meals were served by some of the most stunningly beautiful looking set of waitresses that you’ll ever see. I didn’t feel like sleeping anymore!
As I was gorging through my meal, it started raining outside and I could see people scurrying for cover. Then the colorful umbrellas came out as the rain continued. I slowed my eating pace further, and sipped on my glass of dark Polish beer. Bliss! My finishing the lunch perfectly timed with the sun coming out and the rain stopping. I was clearly having ALL the luck going my way through the entire trip!
I walked up Wawel Castle and was treated to a most magnificent view which the kings of past would surely have enjoyed.
After the castle, I was eager to get to ‘the largest square in Europe’, which was just a 10 minute walk away. On the way was a beautiful looking church which was typically peaceful inside with good stained-glass work and not to mention, the usual tourist sales counters selling coins and such.
Getting to the square, around 5 in the evening, with the sun just setting, I started my experiments with my camera, trying to capture just the right amount of light. It was a big square, but it didn’t quite feel like 'the biggest’ in Europe'.
Surely there were bigger ones. Probably why it didn’t look so big was there was a big market right in the middle selling all sorts of stuff from magnets to monkey caps, mostly with Krakow written on them. I bought some souvenirs and by the time I headed back to the hostel it was around 7.
I was joined in my room by two hopelessly drunk, and overflowing with shopping bags, Australian girls who couldn’t stop smiling coz they thought they could never get to shop so cheap anywhere in the world. They’d obviously not been to India or Malaysia! I went over to the reception and asked for a good place to close out my trip with a drink and some nice dinner. They generally pointed towards the Jewish Quarter, and I left, on foot as usual, to go there. Half way through my walk I realized I had left my monkey cap in the toilet and I ran back to ensure I had not lost it! Luckily it was still there, and I could resume my walk, under the protection of my cap then!
The Jewish Quarter looked like a typical drinking place lined with bars and restaurants, with cigarette smoke billowing out of most of them. I walked over to one of the more open places, and ordered my beer and pasta. Through my dinner, some guy on the next table dropped an entire jug of beer on himself eliciting smiles from tables all around. The general happy atmosphere and the beer made me go back with a smile to the hostel. The morning was going to be an early one for my flight to my final stop on the tour - Paris, where I was to meet my cousin sister, friends and finally fly out back to India!
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