Had an enjoyable evening wandering around Krakow Old Town until our legs gave out on us – 16km in a day seems to be about our comfortable limit. Apparently there is a Melbourne – Sydney type of rivalry between Krakow and Warsaw. Both have been the capitals at various stages, with Warsaw winning out at the moment because it’s in the centre of the country, and less likely to be invaded by Germany or Russia, which seems to happen quite regularly. Seems that the cities paint themselves as either glitz or substance, and this evening it was the city of glitz.
The usual, lovely old city square, surrounded by reconstructed ‘old’ buildings and plenty of huge churches. Arrived in time for the ‘evening farewell’. The tradition started when Poland finally regained it’s statehood at the end of WWI after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire. A single trumpeter climbed to the top of the church spire with the military commanders when they raised the Polish flag over the city square for the first time in 200 years, and played Poland’s national tune. Now he does it every evening – well, not the same guy I guess, but you know what I mean. After the peel of the 5 o’clock bells finishes, a lone trumpeter plays the national tune and waves to the crowd in the city square below, and they all wave back.
The square was ringed by horse drawn carriages with very attractively made up female attendants smiling and cooing for the business of the passers by. However, when a prospective passenger climbed on board, a middle aged guy sitting in the city square would stamp out his cigarette, jump on board, take the reigns, and off they would go. Traps for young players.
Collapsed into one of the many outdoor restaurants ringing the square and had shawarma and hummus for dinner. Lovely! Reminded us of our time in Jordan where this was our staple.
Hiked back to our apartment and collapsed into bed as the sun was setting, though that’s well after 9 at this time of the year.
Back into town at breakfast time to pick up supplies for the day, activate our Eurail ticket, check the Big Mac index for Poland (AU$6.50 which is very cheap), imbibe some morning coffee, and wander out to the train replacement bus that was going to take us a couple of stations up the line past the rail reconstruction where our Prague train should be waiting.
“Hmm.” said the train conductor on the bus. “Your Eurail pass isn’t valid on the bus replacing the Eurail train. Seven Zlotys please”. Luckily I still had 10 Zlotys in coins in my pocket as the last remnants of my Polish currency.
So, that brings us to today’s useless fact. There are countries in the E.U which use Euros as their currency, and there are countries in the E.U which don’t use Euros as their currency (like Poland who use Zlotys). However, there are actually countries who use the Euro as their currency which aren’t part of the E.U. And never have been (like Montenegro).
Enjoyed another lovely day on the train between Krakow and Prague. A direct service in 1st class (which just means that you are next to the buffet car), with a crew change at the Poland-Czech border. New conductor, new language, and the wifi suddenly got switched off.
Arrived in Prague and exited the station. “Hmm. I think that was a spot of rain”, I says to the missus. Hard to remember as its been 6 months since I’ve seen any. A minute later there was no doubt about it. Turned into one huge, city wide wet t-shirt contest. We’ve got this, I thought, as we grabbed our strategically placed rain jackets. Trouble was, our strategically placed rain jackets were not rain proof. We both ended up wetter inside than out as we sloshed our way across the city to our apartment. Looking like two drowned rats, we were met by our host who still let us in.
Unfortunately it wasn’t only us who were sodden. So were our passports, Eurail tickets, money, clothes and lots besides. So as I write this, everything from our packs and pockets is strewn across the floor to dry, and the place smells of a Chinese laundry.
The Trumpeter Is At The Top
Getting Ready To Wave
Carriages Around the Square
Krakow Castle
In the Middle Of the Square
Eurail 1st Class