Polska: Part Four
Waving do widzenia to Polska
Back at the hostel in Kraków things were fairly quiet. I suppose that's what one would expect on a Sunday night in January. Before long the lads from Leeds, whom I had briefly met the night before were back from their day's galavanting and plans were being made to go out for the evening. One of the blokes, Steve, had mentioned he was going to Auschwitz the next day, so he didn't want to be out too late. We agreed to stick together, as I needed to get up early to catch the train.
Whilst sitting around at the hostel, another Canadian flag attached to a backpack attached to a person walked in. This guy was from Toronto, and was the third and final Canadian I would meet on the trip. He joined us, along with another northern English chap. I had mentioned wanting to go out to Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter, which since the filming and subsequent release of Schindler's List, has become a new trendy bohemian area of town. We ended up stopping at a place they had been at the night before for a pint or two and then attempted to head into Kazimierz, but without knowing where we were going, headed back where we came from. I did get to catch a glimpse at the Wawel, a walled castle and cathedral on the southern tip of the old town. This would prove to be as far into new territory as I would go.
Having managed to lose Steve and two of the others, we bumped into some guys from York that the Leeds fellows had met the night before. So we joined them and headed to the most Polish of institutions, an Irish pub. After a short time there I parted from the group and headed back to the hostel for a short sleep.
I woke up around 6:30 and checked the train times. My flight was leaving Wrocław at 3:10pm so I needed to be back in the city between 12:00 and 1:00pm. The early train was at 7:55 and would get me there around noon. The next one was at 8:45, arriving in Wrocław at 1:05pm. Realising I wasn't going to make the early one, I checked out and headed off to catch a few sights in the daylight. The one thing I did get to witness was the hourly bugle call from St. Mary's Church in the Rynek (the old market square). Every hour, for centuries, the bugler plays to the four cardinal directions, each time stopping short in the call. It is said this is because centuries ago the bugler played his song as a warning to the people of a Tatar attack but was hit in the neck with an arrow before finishing. Ever since then the bugle call has been abbreviated.
I got on the slightly delayed train and sat there for the entire trip with a man and an older couple, all of whom spoke Polish. I don't know what they were talking about but I could catch a few clues now and again. We arrived in Wrocław at about 1:20, which meant I had to get to the airport as fast as I could. I was hoping to have had time to stop in at The Stranger to see who was still there, but time just didn't permit. The taxi ride seemed to take forever, and ended up being the most expensive thing on the whole trip. At 82 zł it was twice the cost of the train ticket from Kraków, which is still reasonably priced by my standards.
I made it onto the plane and arrived back in Nottingham around 4:30pm. A phone call to work revealed I didn't have to work until 5:00pm the next, which was a welcome bit of information.
This week I was gifted with three consecutive days off, so today after work I'm off to London. A new adventure begins.
Cheers.
Back at the hostel in Kraków things were fairly quiet. I suppose that's what one would expect on a Sunday night in January. Before long the lads from Leeds, whom I had briefly met the night before were back from their day's galavanting and plans were being made to go out for the evening. One of the blokes, Steve, had mentioned he was going to Auschwitz the next day, so he didn't want to be out too late. We agreed to stick together, as I needed to get up early to catch the train.
Whilst sitting around at the hostel, another Canadian flag attached to a backpack attached to a person walked in. This guy was from Toronto, and was the third and final Canadian I would meet on the trip. He joined us, along with another northern English chap. I had mentioned wanting to go out to Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter, which since the filming and subsequent release of Schindler's List, has become a new trendy bohemian area of town. We ended up stopping at a place they had been at the night before for a pint or two and then attempted to head into Kazimierz, but without knowing where we were going, headed back where we came from. I did get to catch a glimpse at the Wawel, a walled castle and cathedral on the southern tip of the old town. This would prove to be as far into new territory as I would go.
Having managed to lose Steve and two of the others, we bumped into some guys from York that the Leeds fellows had met the night before. So we joined them and headed to the most Polish of institutions, an Irish pub. After a short time there I parted from the group and headed back to the hostel for a short sleep.
I woke up around 6:30 and checked the train times. My flight was leaving Wrocław at 3:10pm so I needed to be back in the city between 12:00 and 1:00pm. The early train was at 7:55 and would get me there around noon. The next one was at 8:45, arriving in Wrocław at 1:05pm. Realising I wasn't going to make the early one, I checked out and headed off to catch a few sights in the daylight. The one thing I did get to witness was the hourly bugle call from St. Mary's Church in the Rynek (the old market square). Every hour, for centuries, the bugler plays to the four cardinal directions, each time stopping short in the call. It is said this is because centuries ago the bugler played his song as a warning to the people of a Tatar attack but was hit in the neck with an arrow before finishing. Ever since then the bugle call has been abbreviated.
I got on the slightly delayed train and sat there for the entire trip with a man and an older couple, all of whom spoke Polish. I don't know what they were talking about but I could catch a few clues now and again. We arrived in Wrocław at about 1:20, which meant I had to get to the airport as fast as I could. I was hoping to have had time to stop in at The Stranger to see who was still there, but time just didn't permit. The taxi ride seemed to take forever, and ended up being the most expensive thing on the whole trip. At 82 zł it was twice the cost of the train ticket from Kraków, which is still reasonably priced by my standards.
I made it onto the plane and arrived back in Nottingham around 4:30pm. A phone call to work revealed I didn't have to work until 5:00pm the next, which was a welcome bit of information.
This week I was gifted with three consecutive days off, so today after work I'm off to London. A new adventure begins.
Cheers.
posted by Mark Bauche at 9:16 AM
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