Poland Articles
April 17, 2006
Krakow to Prague: The Day Train
Lots of folks take night trains to save money and time during their fast-paced 2-3 week loops of the major European cities. Since CJ and I have the luxury of time on our side, we decided to skip one of the most popular night trains -- the stretch between Krakow and Prague. Instead we opted to do it today, during yet another (conveniently) gray Monday. We were able to read, rest and study up on Prague, which we didn't do much of before boarding the train this morning.
The ride was fairly uneventful, and I was suprised that the first leg, on a German train from Krakow to Kadowice, included free coffee service too, I still wonder if it is just a Polish thing, because when we switched to the Czech train for the duration of the journey, we were not offered anything, and I don't remember free service on the German train to Berling either...
We arrived in Prague around 5 pm and have begun deciphering the tram and metro systems here. Can't wait to explore this place...hopefully on foot mostly, but looks like we will need the public tranport from time to time too. We've already decided to change hostels, the one we have for tonight was a huge disappointment, so we quickly came to this internet cafe to book a new one for the rest of the week and were lucky to score beds in a brand new place that just opened last month. I'll dish the details on all the hostels when I get my reviews done...hopefully in the next week or two...gotta find time between all the travels.
by Kelly Amabile | # | Comments (0)
April 10, 2006
Happy Monday
Mondays are terrific travel days. Most museums and attractions are usually closed anyway, and for some reason Mondays seem to be drab and gray, perfect for staring out the window or reading a good book. We took the train from Warsaw to Krakow today, a quick three hour trip. We had our own "private car" again -- the train is not nearly as nice as the German, French or Spanish trains we have taken, but it was clean enough -- and I was pleasantly suprised by FREE coffee and tea service, even in second class! They come through with a cart and offer this before they even check your ticket -- I love the trusting, friendly Poles -- they make me and my tummy happy! I also love how, throughout Europe, tea is always accompanied with some sort of sweet treat -- today it was a chocolate covered waffle served in an adorable train car wrapper...very cute. Why don't the more expensive trains in Western Europe throw in a free sweet and cup of tea every once in awhile?
We will relax here in Krakow for a full seven nights, including Easter Sunday. When we arrived here we booked out next train trip as well, since we will be traveling next on Easter Monday -- we wanted to book in advance, just to be sure to get the train we wanted. We are off to find some pizza or vegetarian options for dinner. CJ is a vegetarian and I gave up meat for the last two weeks of Lent, so our dining in Poland def has its challenges...but there is no shortage of mushroom and cabbage perogis, so we will be fine :)
by Kelly Amabile | # | Comments (0)
Goodbye Euro, Hello Eastern Europe
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