Berlin To Krakow

Our train arrived on time and we boarded it in no time.

Our first overnight train trip and we'd booked ourselves into a sleep carriage, and each little compartment had 3 beds all on top of each other... and i being the lucky one was assigned the one at the very top... (oh how i hate heights!)

Renata and i were sharing with this russian fashion designer who was only going to be on for 6hrs..

the train ended up leaving 30mins late and once we were all on our way we all hopped into bed to make the most of being in the sleeper carriage...

had bit of trouble leaving the safety of the ladder in order to jump into bed!

the ladder went up one side but then you had to jump from the top to actually get onto the bed..

much to the amusement of the others as i stood perched at the top of the ladder, summoning up the courage to leap across!

but i got there in the end...

Must have drifted off for a bit and was rudely awakened at 1am by the door flying open and this german demanding to see our passports... (no one told us about that happening!)
then 10mins later a Polish gentleman comes along to see them too..

that would be the border crossing.

we headed to bed again with two new stamps in our passports and drifted off again.

awoke about 8am, and got our first glimpses of Poland, as we traveled thought to Krakow,

stopped for a bit on the outskirts as there was a train on fire, so only one train was allowed to pass at a time.. and the train arrived around 930 in krakow. (Glowny train station)

June 15th

From the statation we headed out and under a winding corridor and found ourselves in a shopping centre... not quite where we wanted to be just yet...

found oursleves being followed by two lost americans who'd followed us because we looked like we knew where we were going! hahaha little did they know.. but they had a map!

backtracked and found the stairs out of the train station... headed out, and somehow managed to miss the underground passage way that allowed you to safely cross the road, instead we opted for the more dangerous way and ran across dodging cars trams and buses coming at us in all directions!

came very close to being hit by a tram..

lost renata, when i stopped to get some zlotty's out of the cash machine to pay for my accomodation (surprise surprise!)

But carried on and found our hostel for our stay, tutti fruitti (picked for the name of course not the reputation!) though it was very colourful and fruity inside!

dropped our bags off at reception and headed back out.

lost each other again, so just wandered around just enjoying being in a completely different place.

Krakow itself is supposedly founded on the defeat if a dragon, wich explains the magnificant medievil feel to the entire city.

It's streets are lined with some beautiful buildings dating way back into the late 1500's..

I love all the coblestone walkways (i guess it's just completely different to what you'd see back in Oz) It's like stepping into a robin hood movie.

wandered down toward Wawel Hill, home of the castle and cathedral both perched on top of this hill like crowns.

looked really impressive

found Renata.

and we wandered through the castle grounds admiring the hundreds of polish school children out and about on little trips!

Came to the conclusion... polish people have round heads and really big ears!

Decided to do the bike tour of the city starting at 1pm (59zlt) and headed down to the meeting point by the side of the castle.

there was a smallish group of us at 7, mainly made up of aussies and a mostly from our hostel. walked back up the street till the main square where we picked up our bikes.

mine was classy number, and had a bright pink basket to boot!

i felt special!

i even had back breaks! hahah it was like being a kid again...

set out and around the main market square (Rynek Glowny) weaving in and out of tourists and pigeons, and into some back streets before heading back to the main square to hear the trumpeter play his trumpet on the hour.

Its actually done from the highest tower in St Mary's church, and the trumpeter plays a hejnal (bugle call) every hour..

seems they have 24 hrs shifts and all they do is the henjnal every hr, then they sit back down sleep, watch tv, until the next hr!

not a bad job!

the tune itself was used in antient times as a warning call, and breaks off abruptly to symbolise the moment according to legend the throat of a 13th century trumpeters throat was peirced by an arrow.

from there we headed down into the jewish quarter, kazimierz..

home of many of the jewish people still living in poland today. During the WWII the Nazi's relocated the jews to a walled ghetto in Podgororze, (where today there is a monument of chairs to remember those that lost their life here)

It's just south of the Vistula river.

they were later exterminated in the near by concentration camp, as portreyed in the movie Schindler's list.

we visited the the actual factory of oscar schindler, in which many of the jews worked.

Stopped for lunch at a local mall, as the weather was looking rather ominous.

had icecream!

Renata tried to loose her sunglasses for the second time of the day but thankfully remembered when she left them, and they were still there when she went back to find them.

with the heavens looking as to explode the ride to the top of the fort was abandoned and we headed back towards the center of town, headed back past the castle and the fire breathing dragon! (for real!)

before doing one last loop through the main market square, and back to the shop to return the bikes..

came very close to getting away without having to pay...

From there headed back up to the hostel to check in at 6pm

The rooms here are huge and the beds look relatively comfortable, top bunk again, fun fun...
headed in for a shower and managed to get myself locked in the actual bathroom... thankfully some kind german guy came and let me out!

love the feel of being clean!

headed downstairs and ended up having some drinks and pomplei (almost like rissoto but not quite) traditional polish food put on for free by the hostel! nice with some of the others we'd met on out bike tour.

before we headed down the road to check out krakow's night life.

found a group of 4 classic irish girls from Dublin, who were absolutely fantastic! they were staying in our hostel and we had a great night...

drinking cheap vodka all night

woke everyone up in the hostel when we came back around 4am... they weren't the happiest of people!

but when in Poland... do as the polish do!