Today was a long day and a travel day. The train ride from Wroclaw to Krakow, Poland, was five and a half hours long. Thankfully, there were no transfers, so we settled into our comfortable seats and stayed put. Some interesting tidbits. Poland is still developing after such a long and harsh communist rule. The gray and drab buildings of the communist era stick out like a sore thumb. You can see upgrades being made everywhere, but there is so much to do. The train tracks along the first part of the journey were new. Everything was so clean and smooth, and I even commented such to Kathy. Then, we hit the renewal section, and everything slowed down. For possibly 100 miles, the tracks were being replaced and new buildings were being built or old ones refurbished. Old factories were closed and decaying while new ones were being utilized or constructed. The train moved slowly for several hours. The autumn scenery, thankfully, was spectacular. The train itself, and this is true of all the trains we saw, was old. I reminded Kathy that 37 years ago we used such trains in Germany, and they were new then. The good news is that the old trains had seats that could make into a bed and, sure enough, I could manipulate them to do that. The windows also open. No leather seats, though. The bathrooms (I posted a video some time back of the marvels of the new high tech bathrooms in modern trains) were anything but high tech. You stepped on foot levers to make water run for the commode and the wash basin. We passed trains that were older than the one we were riding. I must say, however, that the train seats were comfortable.

Once we arrived in Krakow, in the evening, we were surprised to find that our hotel upgraded us to a marvelous suite. Here we do have leather couches 🙂 and several rooms. It is an appreciated and unexpected treat that we will appreciate for the next few days as we explore this ancient and one time capitol city of Poland. WEG