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Ed was right! We really did arrive in Poland at the Krakov dawn! Eddie and I needed a quick toilet visit before leaving the train station. We walked down the steps and walked towards an elderly women sat behind a desk. Eddie attempted to pay his way through by offering 50 Karuna in Czech money as that's all he had at the time. The women muttered something under her breath and we assumed the deal was ok. That would have been almost 2 pounds sterling. That's an excellent deal for a piddle! To suggest she was unhappy about this would be a huge understatement. She shouted NIEP in an authoritative manner. Denied a piddle then? Ok fair enoughski...
We left the train station and attempted to find our accommodation where we would stay for the next two nights. Ben and I having lost the wobbly sensation as a consequence of sleeping on a boat in Berlin for the first two nights had passed the wobbly feeling to Eddie which came as a result of sleeping on a train for 10 hours. We headed towards our hostel at seven in the morning. Krokow was quiet but very intriguing. Lots more space than Prague and better proportioned! It was much easier to navigate around. The buildings in Prague were beautiful but there were too many of them, they were too high and the streets were too narrow. Claustrophobia could have been an issue.
We entered our 3 person bedroom after an excellent induction by the member of staff on the reception desk and fell asleep for good few hours. It became very evident that we had very little sleep on the train. Very little sleep makes Dan a very angry man! After a four hour snooze we decided to leave the hostel and go explore. Krakow was certainly easier to navigate around than Prague. There was so much more space and within two minutes we had reached the main old town market square. Apparently its the largest medieval town square in Europe, but we're not convinced. It certainly doesn't look 1 kilometre long.
We headed towards the Jewish quarter and entered Schindler's factory 1939 - 1944 and had a fascinating tour! Teachers pay a concessionary entry fee! Cash-back! We left the factory feeling well informed and cultured and walked into 33 degrees heat. It was so humid and walking became uncomfortable, so decided to continue the sightseeing tomorrow and head back to our room instead.
The Australian girl called Rachael who we met on the night train messaged Eddie and suggested that we meet in a bar in the old town square. We did meet and she brought along her German roommate called Ben. Ben is studying at St John Moores university in Liverpool. Drinking Okocim beer sat outside with romantic mood lighting surrounding us and it starts to bucket it down.
German Ben had a great bar in mind where we can go next. So we set off in the pouring down rain, but could he find it? Running down several alleyways and back out again onto the main road we eventually stumbled across it. It was like drinking in an underground cave! It was here that Rachael suggested that the boys and I should visit Lovers Lane when we reached Italy.
Tired after the night train we decided to get a relatively early night and prepare ourselves for the reality check and sobering experience of Auschwitz in the morning.
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