Following the Sun to Krakow

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As we woke this morning things were not looking promising for a fine day. The surrounding hills had wisps of low cloud and the sun was struggling to fight its way through but no matter what the weather had in store for us we were headed for Krakow.
Before we left Demanovska, near Liptovsky Mikuláš, we took a quick drive further up the valley. The road was quite busy and as we got near the end of the road parking attendants were busy directing traffic. In the winter these carparks would be full of cars bringing people to the ski fields. Today, promising to be a beautiful day, people were obviously coming for a hiking experience.
Our route to the Slovakian-Polish border took us over a small mountain pass through spruce forests and mountain pastures. Yesterday we went through a village with music playing from loud speakers, today we drove through more villages with speakers attached to power poles. This time we were even more mystified. Why are they there? Perhaps in the past the villagers were woken to the sound of marching music with which to head off to work, or propaganda was broadcast, or more seriously a warning device announcing imminent floods or avalanches. Someone reading this might be able to answer our question.
We stopped for lunch at a fairly large parking area that was already occupied by two trucks, a caravan and a police vehicle with two officers. Wasps were eager to join us for lunch so we ate indoors. While we were enjoying a delightful lunch one question that has bothered us on this trip was answered. Why aren’t there enough public toilets along the road? Because the roadside is a public toilet. This public viewing takes away the pleasure of eating carefully prepared lunches on these roadside lay-bys.
With the exception of one brief rain shower the sun shone throughout the drive and the temperature was in the low 20s, the warmest it has been for nearly a week. As our GPS still does not know where we are, we had prepared well for the drive through Krakow and after some minor deviations arrived at our destination by mid-afternoon. With the assistance of the hotel receptionist we headed back into the centre of Krakow to an enormous shopping centre that had very cheap parking. This little excursion has prepared us for our big visit to the town centre during the next day or two, when we will enjoy seeing the sights of this great city.

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