July 3rd - Out of Oki Doki, into Tutti Frutti

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July 3rd: Still sick, a bunch of people chekced into the room after 1am and left the door open (light and noise from the hall) while they went off to do other stuff. Managed to tune out the roadworks and got some sleep though sometimes it does seem like the world is conspiring to stop me getting sleep or getting better!
Heading to Krakow today, had some crazy chicken & vege tortilla for breakfast and went to the station. An older lady and I got into the bright orange 1970s style lift... it may have been that old too. Somehow it's buttons or the lights next to them had gotten mixed up so that when you were on level -2 and couldn't go any lower it would still stubbornly insist that you were on -1!
The train seemed a tad decrepit too but hey it did the job. Finished the Dave Grohl book (read most of that during the day of hell) and am working on Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" though I kept dropping off to sleep... every time I woke up, my mouth was dangling open, it must have been a lovely sight for my fellow passengers!
Stood in the corridor by the window for a bit which was lovely, seeing the Polish countryside go by... looked like a mix of North Otago and England (a mix of the good bits). A little girl was sticking her head out the window which seemed a tad risky with all the poles (wooden ones, not Polish citizens) and cables and things whizzing past. I had a moment of visualising that episode of "Young Ones" with Vyvyan on the train....
-Later-

I am sitting in a tower, and I must say that I am loving Krakow! My hostel is in Old Town which is easy walking distance to/from the train station, the hostel "Tutti Frutti" is awesome and the people there are friendly, they've booked me to go on a couple of tours tomorrow which is all led by a tour guide so I can just switch off my brain and be a tourist.

Despite the city being smaller than Warsaw (or maybe because of it?) there seem to be more beggars and things are more expensive... still cheap but more expensive than Warsaw.
The leaning tower of Krakow (where I am now)... well the stairway makes the old one in Chch cathedral look a mile wide by comparison, it's narrow, low ceillinged and they eventually run out of room to put steps so they are all a foot high! The temperature was in the low 30s but I'm hearing loud peals of thunder... actually maybe it's not a good idea to be in one of the tallest structures in town right now?
-Laterer-

The heavens opened up and there is wild lightning and heavy thunder but I'm sitting on a park bench under a canopy of trees so thick that not a drop is touching me, it's still so warm too!
Went back to the hostel and got talkign to these two Americans from Nebraska, which is apparently right in the middle of the US; so whilst I couldn't imagine being completely landlocked, they said that they felt weird when they WERE in a place with an ocean view!
After a long chat we ended up going to dinner together... this is nice because when you travel by yourself you don't go to restaurants, partly for reasons of budget but partly because you sit by yourself, order food, eat, leave. maybe I'll take a book in and read sometimes but yeah it's so much nicer to be able to spread a meal out around a conversation!

They headed on their merry way (via night train to Vienna or Budapest or some such) and I went back to Tutti Frutti.

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Photos

Another city, another tower
taken from the top of the leaning tower of Krakow

Hardcore accordion
seriously, these guys were shredding!