Advertisement
Published: June 12th 2015
Jeanette settles for the fast ride to Warsaw.
All stress having disappeared, we enjoyed a comfortable two and a half hour ride from Krakow to Warsaw.And that sums up our departure from the a city we knew very little of before visiting but which
we quickly fell in love with - Krakow. Paris has grandeur, Barcelona beauty and Rome is unique but Krakow is a gem of a place, at least in our minds.
But back to the stress. Based on past experience with some train systems, especially in Italy, we made absolutely sure that on this occasion we left nothing to chance. All of our train tickets had already been purchased through our travel agent once we had settled our plans, with the exception of the Krakow to Warsaw route. Jeanette did this deliberately to allow for some flexibility as she was considering a possible visit to
Czestochowa, a small city north-east of Krakow which has some significance for Christians, as one of the top religious sites in the world. Having considered using the inter-city bus we instead settled on the train and a five-hour visit there, on our way to Warsaw. So upon arrival in Krakow we took the line to buy tickets well ahead of time. The lady who attended to us spoke not a word of English but a kind stranger noticed the situation and quickly came to our rescue, translating for us and securing an 11.47 a.m. departure from Krakow for a five hour stop in Czestochowa and ultimate arrival in Warsaw at 9.30 p.m. With tickets in hand (car No. 4 and seats 35 and 37) we were a happy couple and set out to enjoy Krakow. By the way, everywhere we went people were very kind to us, constantly offering help if needed, language barrier or not.
Departure morning came and we made our way to the massive modern station, identified the location of our platform No. 5, verified departure time and settled down to have a bite. With fifteen minutes to go we positioned ourselves to wait on the east side while a beautifully sleek modern fast train idled on the other side awaiting its departure. Conversations with another passenger confirmed that we were on the right track just as our train slowly rolled in. Clambering aboard we quickly made our way down the passage to our cabin. Lo and behold and just our luck, the door was jammed shut, the fabric of the curtain had been accidently wedged into the locking system making the door immovable even with the efforts of a helpful and strong younger passenger. Not to be perturbed, I stuck my head out a window and beckoned a conductor.
Grabbing my ticket, he instantly motioned that we were on the wrong train and pointed us to the sleek one on the opposite side. Hastily picking up our stuff, panic began to settle in as we rushed out and desperately tried to board the other one before it left. Selecting what we thought were our seat numbers, we got our first clue that something was definitely amiss when another passenger claimed one of our seats and seemed able to prove it too.
Still not worried, I spotted two young conductors and rushed to them for a solution while our original train suddenly departed. What a shock it was to be told then that once more we were again on the wrong train and that we had been on the right train initially, except that it had now long departed. More panic. No amount of pleading and entreatment could convince the two officials that it was their conductor's error and that they should put the situation right. Did I think I was in Canada or what?
"Sir, this is a special train" he stonefacedly said
"and if you want to get on it you have to buy tickets from the office!" "When does this train leave?" I asked, already dreading the answer.
"In ten minutes" he said and with that finality, just walked away.
An impossible task but we both rushed off the train, ran down the stairs and headed to the ticket counter two levels down. Naturally the lines were long and, quess what? The lady spoke no English either! What bad luck. Eventually, an obviously puzzled representative, looked our tickets over and over, shook her head and motioned us to find the "orange office", touching her coloured scarf and pointing to her right. We found it quickly and yes, you guessed it - it was jammed with other people and their problems, all well ahead of us in the line.
It was utterly painstaking as we waited our turn, all the time praying that the only person who I observed was most likely conversant in English would actually attend to us. Fortunately she did and to cut this long story short, finally, we decided to forego Czestochowa entirely and take the later fast train directly to Warsaw. Disappointing as the whole situation was, at least we would get to Warsaw and keep our commitment there, albeit at the sacrifice of a little adventure on the way. I strongly believe, as I have always known, that there was a Divine reason for us not to have made that intended detour. And the train was modern, comfortable and fast.
Every story also has a funny side to it and this one was no different. Some of you may remember my incorrectly advising a little old lady to get off at the wrong train station somewhere in Italy last year, while undoubtedly her family waited anxiously for her elsewhere. I felt very badly watching her cross the platform looking as lost as she truly was. But on this occasion , Jeanette takes the cake. As we tried desperately to get into the locked cabin on the first train, including vigorous knocking on the curtain covered glass door, Jeanette kept saying
"A guy is just sitting there and not doing anything. Why won't he open the door for us?", only to discover that she was actually looking into a long mirror in the cabin whose doorway she had been temporarily standing in, actually seeing the image of a man seated right there, thinking him to be the uncooperative passenger next door.
Needless to say that brought great laughter from everyone and it will take a long time for her to live that down, as we say. Whenever I need a defense for some future faux pas, I will use this episode.
It is funny now, but I assure you that it wasn't then! Anyway, all's well and we arrived safely in Warsaw and made our way through heavy rush hour traffic to find our cosy apartment near their "old" city. Because this city was thoroughly bombed and destroyed during World War 11, I set my expectations fairly low.
Our experience turned out to be quite the opposite. More on it later.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.448s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 20; qc: 64; dbt: 0.1298s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
naomi rattray
non-member comment
Stress with travelling
I believe that a lot of people are afraid of such "adventures", which is why cruises are so popular, where everything is arranged in advance, and nothing can presumably go wrong