Kraków and the hill near Jubilat will need to be part of another visit.
I really wanted to have a go at getting to the Hill thing again at Jubilat this morning but when I woke up, my feet had already started divorce proceedings from the rest of my body so it seemed more prudent to lie in bed to appease them instead.
Also, and herewithin lies my excuse, I elected to take an earlier train this morning, somewhat foolishly as it turns out, to better align with Host’s obligations and availabilities. This meant choosing trains and once I’d figured out that the PKP web site would sell seat reservations for Interrail pass-holders but only for individual trains, I got myself booked onto the shiny tilty speedy Express Intercity Premium train from Kraków to Warsaw, and then a connecting speedy-but-not-tilty Intercity service to Białystok.
The original central station in Kraków opened in 1847 and is a lovely thing, but in 2014 as part of a modernisation process, all operations were moved into what is essentially a glorified shopping centre, probably for capacity reasons. It’s not the worst place in the world to get a train from (I’m looking at you, Montparnasse) but it’s relatively soulless. It’s possible to peer through the windows of the original station and see that the place is now empty, save for a welcome centre at the end of the adjacent platform which gives food and vital support to the displaced Ukrainians who now call Kraków home.
Our tilty train was waiting for us on a platform that was being hastily cleaned, like the train itself, so there was some time to take some photographs before it was opened for boarding. I think there might have been some kind of exorcism because I got the distinct impression that someone had been through first class waving a censer. A soothing Chopin Nocturne wafted gently through the recently-purified air to usher us to the seats from which we would spend the next two hours and thirty-nine minutes grazing nonchalantly on free snacks and coffee as Poland drifted past
The 09:52 EIP high-speed service from Kraków Glowny to Warszawa Centralna broke down at about 10:00 just outside Zastów, just in time for us have been served the only free coffee and breakfast (I had cake) we were going to get for the next four hours and fourteen minutes. We sat and waited for announcements that couldn’t come because the power had gone off, while some brave people forced their ways through the now not-working slidy doors to the dining car where there also wasn’t much to do except look at the food because the till wasn’t working.
Eventually one of the train controllers told us in not ideal but perfectly comprehensible English that train not go and driver look why.
After a figurative interminable wait, tempered glee rippled through the carriage as the electricty came back on, a barrage of notifications landed on people’s phones as the wifi rebooted, and the train started to move. For about thirty seconds. This happened a few more times than was ideal.
At long last we limped into Zastów where there was some concern we might have to get off, but after some more waiting we were on our way again, the journey finally relatively smooth but with occasional stopping here and there to accommodate other trains in the timetable that were running on time. There were no more freebies to be had and I started wishing I’d chosen the more sandwichy breakfast over the cakey one (though the honey cake was really rather good), except for a wafer biscuit which was delivered to us at some point by a flustered youth who arrived with apologetic haste from the dining car and sped through first almost throwing them at us from a big bag before he was never seen again.
During last night’s planning I had left time in Warsaw Central to get some food and then hop on a new shiny train to Białystok, but that train had left by the time we pulled into the station at something past two, somewhat annoyingly. At one point it too was running with a delay which meant I should have been able to catch it, and the train manager had initially called ahead to get it held, but the closer we got to Warsaw the more our delay increased due to construction work around the city and I had to wait for the slower, less comfy 16:35 service, but used the time speeding around Warsaw Central where I managed to visit a church and find a nice place to sit and relax with a coffee, sandwich, and cake.
In front of the imposing Palace of Culture and Science I looked at a slightly harrowing but moving display of drawings from 1946 and the current day. Those from 1946 are by Polish children and are a record of their experiences during the German occupation of 1939-1945, and the others are contemporary drawings by Ukrainian children. The similarities are striking.
I hadn’t noticed that my new ticket for the 16:44 train to Białystok was actually from Warsaw Wschodnia which would have been problematic for me had the 16:35 Intercity from Świnoujście not been running 35 minutes late. I would have missed it because I went back to Central to catch it, from whence it’s timetabled to leave nine minutes earlier. My heart sank at first but when I realised there was a delay I was actually quite happy, probably the only person there thrilled that something was late. The train was quite busy and I initially ruffled feathers upon entering the compartment of six for daring to be aggrieved that luggage belonging to two velour-clad orange ladies was not in the racks and that I was expected to climb over it. Tensions eased when after about an hour, one started eating a red pepper as a snack and I helpfully provided salt and pepper to go with it. We then chatted on and off using Google Translate until we all got off the train in Białystok and went our different ways.
Having decided I really needed not to walk much more today, I ordered a Bolt which picked me up from outside the station and deposited me chez Host. I ate some potato-thingies, had a beer, then fell into another comfy bed.
I could’ve taken the 11:25 after all.
