TORUN, THEN WROCLAW

The waterfront at Torun looks, and is, pleasant enough. But the atmosphere inside the town was sadly blighted by the various tribes from the balmy armies chanting monosyllabic football anthems. I think, hope that most of the Irish contingent are moving on today to inflict themselves on Poznan, west of here. At first I thought the ones in the dormitory were pretty civilized but after two days of almost continuous drinking, their moods changed. About 5 o'clock this morning when they returned from wherever they had been, a fight nearly broke out between two of them. Glad this lot has gone. Only one more night and I head for Wroclaw. Got some misgivings about that but I am almost sure that the hostel there only has a maximum of 4 in each room and I'm only there for 2 nights. However, I had heard of these supporters wandering like displaced armies and they really seem to behave like armies. Dress code seemed of great importance while they decided, jeans versus shorts, and all that to go out and trash themselves in some of the many bars in this small town. 


I cant honestly say this experience has come as a revelation but it certainly confirmed my suspicions. 

This massive bridge to the station is about a kilometre long

Not many locks but they're here too!

Just had a thought, think I might try to cancel the second night in Wroclaw. D 

LITTLE IRELAND

Surprisingly, the train to Torun arrived perfectly on time with no hitches. My Polish train experiences have led me to expect the unexpected so maybe they're not all bad. The vintage loco below is for sure going no where.

Writing this blog to the lilting tones of a bunch of Irishmen singing some of there favourite songs from back home. It seems the Irish football fans have chosen Torun as a base. Maybe its been a bad move to come to Poland at such a time in the world of sport. Suppose its lucky that Ukranians haven't decided to invade. 


Anyway, its such a small place that I used a street map board to find my way to the hostel. 

Walking up Rozana street, infamous Nicolaus (Copernicus) stares down from his platform. He is of course the 'was here' celebrity for Torun.

Torun is much the same as a lot of places here in Poland and appears to be a little off the tourist trail. However, met a threesome from England in a restaurant - Martin, his wife and mother in law. It was interesting that this late middle aged man was made redundant in 2008 and has since been doing a paper round, plus another sideline, to keep some money coming in. Seemed odd to me because I always think of school kids doing that, like I used to.


The time has come to finish so hopefully the Irish affliction, contagion, or whatever to call it wont be too painful. The guys already here dont seem to be such a bad bunch. Perhaps I'll join 'em for Guinness.

Overcast, over the  massive  iron bridge, over the River Wisle. It links the station with the town.

POLAND IN JUNE 2012

A rural train in Poland

The internet has, to say the least, revolutionized travelling. There are many sites for booking accommodation but I usually stick to Hostelbookers. Maybe, if you are of a certain age, you might have memories of people ploughing through newspaper ads or colouful holiday brochures trying to find the dream holiday. That is a thing of the past for most of us, nothing is further away than the click of a mouse. 

I often trawl the sites for cheap air tickets using eDreams mostly but in this case the railway timetable sites are useful. Almost all of them from Indian Railways to the Polish network http://rozklad-pkp.pl are easily translated and pretty straight forward to negotiate. The train fares are considerably lower than anywhere in Western Europe. For example, the 600km ride from Krakow to Gdansk is about EUR 32. 

So that's it. Have a full list of trains and times organized for this trip into Poland, and hostels booked. It is advisable to book because these hostels are becoming increasingly popular and finding a place on the spur of the moment can be difficult. The prices below seem to be a little higher than last year but all the same its not such an expensive way to explore a country. The prices below are per night.

Atlantis Hostel.  ul. Dietla 58,...............Krakow ....EUR 8.51....2 nights

Kogut czy Kura Hostel. Piastowska 135, Gdansk .....EUR 9.20....3 nights

Hostel Orange. Prosta 19 Street,...........Torun ......EUR 9.20....3 nights

Dizzy Daisy Hostel. Plac Grunwaldzki 65,Wroclaw,...EUR 13.80...2 nights

Tram passing the Altlantis Hostel in Krakow

The great thing about trains is that my return date is not fixed as it would be with an air ticket so this trip might be a little longer than planned. In Gdansk, the hostel is out on the road, near the Baltic Sea, and not so far from that Russian enclave, Kaliningrad. 

So that's it for now and I'll start blogging the trip after 2nd June using the WiFi provided free in almost every hostel, anywhere in the world.

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