Day 7 - from Krakow to Wroclaw

Day 7 was a good day to take the train from Krakow to Wroclaw.  The temperature in Krakow was comfortable, but it was cloudy.  In fact, about an hour outside of Krakow it started to drizzle and by the time we got to Wroclaw it was raining. 

Last year, I drove to Wroclaw.  It was a 3 hour drive, but mostly on a major highway, so wasn't that difficult. The problem was Wroclaw!  The streets were narrow and went every which way. The GPS helped, but it was still a bit scary. They drive differently in Wroclaw; they drive on the lane with the tram tracks, which I've never seen anywhere else.  So even though it is a 5 hour ride, it is just more relaxing to take the train and watch the towns and countryside roll past. 

Plus this gives me time to plan our upcoming excursions in Wroclaw, Poznan and Warsaw.  Doing this makes me forget that I'm a bit tired because I can get excited about what's coming up. 

It was a 15 minute taxi ride from the hotel to e main railway station in Krakow. I had purchased tickets at home, but was told that I needed to take them to a cashier to get the boarding pass for a particular car and seat. I could have made a reservation for a car and seats, but it was going to cost $88, so i decided to wait until now to do that. The taxi dropped us off at a platform that the driver said was to Wroclaw, and we took an elevator down to Platform 4.  I had to ask someone where to find the cashier, which was down the stairs and to the right.  So I left Robert with the luggage on the platform, and hoped we were really at the correct platform. The first cashier was a small kiosk, and she directed me to go up the stairs to the main station building. The cashier in the main building said that I needed to pay 10 zloty more to reserve seats, and she confirmed that Robert was waiting on the correct platform.   The next time (which is a phrase I often use when traveling), I'm going to try to make my own train reservations online. Last year, my cousin needed a reservation to get home to Krakow from Warsaw.  I found the web site of the national railroad and managed to get her a first class ticket, with an assigned seat, and print it out for her - just like a plan e-ticket.  I think I'll be able to figure it out again and save the hassle and extra cost of doing it myself. 

The hotel in Wroclaw was a short taxi ride from the train station, and a 5 minute walk from the Rynek, a perfect location.  Dinner was at Piwnica Swidnicka, which met the tour guide description of a beer garden, but it was quite an elegant beer garden, in the basement of the historic town hall. We had the local specialty, beef roulade served with beets purée. And of course, piwo (beer).   This was a new brand to us, Piast beer.  Smaczne!

As instructed by babcia, we ate everything for good weather tomorrow!

Do zobaczenia!