Since we had enough traveling to do we decided that cabbing it from the hotel to the Kraków train station was preferable to our previous choices of walking the 10-15 minutes, as we did when we came originally and when getting to/from the bus station. We had the hotel schedule a taxi pickup at 7:15am to catch our 7:57am train out of Kraków. So when we jumped in the cab we assumed that our taxi driver was aware of our destination since he seemed confident about where to go by asking us no questions and just driving away. I quickly took notice that we were kind of heading in the wrong direction to start out. Since I am not an expert on the traffic patterns of inner Kraków I let things play out for the first five minutes until I noticed he was making a left when I knew right was certainly the direction we wanted. So when I said "train station?", he seemed genuinely surprised and took a right instead. Early crisis diverted! Where he thought we were going is anybody's guess but we think he was heading to the airport.
Once on the scheduled platform for our arriving train, Ilana went out to gather supplies, better known in Kraków as poppyseed cake. I instructed her that we needed at least 4 pieces since we had a long journey ahead and we were not sure what kind of provisions would be available on the train. Our train arrived and left promptly at 7:57am, which we had no problem at all finding. We had four nice size hunks of poppyseed cake in our possession. Things were looking good.
Unfortunately, we did not have our six person compartment to ourselves today, nor was wi-fi available on our train, nor was there any air conditioning. Fortunately we only had to share the compartment with one other person so we were able to stretch out a little and sleep for the first three hours. When we got to Warsaw though our compartment-mate's girlfriend/mother/mistress joined him and they began dining on ham sandwiches, bananas, and Coke. Ilana and I debated if we should steal their food as our poppyseed cake rations were running thin with 7 hours still to go. We decided it was best to remain peaceful and see how long our Raisinettes, whole wheat Goldfish, and two bags of potato chips could last. There was a rumor spreading throughout the train that they were serving pierogies in the bar car.
The route north of Warsaw has a lot of the same nice countryside as we saw in the south. Sometimes rolling hills, sometimes rivers, plenty of farmland, and the occasional small town. But the route from Warsaw to Sopot is where the construction comes in. We stopped numerous times throughout the day. At certain points for 30 minutes at a time in between stations with no sign of a reason other than construction which impressively spanned for miles. I was able to finish the first book that I brought with me which I truly disliked so I won't mention the title here. I would hate for someone to read that book, think I recommended it, and waste their time like I did my own. I decided on the train that I will bring it all the way home back to the US, write "Do Not Read" in black marker on the cover and properly recycle it.
Summer here doesn't get too hot but when the air conditioning doesn't quite work and the train crawls along, the air situation got a little frustrating. But when the train did get up to full speed, the future felt bright again. During the train ride we contacted our next hotel to pick us up at the train station since we were in no mood to try and navigate a new town after being on a train for that long. Here are some pictures that we took from the train during our 10+ hour ride.
[Taken from the train as we approach a small town]
[Taken in Warsaw of the Wisła River]
[The new soccer stadium in Warsaw that will be used for the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship]
[Taken at one of the train stops: Warszawa Zachodnia]
[Taken from the bar car of the train]
[Taken at the Gdańsk Główny train station]
Then we finally made it to Sopot!
[Don't let the sign fool you]
A taxi from the hotel was waiting for us and whisked us away to the Sofitel Grand Hotel Sopot which was built in 1927 and "spruced up" in 2006. Regardless of when or how it was built, the hotel is truly an amazingly beautiful building and is the fanciest hotel in Sopot. Once inside you can tell that this hotel was certainly for the Polish elite back in the day. Ilana booked us in a suite which is huge and has great views. It has two bathrooms, 4 tiny balconies and we are on the third floor with a view of the Baltic Sea. A list of very high profile people have stayed here over time, which can be seen on it's Wikipedia page. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Hotel_%28Sopot%29
Here are pictures of the views from our balcony.
[The Baltic Sea and the edge of the pier is seen extending into the water]
[Looking down from our balcony into the garden and fountains below]
With sunset approaching we decided to get outside and walk the pier which boasts to be the longest pier in all of Europe. Still thrilled to be out of the train we got some fresh sea air, took some pictures and got a bite to eat.
[View of the front of our hotel with faces the sea]
[Ilana on the pier]
[View of the pier looking seaward]
[Ilana in front of the small restauracja at the end of the pier]
[My artistic shot under the pier]
[The pier has these massively long white benches]
[Us on the bench which faces back towards land]
[View of our hotel from the pier]
[One of Ilana's artistic shots of the sunset]
[Another great sunset shot by Ilana]
[View of the pier from the restauracja looking back towards land]
After the pier we strolled down the main pedestrian promenade, named Bohaterów Monte Cassino, to see what the town was all about. There is this one really cool design of a building called Krzywy Domek (Crooked House) which is amazing to look at.
[Krzywy Domek]
So far this beach spot is perfect. The atmosphere is exactly what we were hoping for and perfect timing in this trip to start doing some relaxing.
FJJ
This looks like a good spot to hang in. The crooked house looks interesitng !!! I was surprised when you two actually took a 10 hr train ride to begin with....I enjoyed my Amtrak rides because it was a forced relaxation with a book....would you do it again??? Or rent a car??
ReplyDeleteKochac Wy!!! Mom