A bit grey when we woke up. Breakfast was much more civilised today. As we had failed to gain entrance to the Botanic Garden yesterday, we asked the hotel receptionist to tell us where the main gate was, she gave us what can only be called an old fashioned look and pointed to the map we proffered indicating the street we had walked along previously. It took four goes to find the gate, tucked carefully into the corner of a university building. In the meantime the clouds had disappeared and we were enjoying brilliant sunshine. The gardens still had a few flowers and some terrific trees with lots of turning leaf colour. The hothouse was small but had some interesting specimins, the temparate house had Dave's favourites, catci. Plants are a bit like culture - it is possible to overdose - so after a spin round the palmhouse we went back to the hotel to pick up our luggage. This was deposited in a locker at the station and it was time for a refreshment.
We managed to pick a cafe full of noisy Brits so we moved on asap and took a self guided tour of the old town, followed by a spot of shopping and then lunch. This time we picked the restaurant that we didn't go to on Tuesday night - Pod Aniolami which was excellent, even when it filled up with a confused American tour party who had just got off their plane , and who were not sure whether they were having breakfast, lunch or supper. A brisk walk back through the old cloth hall took us to the station where our train was waiting.
This stage of the journey was less than brilliant even though we were in first class. One old dear objected to having any form of ventilation so the rest of us had to cook. It didn't help that this line was also undergoing major repairs and the first hour of the journey was mostly at walking pace. The 40 minutes we had allowed for a connection in Warsaw suddenly looked a bit thin but after a while the pace picked up and we were only 15 minutes late. Warsaw Central is unlikely to win prizes for architectural merit - it looked like a converted underground car park - but at least the "Jan Kiepura" was on time.
We found our economy 2 berth cabin - so small it was difficult to take a photo but not too bad. This is to be home for the next 16 hours or so. The attendant spoke only Polish and German so we had a couple of misunderstandings but eventually she produced a key so we could lock up and go to the buffet car for a beer. This train was much smarter than any of the other Polish trains that we have been on. Back in our hutch we dined on a sort of pretzel that R had bought in Krakow and a bag of Paprika crisps. Luckily we had a bottle of Tesco Aussie merlot left over from Prague to wash down this feast. And so to bed.
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