Arriving at Krakow at 7:15am — early, but still 45 minutes later than expected — we walked the short distance to our hotel, Maly-Krakow, and met the lovely Polish woman at reception. Yes, we can check you in now; yes, you can leave your bags here until your room is ready; and yes, we can organise a tour for you! Dziekuj?!

And so, a little tired and a little smelly, we boarded an air-conditioned van with 6 other tourists from local hotels and headed out of town. After an hour and a half of driving, and a little nap along the way (we weren’t the only ones — I think three of the others were backpackers and on our EuroNight train), we were glad we hadn’t tried to find our own way there! Especially so when we saw that, in order to actually enter the Auschwitz I museum-memorial, you had to be part of a guided tour!.

For the next two hours we wandered with our group (and others who came in different vans) around the Nazi death-camp, learning more than we needed to know about the atrocities committed by humans against humans in the years of World War II. We saw and heard about the horrible living conditions, appalling punishments given on a whim to prisoners by the Nazi SS soldiers, and (finally) the liberation of the camp by Soviet soldiers in 1944. It was a sobering experience, and the uncomfortable heat of the day (at least 35 degrees, with very little shade) seemed somewhat appropriate — Auschwitz is something that should be “experienced” rather than “enjoyed”.

After Auschwitz I we were taken to Auschwitz II, the largest complex and the one where the most horrible atrocities of WWII were committed. Look it up in Wikipedia, if you want more detail; suffice it say that at some point I stopped trying to understand or imagine it, and just let the sights and sensations flow directly into my head for later contemplation. (e.g. how long will Auschwitz-Birkenau need to be a tourist memorial before the number of people who walk out the front gates equals the number of those who entered in closed rail-cars, and never left?)

We were dropped back at the hotel afterwards, and took a short walk into Krakow Galleria — a shopping complex — to buy lunch (delicious, giant salad rolls and a dessert that was kind of a pikelet with cream and fruit) and supermarket supplies for dinner. The rest of the afternoon we spent in the apartment-hotel, hiding from the heat and dozing. I uploaded the Budapest photos, but was too emotionally drained (and physically tired) to write anything. We had an early picnic dinner — radishes, ham, tomato, salami, smoked cheese, gherkins and pickled asparagus — and an early night, although neither of us could sleep until the thunderstorm broke in the night. Tried to get some photos of fork lightning over the church next door — the wrath of God smiting non-believers? — but have about a thousand quick-shutter frames to go through before we know if we managed it.

The next morning — today! — we beat all records and rose too early for breakfast (!), so packed our bulging packs whilst waiting for the kitchen to open. I’ve tied up a rough swag and attached it to the outside of my pack, as we had to make room for our Trans-Siberian supplies: instant noodle, cup-a-soup, powdered milk, tea, coffee. Oh, and two Polish beers I’d never seen before, despite the burgeoning Polish community in London — we gotta have our luxuries, after all.

Fed and watered, we took our leave of Krakow and headed to the train station. A couple of 1st class tickets (the difference was some 20zl each) on the fast train to Warsawa, where we will stock up some more and catch a night train to Moscow.

Dee points out that we’ve now been on the road (rails?) for two weeks; it feels simultaneously shorter and longer than that.

I’ll come back later with posts on Budapest and Krakow, promise!

One more day in Budapest, then it was time to board the Eurocity Night train to Krakow. The morning was spent organising and repacking — it is truly astounding how messy things can get if you don’t keep adjusting — and so the sun was well and truly above us when we finally checked out. I must say, the Maverick Hostel in Budapest was an awesome place to stay — cool, funky, cheap, clean … and the guy running the place was exceedingly nice! We handed the keys back with a promise to be back for our packs at around 6pm, then headed out to meet Andy.

Another hot day! We stayed close to our accommodation, as Andy had a 2pm taxi to the airport and it was too hot to go traipsing around again: we realised that with the night train, and then (hopefully) an all-day tour in Oswiecim (Auschwitz) it would be quite some time before we got a proper shower, so were determined not to get too sweaty. A couple of drinks (including the sweetest juice/syrup drink imaginable) at “Bonnie & Clydes” and it was time to say our second goodbyes to the White Bear. See you ’round World Cup time, Andy!!

While at the cafe we sorted out a rough “crib sheet” for Beijing, thanks to ubiquitous free wifi all over Budapest. Seriously London, your entire economy is information-based, how can Budapest be better at this than the capital of the British Empire?? Also used the opportunity to draft the next part of our “stay cool” plan — find a movie cinema.

(This almost didn’t work: by the time we’d walked to the cinema we were both hot and bothered. Watched “Robin Hood”, which was better than expected — and they were low expectations indeed — and tried Hungarian snack food in the form of chocolate-coated cream cheese. It’s not as bad as it sounds!)

After that it was a bus back to Budapest Keleti Paladyvar and dinner at a station restaurant before boarding our train. A little scary — we asked a official-looking man where our carriage was, and he took all our tickets away! Turns out that’s normal (on the Trans-Siberian they may even hold our passports, eek) and he was our carriage manager, but we spent a few nervous minutes waiting for the ticket collector to eject us from our cabin.

Hot in the city; hotter still inside the little dual-bunk cabin. We had the windows open, but it wasn’t ’til we started moving that there was anything like airflow; a full night of travelling north (with the window open the whole time) has cooled our room immensely, to the point that I begin to wonder if I should actually get some trousers out of my pack. Outside, green fields and forests race by; every ten or twenty minutes we slow down to pass through a cute Polish village, then ramp up to speed again, shaking and rattling. Clackety-clack!