World Denmark Nordjylland Hobro

Niels in Europe September 2009

First day in Cracow Sep 11, 2009

After a quick breakfast and saying good-bye to Solvejg and Finn I took a taxi (quite inexpensive here) to the main train station for the 09:00 train to Cracow. The express train takes three hours and is quite comfortable. I had a light lunch (soup) on the train just before we arrived in Cracow. After arrival there I looked across the street from the station and saw a nice old fashion hotel (hotel Europa). I decided looking around for something else would be a waste of time and checked in and found the price was very reasonable. It also had a computer for anyone's use, though I did not have time to use it much. The only minus point was that smoking was allowed in the restaurant and in the bar (of course). They told me that there were too many smokers in Krakow and they would lose business if they had a ban. That story has been used everywhere in the World and never held true. I argued, other customers opposed to smoking would come instead!!! Ha, they did not believe me!!! I walked through the city to the old area which is surrounded by a very large park. This city was not destroyed like Warsaw and has many buildings several hundred years old. It reminds you of Prague or Budapest and has the same feeling and atmosphere. Again I walked a lot and finally had dinner at an outdoor restaurant on the Plaza (again). Fortunately there was a Chopin concert at the "Polonia House" which is a very old building (traced back to 1373) on the Market Square. I felt I had to go and found the pianist was a very beautiful girl around 20 years old. Her name was Oliwia Grabowska and she played all Chopin music, Nocturnes, Polonaises, Ballades and Etudes. The old piano, a Bechstein, did need an overhaul but it was still a special evening and I introduced myself to the pianist and told her about our Chopin Society in Vancouver. She was very pleased and promised me the first piece after the intermission she would be playing for me!!!! I had a great day and splurged on a soft ice cream cone walking back to the cozy hotel.