Turned out there was one direct train from Katowice to Cieszyn today or a Sunday service bus which started later on. I opted for the train which turned out to be grim. And I didn't think it could get any grimmer. Hardly slept last night due to constant shouting outside, the thunder, the trains pulling into the station and the heat.
Katowice station was even worse than Warsaw: grey, concrete, dirty, seedy, awful. The train turned out to be ancient and had very few passengers, although my mood was lifted when a group of children boarded on some kind of Sunday trip out - one group of young girls had a colourful game going on with lollipops. I was sad when they got off as it just seemed so dull again.
At Cieszyn, the end of the line, there was literally no platform - this time I had to prise open the sliding doors and drop myself and my bags down to the ground. And the bag on wheels is useless here - there isn't a smooth bit of ground to pull it on.
My room is on the 2nd floor in the eaves of this 'castle' although technically it looks out onto a Castle Tower in a landscaped park. I tried vainly to get some lunch in the main square but the girl only understood Piwa (Pivo/Beer) so I ended up with a liquid lunch. She may have been trying to tell me that there was no food today. I gave up after my mime and pointing skills didn't work.
One large Piwa (costing about £1.20) went to my head and I wanted a lie down. However, there was a large Catholic mass happening in the area behind the castle. It didn't feel appropriate to interrupt and walk through the it to get to the 'hotel' so I had to wait 2 hours till it finished! Seemed to be a big affair with lots of single men (I mean priests, possibly a bishop or 2), choir, nuns (I've seen several different nuns' outfits in 3 days - they fascinate me!) and kids in robes.
I'm completely knackered tonight from lack of sleep. It is actually very peaceful here, birds twittering outside although I might want to shoot them in the morning. It's also not so hot and oppressive so I'm hoping I sleep better.
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1 comment:
What you are writing reminds me of time in Russia. A kind of feeling of being very disconnected. You sound like how I feel towards the end of any travel abroad. Hope your fellow students bring you conversation and laughs. Sitting here in cafe Nero watching the world go by nothing to inspire the next observation though.
John
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