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Trip to Venice - Part 5
rip to Venice, Part 5 – The Problems of Travel
After we left Auschwitz-Birkenau, it was time to take the train back to Warsaw. Due to the obvious complexity of buying train tickets from people speaking Polish, we thought it would be better to buy our train tickets from American Express Travel Service before we left home. The tickets arrived three days prior to our departure, and I promptly put them into my carry-on. Going out to Auschwitz was fine, but trying to return to Warsaw – not so good...
We got on the little one-car, 10mph train and started off. As the train was beginning its trip however, we heard banging on the rest room door. It seems that some teenagers on a summer school trip had gotten on the train with us, and one had managed to lock himself in. The conductor spent a lot of time trying to free him, but eventually he gave up, and didn't let him out until Krakow. This delayed his ticket checking for several stops.
When he finally got to us, he looked at our tickets, and said they were no good. Since his English was poor (but better than my Polish), he couldn't explain in detail, but got one of the students to translate for him. She explained that instead of Auschwitz to Krakow and Krakow to Warsaw Central, the ticket said, Auschwitz to Katowice and Katowice to Warsaw Central. Being totally ignorant of Polish geography, I did not know that Katowice is on the other side of Poland from Warsaw. He made us pay for the ticket from Auschwitz to Krakow, and said to take the ticket to the booth for a replacement.
In Krakow, however, they were unwilling to change the ticket, because they claimed that they were still good – for Katowice to Warsaw. The fact that we were on the other side of Poland, and had no way of reaching Katowice from Krakow didn't seem to make any difference to them. We were forced to buy new tickets to Warsaw, at a cost of 306 Zloty ($150), and wait another 2 hours fr the next train. We found a local mall, and had Polish food for dinner. Most of the poles however seemed to be frequenting an establishment named KFC that claimed to do chicken right...
We boarded the 10:10PM train, which was due into Warsaw Central Station at 01:40AM. Not the most desirable of situations, since we were flying to Prague the next day, but it would have to do. At that hour, there was no one else in our compartment, so we felt comfortable locking our daypacks to the seats and sleeping until Warsaw.
It is important to note here that most European cities have several train stations, ofen along the same line. If you see “Warsaw”, it isn't necessarily YOUR “Warsaw”. We awoke in time to see the train pull into North Warsaw, but the conductor told us that it wasn't our stop, so we sat back down and waited. Eventually, the train stopped in Warsaw Central, but the conductor said that the train wasn't in the station yet, so we waited some more.
As we waited, the train changed crews, and some stereotypical Polish-looking female conductors boarded the train. The train moved a few more feet, but nobody opened the door to our car, nor did anyone else get off. I said to G-Girl, “this can't be it either, because people would be getting off at the central train station for Warsaw.”
G-Girl asked one of the burly female conductors if this was our stop, and she just smiled, shrugged her shoulders ad walked off. Then the train started moving again, and G-Girl asked someone else if we arrived at Warsaw Central. This man, who spoke English, said, “you just missed it.” G-Girl went into a panic and started yelling that they have to let us off! The English-speaking man said, “It's too late – this train is going to Bratislava. But calm down lady; there is a short stop at East Warsaw. Just get off there and take a taxi back.” As soon as we saw signs and a platform, we opened the door and hopped out. Then we ran downstairs and I found a cab which took us back to Warsaw Central for 100 Zloty ($50). G-Girl said that the female conductors did it on purpose, because one of them was “grillin' her up and down”, and was laughing as we got off the train. I said to forget it. We got back to our hotel room at 03:00AM, packed and caught two hours sleep before our flight to Prague.
After we left Auschwitz-Birkenau, it was time to take the train back to Warsaw. Due to the obvious complexity of buying train tickets from people speaking Polish, we thought it would be better to buy our train tickets from American Express Travel Service before we left home. The tickets arrived three days prior to our departure, and I promptly put them into my carry-on. Going out to Auschwitz was fine, but trying to return to Warsaw – not so good...
We got on the little one-car, 10mph train and started off. As the train was beginning its trip however, we heard banging on the rest room door. It seems that some teenagers on a summer school trip had gotten on the train with us, and one had managed to lock himself in. The conductor spent a lot of time trying to free him, but eventually he gave up, and didn't let him out until Krakow. This delayed his ticket checking for several stops.
When he finally got to us, he looked at our tickets, and said they were no good. Since his English was poor (but better than my Polish), he couldn't explain in detail, but got one of the students to translate for him. She explained that instead of Auschwitz to Krakow and Krakow to Warsaw Central, the ticket said, Auschwitz to Katowice and Katowice to Warsaw Central. Being totally ignorant of Polish geography, I did not know that Katowice is on the other side of Poland from Warsaw. He made us pay for the ticket from Auschwitz to Krakow, and said to take the ticket to the booth for a replacement.
In Krakow, however, they were unwilling to change the ticket, because they claimed that they were still good – for Katowice to Warsaw. The fact that we were on the other side of Poland, and had no way of reaching Katowice from Krakow didn't seem to make any difference to them. We were forced to buy new tickets to Warsaw, at a cost of 306 Zloty ($150), and wait another 2 hours fr the next train. We found a local mall, and had Polish food for dinner. Most of the poles however seemed to be frequenting an establishment named KFC that claimed to do chicken right...
We boarded the 10:10PM train, which was due into Warsaw Central Station at 01:40AM. Not the most desirable of situations, since we were flying to Prague the next day, but it would have to do. At that hour, there was no one else in our compartment, so we felt comfortable locking our daypacks to the seats and sleeping until Warsaw.
It is important to note here that most European cities have several train stations, ofen along the same line. If you see “Warsaw”, it isn't necessarily YOUR “Warsaw”. We awoke in time to see the train pull into North Warsaw, but the conductor told us that it wasn't our stop, so we sat back down and waited. Eventually, the train stopped in Warsaw Central, but the conductor said that the train wasn't in the station yet, so we waited some more.
As we waited, the train changed crews, and some stereotypical Polish-looking female conductors boarded the train. The train moved a few more feet, but nobody opened the door to our car, nor did anyone else get off. I said to G-Girl, “this can't be it either, because people would be getting off at the central train station for Warsaw.”
G-Girl asked one of the burly female conductors if this was our stop, and she just smiled, shrugged her shoulders ad walked off. Then the train started moving again, and G-Girl asked someone else if we arrived at Warsaw Central. This man, who spoke English, said, “you just missed it.” G-Girl went into a panic and started yelling that they have to let us off! The English-speaking man said, “It's too late – this train is going to Bratislava. But calm down lady; there is a short stop at East Warsaw. Just get off there and take a taxi back.” As soon as we saw signs and a platform, we opened the door and hopped out. Then we ran downstairs and I found a cab which took us back to Warsaw Central for 100 Zloty ($50). G-Girl said that the female conductors did it on purpose, because one of them was “grillin' her up and down”, and was laughing as we got off the train. I said to forget it. We got back to our hotel room at 03:00AM, packed and caught two hours sleep before our flight to Prague.
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