Poland Day Ten: Back On The Road, Or Train, Again. Czestochowa to Krakow

I awoke on another rainy and cool morning in Czestohowa. Poland was experiencing one of it’s coldest April’s in years during my visit. I quickly dressed and headed outside since I wanted to get one last walk in before my train ride back to Krakow. 

I again walked down the central avenue paying closer attention to the many stores, businesses and restaurants along the way.  I love just roaming aimlessly through the streets of a foreign city observing how folks live by seeing the products they consume and how they advertise them Here is a link to some more photos https://keepyoureyespeeled.net/poland-photographs-april-2017/nggallery/poland-april-2017/Poland-Day-Ten-Czestochowa-morning-walk-misc-April-17-2017 .

It was a holiday here in Poland so the streets were quiet. I made my way through the heart of downtown and into the more less developed residential and abandoned commercial areas of the city.

I wanted to visit the Jewish memorial located near the Warta river. Almost every Polish city, town and village has a memorial, reminding us of the horrors that occurred with the German NAZI occupation during World War II.  

I spent a few moments reflecting at the memorial, again wondering, as I did so often on the trip, how and why could we allow this to happen. 

I was now near the Warta River and walked a trail along it’s banks  back to the main avenue. 

I noticed that they have a few of the same problems we have to deal with here in the United States, graffiti, 

and the invasive and ugly plant, Japanese knotweed. These obnoxious weeds  have  taken over many areas in Pennsylvania  and destroys the native wild plants and flowers. 

I walked back along the route I had walked many times the last two  days, this time finding the oldest church in Czestochowa, St. Zygmunt’s open so I was able to stop in and visit the beautiful interior. Pope John Paul visited this church on his first visit to Poland as Pope in 1979. 

I walked back to the hotel, enjoying, one last time the mainly empty streets of downtown Czestohowa.  I encountered this jolly monk near the Monastery and although we did not share the same language we shared greeting on the rainy morning. He was more than happy to allow me to take his photograph. Here is a link to some more photographs  from my morning hike.  https://keepyoureyespeeled.net/poland-photographs-april-2017/nggallery/poland-april-2017/Poland-Day-Ten-Czestochowa-morning-walk-Monday-April-17-2017-

I returned to the hotel, showered, finished packing and enjoyed another hearty breakfast before taking a taxi to the train station. I arrived early and  made sure I was in the right place. While waiting for the train I had a pleasant conversation with a retired gentleman from Czestochowa and a young student from France. We talked about, life, politics and travel while we waited for the train. 

The train arrived exactly on time and I found my assigned seat very comfortable. I also learned there were bathrooms!  I settled in for the two hour ride back to Krakow and enjoyed the passing countryside. 

At first we traveled through farms lands with an occasional small town located  at a train station, Our train went directly to Krakow so we didn’t stop. 

As we neared the city the landscapes changed as we rode through more commercial areas of the suburbs.

We arrived at the train station in Krakow and as I made my way outside it was, of course raining again.  I soon found a cab and was on my way to the Sheraton hotel. Here is a link to some more photographs from my train ride to Krakow. https://keepyoureyespeeled.net/poland-photographs-april-2017/nggallery/poland-april-2017/Poland-day-Ten-Train-to-Krakow-Monday-April-17-2017

“Walkers are ‘practitioners of the city,’ for the city is made to be walked. A city is a language, a repository of possibilities, and walking is the act of speaking that language, of selecting from those possibilities. Just as language limits what can be said, architecture limits where one can walk, but the walker invents other ways to go.”
― Rebecca Solnit