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Early start today. I have half an hour walk in Warszawa [Warsaw], along one of its largest boulevard. We’re talking 2 x 4 lanes here! The city is the most reminiscent of Paris I have seen in a very long time: high skyscrappers, metro stations, huge avenues… Not what I like best. I would have preferred to see the old center, but time is against me. The only free train to Kraków today leave at 9:30 this morning.

It’s a much faster ride than yesterday for sure. We’re thundering towards South, through the Polish hills like they were waves that our ship pushed aside.

The airbnb for the next two nights is just five minutes walk from the main train station, and very close to the old center. Kraków is a much smaller city, much more human-sized (I know it doesn’t mean anything but bear with me). More my kinda place.

However, I didn’t explore it yet, as we’ll do that tomorrow. Because this evening, my good friend Duha, the crazy Turkish, is joining me for a week of Polish and Czech adventures! Instead, I had planned to visit an artificial mount in the middle of a forest, a place for eerie walks and ancient tales of wolf and man figthing for survival (maybe), that would have a) given a great viewpoint over the city at sunset and b) got me halfway to the airport.

Unfortunately, just at the time I had planned to leave for the hour of transport and walk to get there, rain suddenly started to be pouring like crazy. All Hell let loose outside. Oh well, I give up, and stay in the warmth of the appartment. At least I recharged my electronics and finished a game I started like three years ago…

Of course, by the time it was close to sunset, clouds had disappear and the sky had beautiful colours. I precipitate myself outside, catch the tram, then the bus, but it’s obvisouly way to let. By the time I reached the point where I would have started walking, it was almost completely dark. Ah sod it, I stay in the bus and go directly to the airport, located in Balice [Balice, Lesser Poland Voivodeship].

Duha arrived an hour later, and we jumped straight into the bus back to town. We put her luggage at the appartment, and went in quest of food and beer. After all, she’s flown this far (from Toulouse) on her freaking birthday! A drink was overdue, and was found in a pretty nice bar in the old city, which was pretty lively on that Saturday night. It’s great to have someone by my side again for a while.

Here’s a video from a few days ago, a timelapse between Valga and Sigulda: