Stockholm was snowing yesterday when I left the night train from Storlien. A tiring journey on the train, I must admit. Was in sitting position for the entire journey, and having people talking and laughing loudly till 1am certainly does not help. Moreover, the train keeps making stops every 1.5 hrs, and people getting on and off, making a whole ruckus, sure makes sleeping difficult.
Even if you are armed with eyeshade and earplugs.
Managed to catch a little shuteye in Arlanda airport, but was woken up by the airport staff who were preparing the airport for the day's duties. Had to move over to another couch, and slept for another hour or so, before waking up eventually to wash up, wake Felix up, and moving off to the nearby MacDonalds' to have my breakfast (and hopefully use up the remaining SEK I have with me). Well, for 40 SEK, I must say that the meal was pretty good. Nothing fantastic though, just bacon and egg mcmuffin, with coffee and a cuppa juice, plus a hashbrown.
Met up with 3 Malaysian ladies who were seating behind me, and apparently they were doing some internship in Glasglow, and were on holiday in Sweden, going up north to Kiruna. Brrr....cold.
Checking in at the flyNordic booth was a hassle, I must say. Was really waiting and waiting with the queue hardly moving an inch. Moreover, 2 flights were being handled at the same time, with only 2 queues! On top of that, one of the flights bound for Warsaw was about to leave in 50 minutes, and the queues were increasingly long! Gosh. Luckily they opened another counter and it solved the problem...somewhat.
After that, it was a breeze through the Customs and everything...even had time to rest in the lounge, take out my laptop and furiously type away. Getting on board the plane was fast...but the problem came when we had to wait for about 30 minutes for the luggage to load up (what?!?! Luckily they did not fly off without our luggage!), get the ice removed from the plane, and wash the plane. It was snowing heavily outside...and I guess it was just about full-blown winter for Stockholm.
First off, washing was done by the service crew, first time I've seen such stuff beind done to the exterior of the plane. Apparently it was to remove the ice and snow collected prior to the plane takeoff. The crew sprayed some red liquid on the body of the plane and doused the plane with water thereafter. One could easily hear the scrubbing and other sounds coming from the top of the plane...(and you wonder what they are doing up there!)
After the cleaning up, the ground was full of red liquid, and the plane subsequently taxied off to the runway. On the way, I saw the airport vehicles clearing the snow from the runways, and it was something which I will never see in Singapore (unless winter hits home?!?!?!)
After the plane took off, it encountered turbulence and there were loads of clouds...but after clearing the clouds, it was bright, warm and sunny...a great 2 hour sleep called out to me, which I gratefully accepted. And the next thing I knew, I had landed in Krakow, Poland. A new country awaits!!!
Had to first do a currency exchange, which was relatively easy as the airport had pretty good rates (IMO). Had to get some money to buy the bus ticket to the hostel, so it couldn't be helped.
Me in Krakow!
Cute Sign!
As it was a Sunday, there were lesser public transport available, so I had to wait quite a while for the bus to the hostel. And I was not sure which stop to stop! haha. But after finding the correct roads and my hostel (with the help of my trusty map), settling down in Krakow was pretty easy! The hostel was quite cool looking, but I guess I came during the close season - there were not many people around and it was pretty quiet. Still, I felt it was cheap for the price I paid for - 8 Euros!
After putting down all my stuff, I went off to the old city in search of Kuchnia Staropolska, the famous place with a good menu of Polish and Cracovian food. It was highly recommended by Felix, in fact. And, this will be a BIG tip for you guys...I've put up the picture of the entrance, as it was really really easy to mistake it as 'just another building'. So do look out for the building and door when you visit Krakow!
Kotlet krakowski, ziemniaki, frytki, ryz
The place with good food!
Had a meal of Cracovian style pork chops with potatoes, fries, rice, which really topped my tank and made my day, even with the rain outside. It was so satisfying, and all for just 13 zln! Gosh. Cheap food, good start to the day in Krakow.
The rest of the day was spent walking around the streets of Krakow, and getting myself familiar with the city centre. Went down south to the Krakow castle, and it was beautiful, though my pictures were not, as it was already dark. Walked around slowly and admired the cathedral and the wonderful castle walls, and the ice on the ground had not melted, so it was kinda difficult to walk on the solid ice!
After the castle tour, went up north again to Sukiennice at the city centre. Not just a building containing souvenir shops, it is also an architectural marvel itself. Being in the middle of the Market Square helps, and it is frequently visited by tourists! Anyway, most of the souvenirs can be bought there at relatively cheap prices (Eastern Europe stuff ARE cheap anyway) and it was good to see massive chess pieces on sale! Too bad, din have the money or luggage space to carry them home! *sobs*
After that, I found my way to the main train station, and next to it was a modern shopping mall, which reminded me of Singapore's shopping malls! Inside, it has a wonderful mix of retail stalls, and ice-cream inside is totally cheap at 2zln for a scoop! Gosh! And Zara was having a 70% sale...the whole shop was practically empty le la!
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