A good night’s sleep followed Slawek’s spaghetti bolognaise and a few beers. On 23rd August I went to have a look at the site of Slawek’s new business – he is a car dealer specialising in imported cars. Needless to say the removal of the iron curtain and freeing of trade in Eastern Europe has been a great help to him.

I bought my train ticket for the next day, then visited the Warsaw Citadel which was less interesting that I had hoped. But it was a good place to sit and write a dozen postcards, which all failed to adequately describe the events of the last few days.

Later I headed for Slawek’s workshop and dealership – he was just finishing and we had a couple of beers there. Then we went for a night out, for which I was the designated driver. Apart from briefly driving in Brunei, it was the first time I had driven a car for nearly a year, and it felt strange at first. It reminded me how little driving I’ve been doing during this trip compared with how much I normally do. Accordingly, at the end of a long evening at the Irish Pub, I drove us back to Slawek’s home, grateful that at least one of us was fully sober!

I forced myself to get up at 7:30 on 24th August, and after saying goodbye and thanks to a still half-asleep Slawek, I got a tram to the railway station. After posting all the postcards I’d written, I found my designated seat and was soon heading south toward the southern Polish city of Krakow. After chatting with few fellow backpackers on the train, I finally fell asleep just before we arrived.

After investigating accommodation options, I opted for the Youth Hostel which is in a convent by the Vistula river. It required a tram ride to get to it, but it was in a peaceful location, with nice rooms, and worth the effort. It was a working convent, but fortunately I didn’t have to pray…

Leaving my backpack there I walked back to the city centre along the river – I came across 2 monks, one of whom looked pretty cool with his sunglasses and his brown backpack that matched his brown monk’s ropes!

In Krakow’s main square, which is to me one of the most beautiful city squares in Europe, I found the first clue to resolving a mystery which had started back in Cusco, Peru, namely: why was it impossible to find any live Andean folk music to listen to in Peru and Bolivia? The answer seemed to be “because the Peruvian and Bolivian musicians are all in Europe!”. A very good Andean folk group was playing in the square in Krakow.

On schedule, on the hour, the trumpeter in the basilica tower played the famous truncated tune. This is a tradition which goes back to the 13th century – the trumpet tune was being played in 1241 by the sentry, while the city was being attacked by Tartar invaders. A Tartar arrow hit the trumpeter in the throat, and stopped him finishing the tune, and ever since then the tune has ended on a short note, in memory of the trumpeter being shot…

Oh yes. I was definitely back in good old Europe!!