Wroclaw to Praha

Where my journey started - Wroclaw Station

Not much happening inside the station

My plan was an overnight rail journey from Wroclaw in Poland to Prague - then to catch my flight to England. It started well enough with the first train - from Wroclaw to Katowice. I then had 30 minutes in Katowice before the 23:52 train to Prague. First observation - Katowice railway station does not display any information for departures on the departure board until that train is ready to depart. So you stand and look at the board and then sprint to your platform. There's no opportunity to check in advance which train you are needing to catch. I asked and people said that probably my train was late, just wait a bit. A 23:54 train to Wien appeared on the board and a rapid sprint of travellers left me standing alone. Ask at information. But no English there. Ask at a ticket counter. The same - she just said "Wien, Praha, Budapest". The realisation sank in that I should have been on that 23:54 train to Wien - that it was in fact the same as the 23:52 to Prague.

The display board - see the 23:54 to Wien? That's where I should have been.

This is not what you want to happen in a foreign city, in the middle of winter, at midnight. Fortunately there was an internet cafe in the station and I was able to check on timetables and see that there was a 5.15 am train I could catch. I wouldn't be able to make my flight from Prague though. I thought of other possibilities such as flying to Prague, but there are no
flights from Katowice to Prague.

Resigned to an overnight wait in the station I was about to make myself relatively comfortable in the only slightly above arctic temperature of the cafe when lots of police appeared. There was a bomb scare and we had to evacuate the building. Two hours of waiting in the plaza in front of the station was a unique experience.

The station plaza in a slightly livelier moment

Finally we were allowed back in. No bomb had been found. After several hours of waiting in the circle of hell which is a railway station cafe in the middle of winter I was able to board the first of the three trains to get me back to Prague.

Again - not an easy procedure. The timetable showed the train as going to Ostrova - where I could connect with my next train. But the information boards showed that it was going only as far as Bohumin. This was a deliberate lie. It really was going to Ostrova - and stopping at every
station on the way - all 26 of them.

The plus side of early morning rail travel is watching the sun rise

Warm and on a comfortable train at last

At Ostrova I was able to make some phone calls to alter my flight reservation without too great a penalty fee - and eventually, two other trains and then a metro and tram ride later I was back at the Capuchin Friary in Prague in time to see the camels arrive.

They were sent by the Spanish Embassy and brought their three riders and gifts to where Joseph, Mary and a real baby were standing waiting in front of the friary walls. (January 5th - the eve of the feast of the Epiphany).

Today (Sunday Jan 6th) it's snowing. I'm waiting here until Monday morning when I can catch my flight to London.