Torun
I used Torun as a transfer point between Gdansk and Wroclaw. I did not want to spend all day on a train and Lonely Planet recommended Torun on its Poland itinerary. I arrived in the bus station on a rather gloomy late afternoon. I would be staying in the hostel located, incredibly, in the train station. The train station was outside of the old town on the other side of the river across a long, old steel bridge. I purposefully walked through the old city to the train station instead of taking the bus so that I could say I’ve been there, done that and spend the night processing all of the crap that happened in Sopot.
Wroclaw
Arriving in Wroclaw was freeing. My Yiddish teacher Paula Teitelbaum was born there. I texted her before my arrival and she told me about some beautiful architecture to make sure to see. My walk to the hostel took me through a nice chunk of the city. It, indeed, was beautiful. The hostel was located across the street from the entrance to the old town. Far enough from the potential noise of drunk tourists. My roommate was an American dude who had now been living in Poland for three years. He gave me a bunch of tips and tricks on how to overstay my visa: leave from Spain, not Germany. How to get a free education: take classes in Warsaw, Wroclaw or Krakow in English. How to get paid: when you have an visa for school in Poland, you also get work authorization. He was in the room when I found the record for my great-great-grandfather Simcha Szyczgelski on JRI. Mom had texted me earlier in the afternoon that it just came to her that Grandpa Jack had changed the family name to differentiate between other families in the town with the same last name. It was a lovely moment and I’m glad my hostelmate witnessed it. We had a nice bond that night. The other guy sleeping in our room was a homeless man who clearly had been living there. I learned about these people from my extensive travel up to this point. When they have a ton of plastic bags, dirty shoes and a very large piece of luggage, they do not have a real home to go to.
Wroclaw has one of the most beautiful train stations I have ever seen.
Unfortunately, the food in Wroclaw, at least in the old town, was subpar and way overpriced. I was really turned off by this. I could not find a decent restaurant in the old town, the reviews were all bad. I got a shitty overpriced ghoulash and vowed to not try anything fancy in Wroclaw again. I’ll stick to pastries. It was also at this time that I thought I could use a break from Poland and do a weekend in Prague. Some of the buddies from Remote Year were living in Prague at this time and they offered me a free bed to sleep in! I left Prague via the ultra new combo bus station & mall and it did not disappoint!
