08.32 I went to sleep quite quickly last evening. I’ve slept well and I feel ready for a new, adventurous day in Banská Bystrica. The sky is blue and the sun is shining. There will be no heat; it is after all January, but still...

10.27 We are taking things slow today. Things are about to happen though. We will first visit a museum here in the city. Each trip must have a piece of culture and history.

Slovak dog agility.

Múzeum Slovenského Národného Povstania
(Museum of the Slovak national uprising)

Christer and a tank from the Czechoslovakia days.

This plane is part of the exhibition outside of the SNP museum.

11.11 We passed some dog owners with their dogs on leaches on our way to the museum. Maybe some form of obedience course or perhaps some dog agility? I thought I saw some parts of an agility track/course. The dogs were quite pleased to be set free. They started to run around cheering and greeting each other. They had no intention to be put back on the leaches again. We are not pleased though, the museum is closed. Anyway, we’ve taken some pictures of tanks, an aeroplane and similar things in a park outside of the museum. The museum in question is the SNP-museum that displays the Slovak national uprising against the Nazis in 1944. It is supposed to be a very modern museum but we saw nothing of it, just the building’s strange architecture.

11.26 We are having a bench break in Park Jozefa Dekreta Matejo. It is a bit cold but the sun is shining. We’ve taken pictures of the surrounding buildings among them the bank house just nearby.

12.16 After some searching and pulling in locked doors we´ve found a café. We are having coffee and I am having a pastry at Caffee & Cake. We are the only guests.

Národná banka (National bank) in Banská Bystrica with information about the new currency euro.

Christer having a rest at one of the few sunny and warm spots in the city this cold day.

Banská Bystrica a sunny Saturday.

13.32 We’ve returned to the railway station. We’ve found a train that will take us to the neighbouring town of Zvolen. It is so close that we’ve decided to visit it. We’ve also made sure that there is a train that will take us back here. We are about to buy some tickets and await the train.

13.55 It is time for another bench break. We are waiting for our train. We are thinking about how we will spend our time in Zvolen and how we will buy tickets for tomorrow. There is a small mall with a large supermarket here by the station. We might get us some breakfast here as we return. Is this mall the reason why Billa has closed?

14.15 We are seated on the train. It will depart within ten minutes.

15.28 We got off the train in Zvolen, or to be more exact at the station Zvolen mesto. We’ve taken pictures of the town’s castle and the central square. There are few people here and ëverything feels calm and relaxed. The town square is huge and maybe even more beautiful in the summer. We’ve just sat down at Copaline Pizzeria for a late lunch.

16.45 We are at another railway station here in Zvolen, this time the main station. There are no clouds today and the chill became too tough when it got dark. The cold temperatures brought us to the station before scheduled time. The next train to Banská Bystrica departs at 18.19. What will we do until then? Maybe think about how we will be travelling tomorrow?

Zvolenský zámok, the gothic 14th century castle in Zvolen.

Christer eating a pizza at Copaline in Zvolen.

The darkness will soon arrive here. We´re on SNP square in Zvolen.

17.49 We’ve been at Lidl for some shopping. We’ve also decided to travel through Ostrava tomorrow. Our next trip begins in half an hour.

18.11 We are on a train again. Soon we will be going home to Banská Bystrica. The ticket cost 1.80 euro, I paid 2 euro and got 2.20 back.

19.33 We are home again. We are reading about the next destination Wrocław in Poland. We bought a ticket for tomorrow before we left the railway station. It is great to be prepared, especially if one is going with an early train.

The perfect women (if we ask Peter)

20.55 The time has come for the final dinner for this time in Slovakia. We are at Plzenská reštaurácia (Pilsner Restaurant) at the main square. We are seated in a cellar vault with beautiful paintings in the ceiling. We were asked for the direction to the city centre by some ladies on our way here. We were helpful and pointed it out. We realised afterwards that they had asked in Slovak. We seem to master some languages from time to time.

22.03 It was delicious food in huge portions, one of the best meals of the trip. Christer also got a Slovak flag in his dish which consisted of pork in tomato sauce wrapped in a pancake. We are really satisfied. It is time to pack our belongings for the day to come. We’ve realised that we are the only guests here at Stavoprojekt. We are no longer impressed that the staff here know which room number we have.

The interesting interior at Plzenská reštaurácia.

Christer having a very slovak dinner.

Sunday 4th of January

06.16 It is an early morning. I am tired, maybe too tired. I couldn’t find my glasses as I just got back from the shower. They were gone without a trace. They suddenly appeared. They laid where I had put them, on a shelf in the bathroom. I had forgotten to bring them with me after the shower. I hope this is the only thing I will forget today.

07.30 We are back at the station in Banská Bystrica. In twenty minutes we will be sitting on a train again. I am still ever so tired.

07.51 Well, here we are on a train again, oops here comes the conductress, Ok no problem with her. We´ve got great seats. It is so peaceful to go by train. It is soothing to hear the sound from the joints in the tracks.

08.56 We are back in Martin. We got off here on the 3rd of August 2002. We will not be getting off this time. The stationmaster whistles and waves his flag and we are leaving. The trip here took us through a beautiful mountain area with deep valleys. At the bottom of one of the valleys were some highrises with apartments. There were steep slopes with trees on both sides of the houses. We wonder if they are able to watch TV there. The name of the place is Harmanec. http://www.harmanec.sk

09.21 The train has stopped again. We are back in Zilina. According to the original plan we would get off here and change to a train departing at 09.22 to Katowice. I guess it is great that we changed our plans.

CZECH REPUBLIC

10.46 We’ve entered the Czech Republic. Once again no need to show the passports. The ground is covered in snow. I can see a church up ahead. We´ve got two compartment colleagues. It is lady and a gentleman.

10.53 The train has stopped in Třinec and more people have entered our compartment. I wonder if they’ve booked seats or not? A lady who is blowing her nose sits where the gentleman just sat.

The railway station Ostrava-Svinov from the inside and the outside.

11.52 We are now at the station Ostrava-Svinov. It is snowing heavily outside. We will continue with a train leaving two hours from now. Now we need tickets and a lunch. But first we will need some Czech money.

12.29 We’ve withdrawn money and bought tickets to Katowice in Poland. We thought that the lady in the counter said that there were no trains going to Katowice from here. What she did say was in fact that she wanted to know if we needed a return ticket. Now we will be having a lunch special at the restaurant here at the station U Prednosty. First we will be having a soup.

13.29 After the soup two pieces of meat, dumplings and a tasty sauce followed. We drank beer. Our lunch cost 88 koruna (US$ 4.65) each.

14.17 We left a bit late from Ostrava-Svinov.

15.27 The journey has been good so far and I managed to get some sleep. 30 minutes remains of the trip.

POLAND

16.05 On this return journey we´ve returned to the railway station in Katowice (2/7 2001). It is over seven years since last time but some things are familiar. Among them the place where we had pizza for lunch.

16.23 The ticket buying is far from easy. In front of us in the line there were two Italians. They didn’t understand the counter lady and vice versa. One of the Italians said a dirty word before they both left. We had prepared ourselves and written down our destination and departure time on a note. We showed the lady our note saying that we would like to go with the 17.14-train to Wrocław. All the lady did was to write 16.50 on the note. We will be back then.

16.58 We switched counter and was able to buy a ticket. On it we can read Wagon 7 105,106 and 2 last minute. Shall we get on wagon 7 or 2? We don’t know on which platform the train will arrive in a couple of minutes either.

17.20 We’ve chosen wagon 7 and the seats 105 and 106. The information about the train was displayed in the final minute. It is time for today's third train trip in today's third country.

18.00 I had some coffee and have just finished reading my book. Christer is still reading in his book. One of our compartment colleagues is playing a card game (solitaire) on his laptop. The other one is listening to music on his mobile phone. The four of us and the others on the train is going west through the Polish January darkness.

The railway station Wrocław Główny.

Peter is reading the phonebook. We have checked in at the hostel Piast.

20.20 We’ve reached Wrocław. We didn’t find any working ATM at the station. We found a small store where we could have bought breakfast for tomorrow but it closed right in front of our eyes. We did find a small kiosk though and was able to buy us some breakfast. A working ATM was found outside the station. Now we have checked in and are staying in room 211 at the hostel Piast (http://www.dwpiast.pl). This is also a revisit (8/8 2000 when it was a hotel and 11/7 2003) We were far from well on our latest stay here. Christer also stayed here on his journey home in 2003.

21.16 We walked from our memory to a restaurant where we dined in 2003. We walked straight and right, the Armenian restaurant Armine was there and we saw people sitting down eating, but we couldn’t get inside. The door was locked. Strange! We searched for other entrances but there was only one and we couldn’t get past it. We are at Pizzeria Oregano instead. We will be having pizza today. Hmm.. there are some pizzas by now. The place shivers and rocks as a train passes above us. This restaurant and some others are all located under the tracks.

Snow is a good word to use when describing the weather situation in Wrocław.

Monday 5th of January

08.49 I gaze out of the window. I see walls and gray skies. Other people can be heard out in the corridor. Sometimes a train can be heard in the distance or is it a tram? This is the trip´s final full day on foreign soil.

09.19 We’ve had breakfast and through the guidebook we have found out that the buses 117 and 406 go to the airport. Such things are great to know, maybe not today but tomorrow. The snow is falling outside and there is some mist on the outside of some of our windows.

A bored cat has been sitting there for hours.

Arkady Wrocławskie, a new mall. It wasn´t there on our last visit 2003.

10.55 We are once more sitting on a bench in a mall. This time the mall in question is Arkady Wrocławskie. There are some teenagers further away from here. They have symptoms that we are familiar with. They are using their mobil phones; the guys are pushing and lightly hitting each other while the girls giggle.

11.12 We’ve taken place in heaven, coffee heaven. We are seated in another Coffee heaven. Well I must be honest, the coffee isn't that heavenly, but it is still coffee. We are thinking about the phenomenon about malls. They look the same more or less all over the world. You find the same or similar chains in them. I guess the only thing that differs is the language. Honestly a mall is just an indoor version of the market place of old times.

All these restaurants are situated under the railway and gives the dinner experience a certain shaky atmosphere.

Ducks in the ex-moat Fosa miejska.

13.13 We looked around in the mall and bought breakfast for tomorrow in the supermarket in the basement. We carried on to the railway station. We tried to use an internet-machine, web kiosk each. Christer´s machine lacked a mouse ball and my machine was ever so sleepy and lazy. We are back in our room and will soon walk towards the city square.

13.56 It is time for lunch. It is time for another classic thing. No we will not be having pizza. We are back at Sphinx. We’re sitting down at a restaurant by the square of the old town. Christer had lunch here in 2003 on his way home to Sweden.

The beautiful town hall in Wrocław.

Rynek (market square) in Wrocław.

Christmas tree on the Rynek, Wrocław.

15.38 The waiter brought the bill. On it someone had written that tip wasn't included. He returned with the change that was 7 zloty short. The waiter disappeared as soon as he had left the money. We didn’t bother to argue and left. We’ve walked around the square and looked at all the old houses. We’ve also visited the tourist information and got information about where the airport bus leaves from. We are now in the mall Galeria Dominikanska and through the guide book we are trying to find out what else the city has to offer. The mall is halfway home from the main square. Next we will find a book store to perhaps buy a guide book for this summer and later we´ll visit an internet café.

17.08 We turned back to the central parts again and found an internet café. We found out on the internet that the guidebooks are way cheaper if you buy them online than in a shop here in Poland. They are cheaper here in Poland than back home in Sweden though.

A beautiful silver tree on Olawska street.

Galeria Dominikanska

17.54 On our walk back home we´ve entered yet another Coffee heaven. We will have coffee before we carry on home. Wrocław is a pleasant city. But it would have been even nicer with some degrees above zero. I guess we can’t have it all. Once again we saw a place from earlier trips before we got inside. We saw the place where we saw some kids play in a small pile of gravel in the year 2000. There are for some reason several Italians here in the city. We saw entire hordes/groups of them today. Yesterday we saw them on bus stops and on trains. What are they doing here? All I know is that they seem to be freezing.

20.53 We had decided to choose from three different restaurants. We managed to walk past the first one, the other one was about to close and the third one, Armine wasn’t open. We’ve instead arrived to Kuchnia. Above us just as yesterday is the railway.

22.13 It was great food in pleasant amounts with a cosy atmosphere in the restaurant. We’ve bought evening beers for this evening in a store and bus tickets for tomorrow from a machine. Now we will pack all the things we will not need tomorrow.

Tuesday 6th of January

08.15 Within two hours we will be on the bus. Within five hours we will be on the aeroplane. Within a day we will be back at work. Next we will be having breakfast.

09.55 Soon the bus will start and we will be off to the airport. Once again a trip is coming to an end. We are going with bus number 406 from the bus stop on the street Dworcowa. You buy the bus ticket before boarding and validate it in a small machine as you have entered the bus.

Port Lotniczy Mikołaja Kopernika, the airport in Wrocław.

Christer is taking a walk through the airport building.

10.47 We are at the Lotnisko Mikołaj Kopernik. That is the airport of the city. We just had a weighing of our backpacks on a small scale. Christer´s bag won with 13.3 kilo before mine on 10.3 kilo. We want to make sure that the luggage isn’t too heavy. We are waiting for the check-in to open now.

11.43 The check-in went smooth. We are now at the Voyage Café for coffee and something to eat. A gentleman with a camera around his neck appeared just as we had sat down. He said something and took away our tray. He soon came back with our spoons and napkins. I wonder why he took our tray. Is it a shortage of them?

Peter is having a light lunch at the airport café in Wrocław.

12.32 We had just finished our coffee and were on our way to the counter with the cups and the trash as he returned, the tray man. He took my cup and went away with it on a tray. He seems to be walking around here gathering things here and there. With help from a web kiosk we´ve found out about the war in Gaza and that Sweden lost with 5-1 against Canada in the final of the junior world championship of ice hockey. The security control was precise but all went well. It is time to go to the gate.

13.13 Outside of the window is the right wing of the aeroplane and clouds. We’ve started the flight home to Sweden. The travelling is over for this time. Tomorrow the ordinary working week welcomes us.

SWEDEN

15.14 The next trip has begun. We are on the airport bus from Skavsta to Stockholm.

17.26 We’ve eaten Thai food at Sala Thai at the Central station in Stockholm and we are now at the City terminal awaiting the Y-bus which will take us to Sundsvall. It will take us around 4½ hours.

18.05 We are rolling out from Stockholm. We are rolling home. We will be rolling again around Easter. Welcome back then!

The gates are opening and we can find an almost empty bus which will take us north to Sundsvall.