from Gryfino to Krakow

Today’s drive gets done faster than the previous ones despite the amount of kilometres. Almost all the distance is on highway and for parts of it one needs to buy a ticket. There’s a real show on the road. Big trucks have formed caravans and when overtaking them one has to have eyes in the back of the head to notice when a rocket-type car approaches. So it is necessary to constantly speed and brake and an unreasonable amount of fuel is used. Also there’s not enough time to look around although parkways with bare trees stretch over the fields. Sometimes a tougher truck driver decides that he too is badass and needs to overtake the others. It takes time. When it happens behind me then I know that for some time it is peaceful because the racers are all stuck. When they are finally let loose then they push the gas pedal through the car floor. My already tiny urge to buy new things, especially from another country, lessens even more. A really stupid entertainment.

The fuel, by the way, is measured here in cubic-decimeters.

I reach Krakow and circle around the block to hit a narrow tunnel leading to the parking lot. The tight nerves of the car get an additional blow. It already whines about crossing the lines on the road and speeding (the system does not recognize the speed limit end signs and in many places there are none) and now the walls of the tunnel on both sides are less than 10 cm away. The software engineer didn’t anticipate crossing so narrow tunnels. On a microscopic parking place is a sign with my name on it. It has to be remover before putting the car there. For removing one has to, ehm, park the car somewhere. I knew it would be good to be here while it is still light outside.

I move into a room that has seven locks in front of it. Wedding dresses are sold in the house opposite and a tram drives past my window.

A superficial walk in the renaissance and baroque old town with buildings partly illuminated. I climb to the castle and eat Polish food that comes with way too much salt.

Krakow is the centre of Lesser Poland and was included in my itinerary because I’ve heard it’s a beautiful city and I was coming to this area anyway. Lesser Poland has recently got into the news with an announcement that it is LBGT-free. I wait impatiently for beer-belly-free, speeding-free, too-much-salt-free and too-loud-noise-free areas.

And Poland has finally caught its first official corona virus carrier. The radio gives corona commercials and warnings after every song.