Katowice or bust…

Another beautiful day dawned with the departure from Wrocław.
We were determined to not succumb to the massive doughnuts we had seen, but crumbled when there was one last chance in the main station….

It soon became apparent there was a 2+ hour delay to our train 😳

We got speaking with a lovely Ukrainian scientist, Oksana, making her way back to Kiev.
One of life’s high achievers, she worked in science, specifically nano technologies in Lviv, but dabbled in a little optical and dental implant work, holding a number of patents in various areas! She also liked painting. The sort of person whom I know would learn to ride a unicycle in 30 minutes if she put her mind to it 🤪

We looked after her bags while she went to see how she could make her connection another way, & we ended up doing the same, albeit a simple swap to the next train for us.
Altogether a delightful conversation. We wished her (& her countrymen) well in these troubling times.

Our hastily rebooked seats were in the middle of the compartment, but were comfortable enough for 2½ hours 👍

Onwards to the grand sounding Hornigold w Zielonej Kamienicy Hotel for our one night in Katowice. The room matched the name: lots of dark wood, quite grand - very nice!

We unpacked and headed out - with an early start the next morning, we only had the afternoon and evening to explore.

First off to the largest Cathedral in Poland, Cathedral of Christ the King. A big modern slab, it had a clean style inside.

Back in to town to checkout dining possibilities. Not a quaint old town feel, but with a lot of bars and restaurants, it felt pleasant enough.

I fancied seeing the Silesian Museum, housed mostly underground in a former coal mining site. Katowice was a very industrial area, hence the plentiful flats we spied on our walk….some huge star-shaped ones looking in good shape.

The museum was a proper treat!
Under £5 to enter, with reductions for over-60s, it took you to an underground melange of art and history.
The airline check-in of our personal items was nicely balanced by the young guard asking where we were from. When we said “England”, he asked if it was Nottingham: not the first guess I have heard before, & he was aware of the mighty football town of Leicester….we had to confess it was quite the opposite of mighty this season 😳

The desk lady was also interested to hear where we were from. I got the impression they have relatively few foreign visitors.

A shame: the museum was beautifully presented, with a LOT of information.

Contemporary art, a specific COVID art section, a small but well presented area of old religious pieces, then on to a “people’s museum” area. This outlined the struggles since the industrial age from the 1700s onwards: Habsburg, Prussians, then of course the World Wars and the brutal Soviet Occupation, all laid out in very informative and entertaining exhibits. We were there over two hours, and really could have spent longer.
Thought we had missed out on one exhibit. Bambini, by Magdalena Abakanowicz. Elsewhere described as “Mad as a monkey with a spanner”, the huge room housing the 83 humanoid sculptures was a delight.

We left very refreshed after this enjoyable visit. A chunk of the history was about the repression and murderous occupation, yet it didn’t leave us feeling down: a good mixture of things.

The car park outside had gone from empty to full whilst we were underground. Some well dressed folk heading to the nearby National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra hall, and we realised the Flying Saucer was next to that. The Spodek Arena is a spectacular venue, completed in 1971. We took many photos before heading over the road to yet another monument to Soviet Aggressions of 1919-1921.

A return to have our emergency noodles and a beer or three, to the background of Eurovision: exciting show, especially when the Polish entry qualified!Read more