Gdansk; Friday, 25 July, 2008

I checked out of the hotel and temporarily left my luggage at the station. I had a couple of hours to kill before my train to Warsaw, and one museum left that I wanted to visit.

Located near the station are the headquarters of possibly the most famous Polish organisation - Solidarity. In the basement of their building is an exhibition called “Roads to Freedom” which charts the history of opposition to the communist regime in Poland and it’s eventual downfall.

The museum has lost of information, exhibits and photos and in the end I had to rush round the final parts to make sure that I made it back to the station in time.

After collecting my bags and wandering over to the platform I was delighted to find that Polish railways were continuing their high level of efficiency. At a little after 13:15 the 12:49 to Katowice pulled in (according to the indicator boards it was only running 20 minutes late!) and then, after much shouting between passengers, finally pulled out at 13:25, exactly the same time my train was due to depart.

Under Polish rules, as explained by a local, a train isn’t late until it is over 15 minutes late – an idea I think they have taken (or perhaps it is the other way around) from British trains. Consequently I boarded my “On Time” train and it happily departed 14 ½ minutes on time.

I settled down for the five hour journey to Warsaw with a good book…