Monday 30th August mileage 7442 Krakow Poland

Slept well, up at 8:00 for bread and jam and coffee as breakfast in hostel.  Two room mates in dorm, one  Amnerican, 25ish teaching engloish in Warsaw, the other fast asleep.  The American was an interesting character, he was hard up waiting for his pay check to come at the end of the month, and staying in the hostel whilst he tried to find an apartment.  He apologetically asked me for 5 zty so he could put some money on his phone and make outgoing texts.  I gave him 20 zty, (about €5) you would have thought I had given him €1000 the expression on his face.  He said he can now go and get something to eat!!
Noticed that the cable I am using at present to charge the mobile phone has been badly burnt yesterday on the motorcycle exhaust, and does not work.  So asked the American if he knew where there is a mobile phone accessory type place.  He told me there was a "Saturn" store (like PC World) in the shopping complex near the Palace of Culture and Science (remember Stalin's gift to the people of Warsaw!)

 and inside the molten glass looking building.

  Packed up bike and went to the Saturn store.  Inside asked the first person I saw with a blue shirt and nametag if they sell adaptors to go from Nokia1 to Nokia2 type charging ports?  He looked at me like I was mad, and said I should go and talk to someone in "Audio".  Went over to "Audio" and asked the same question, and got exactly the same answer!  They said no they don't stock these items.  Asked to be shown where all the phone chargers werer located, went over there followed by man from "Audio" and found the multi-pack type charger units (80 zty) with the small adaptor quite visible through the plastic.  Showed him the part I needed and again a blank look and shrugged shoulders.  Worked my way along the shelves and bingo there it was in a neat plastic container with bold wording saying Nokia 1-2 price 10zty.  The man from "Audio" looked genuinely amazed, we took it out of the packed and tested it on my lead and mobile phone and all worked well .  Result all round I'd say !!   So now I can charge phone then Ipod without having to dismantle the bike seat !!   Task now is not to melt the cable I use on these multiway adaptors!!
Set tomtom for Krakow, but via Radam so I don't travel along the same road as last time.  Tomtom predicted 5+ hours because it thought the road was a single carraigeway most of the way, but in fact about 70% was new modern motorway so made good progress.
Got ot Krakow about 6pm and so decided to have another go at finding the "model" russian new town called Nowa Huta.  Asked at the hostel and the woman said take the 22 tram from outside and proceed to the central roundabout area of Nowa Huta called Plac Centrum.  All seemed straight forward enough, bought the 2.50 zty normal fare ticket and then decided which direction I needed to go, and waited for the No 22 tram.  Got on and the tram had an electronic noticeboard system telling you the next stop, the next stop +1 and also the next stop+2.  Saw that next stop +2 was Rondo Grzegorzeckie, looked at the map I had and could see a stop (RG for short) 2 away from where I was but in the wrong direction!!  Shit I thought, so I got off at the next stop and crossed over and waited 15 mins for the no 22 tram going in the other direction.
Now to explain a little detail here, when you buy tram tickets the first time you use them you have to validate ( time stamp) them in the tram.  This I had done on the tram going in the wrong direction.  There is then a time window when you can use the ticket ( I think this is about 20 mins).  They have plain clothes inspectors on the trams who randomly check peoples tickets and if you are found to be riding without a valid ticket they fine you on the spot, and if you don't have the money they take you toan ATM etc.  But mostly it would be the shame of being frog marched off a tram with everyone looking at you as a common thief !!
So now on tram No 22 possibly travelling on an invalid ticket.  Noticed we were crossing the river, looked at map and we shouldn't be crossing the river.  Checked map now in state of disbelief/panic, and two stops from my original boarding point in one direction is Rondo Grzegorzeckie, and two stops in the other direction is Rondo Grunwaldski. (proof again of that age old statement " You see what you want to see and you hear what you want to hear !!"). I was now going in the wrong direction!! I had been right in my original assessment of which direction to go.  So got off tram again, but now at a minor stop with now ticket machine to purchase another ticket!!  Waited another 20 mins and got the next No 22 but now confidant about direction, but not so confidant about ticket validity!!  Decided to just tough it out if inspector asks me for ticket, but all the way to Nowa Huta I kept looking at everone as they got on the tram!!
Not sure Nowa Huta has been worth all the effort to get to it, but it is an interesting new town complex with very wide boulevard type streets all radiating from a central "Plac Centrum"  By the time I got there it was getting dark so the pictures are not that good !!   However the architecture is definately "socialist realism".

Made my way back to Krakow without incident on the tram!!

Decided to have an indian meal at the place wher savi and I had a good meal last week.

Walking throughcentral Krakow I couldn't believe it was the same place.

It was like it had shut down completely for winter on 29th August.  I think there was a curfew at 9pm when all citizens have to be tucked up in their appartments in Nowa Huta.  Anyone found busking or trying to entertain the public will be immediately arrested on the spot ....   by direct order of ther Reichsfuhrer himself!!!!

More later TOR