From Prague on I took a direct train to Krakow. The reservation for the bicycle worked perfectly. Arrived in Krakow, I took a path through some parks around the old town and then around a huge meadow, followed a small river (Rudawa) to the hotel. I asked to stay at the hotel of the championships, but they had no free rooms so I chose a hotel somewhere in between the airport, the hotel and the center of the town. Friday evening I ate in an Italian restaurant (Portobello). The food was soo delicious!
At Saturday I visited the old town with its huge market place in the middle. With about 40.000m^2 it is one of the largest medieval squares of Europe. There is also a small church, the St. Adalbert church, that origins from the 11. century. I walked a bit through the streets and looked at the various buildings. The atmosphere within the city is very inviting and active. Maybe one reason is the high amount of students with a lot of energy. I ate pierogies, which is a common food in Poland. They look like dumplings and are filled with various ingredients. I ordered one in Polish language that was at the same position like on the English menu. But instead of vegetarian food, they contained some meat. I don‘t really want to know what it was. Nevertheless I ate them. The rest of the vacation was then again fully vegetarian. In the later hotel it consisted mainly of side dishes. Another thing I noticed in that hotel, they never served fish and desserts. Maybe it was too expensive for 200 people. At least desserts could be bought in the bakeries or pâtisseries.
In the afternoon I went to the airport and asked for a bike box. Unfortunately they had nothing and just said, that they press both thumbs that I will find one… Good that I clarified that already at the beginning of my stay. Therefore I have to switch to my backup plan by asking on Monday in Decathlon for such a box.
On Sunday I made my last bike tour to the other hotel. The path followed partially along the Vistula (German: Weichsel) and was very beautiful. Maybe another river to follow once in future 😀 .
At the hotel I received the instruction booklet, walked to a nearby park (great park for running or relaxing) and studied the booklet on a bench. It was so beautiful with all the colorful leaves on the ground! I also found a geocache. First one of Poland, therefore another country I found now a geocache 🙂 .
On Monday started the World Sudoku Championship and last until Tuesday evening. The sudoku were rather tough this year. My highlight was the team tournament, where I had a one to one battle against the later world sudoku champion from Estonia Tiit Vunk (of course I lost it 😉 ). In the evening my wife arrived. She will then also be part of the Swiss team for the puzzles.
Meanwhile I managed to get even two bike cartons from the nearby Decathlon. They were very friendly and helpful, I even got them for free.
Wednesday was, as usual, excursion day. Together with a few others we visited the salt mine in Wieliczka. It was extremly impressive. They have 250km of tunnels and it was used until 1996. Also horses worked in the mine. The last horse was brought to the surface in 2002. Many salt sculptures are along the tunnels and there were also some chaples. They said that it is even possible to marry here, that there is a hotel in the mine, shops and concert halls.
Thursday to Saturday was then the World Puzzle Championship. Thursday was ok, Friday was then a great performance by me and I moved from 87th rank up to 58th rank (official rank: 48).
In both competitions I was the best Swiss participant and therefore two times Swiss champion 🙂 . In puzzle it is the fifth title in a row and in sudoku the third title (not in a row).
At Saturday afternoon I disassembled my bike so that it matched into the box for the flight back to Switzerland. I had to remove the front wheel, the front bicycle rack, front shielding plate, pedals and turned the handlebar by 90°.
While driving on the highway in direction to the airport (we stay the last night in a hotel next to the airport), we overtook a help convoy of fire trucks for the Ukraine. Suddenly you get back to reality how close the war is 🙁 .
On Monday we flew back to Switzerland. The bicycle was no problem at all. I had to pay about 70 Euro for the extra luggage. Additionally I had made a reservation for my bicycle already when I booked the flight. They said that they have space for three bicycles per plane. The bicycle then arrived well with the other luggage in Zürich. Welcome back in Switzerland 🙂 !
