Gah! To add to our woes there are no photos of Krakow or Poland on here so you're getting Russia instead! you may have noticed some of the other photos on blog entries are weeny lies too....ay well! Arrived here at 6 this morning after a not very nice night - sleeper was so cramped, had to constantly keep eyes on our luggage, and still lost credit card despite all our efforts! helen was on top bunk, so when it fell to floor couldnt really shout " oh no! there goes my plastic fantastic!" so subtly tried to look for it, eventually told the other 2 students whose stuff was all over the floor and they helped us look , but really couldn't find it then nor this morning, so we're both a bit suspicious but maybe we're jsut being negative...but maybe not! Managed to convince a security guard to let us camp our in a shopping centre while we cancelled card/got helen's spare out (i don't have a spare so if this happens again EEK!) then made use of our little central european phrase book to get us to police station- he was completely useless, we had no map as no tourist info open, found a big outdoors one and couldn't figure out where we were, but eventually did and lived to tell the tale! at least the police station was amusing- none of them spoke english but laughed lots when we decided to stuff the phrasebook and use actions to try to explain what happened. Eventually acknowledged an interpreter was a necessity, so arranged to go back at 10, which we did, when Helen spoke to one on the phone, and we now have another appointment (possibly face to face, how exctiing!) tomorrow monring at 10, so so much for catching up on our sleepless night last night!

On the plus side, we managed to check into our hostel at 7am! Completely crazy place, one guest was still up and drinking, pretended to be the owner, but then made amends by offering to cook us bacon and eggs! It seems like a party place (again, not conducive to sleep!) but at least majority of people will be out tonight on the "booze cruise" (unlimited beer and dancing for 3hrs on a bost, then clubs) which a) we won't be going on and b) are against due to our feminist principles- women get in tonnes cheaper to entice more men! hopefully will sleep through there ariival back- may not be until after we've got up anyway! Krakow is beautiful, mcuh like prague. we went up the clock tower, where a trumpeter plays each hour and is supposed to stop abruptly to symbolise the time one was struck down when warning the city of an impending attack, but as he starts up again 3 secs later about 10 times in a row it loses the effect! the guy at tourist information was loveeeeeely and me and helen both want to marry him (bigamy laws different here?!), he looked up a million different art galleries on the net to find suitable ones for our sophisticated deicate tastes! We spent 3hrs at the main one because a) it cost 1.5pounds, b)v good art c) cafe was amazing, relxing, cheap and not busy at all! Looks like there are many good veggie restaurants, and may have a look at 1 particularly nice shop to ease our stresses. It's a shame, Krakow is lovely but it's kind of over-shawdowed by the fact that we've got to get the sleeper back on sunday night (2mro) and cross Prague beforeanother 4hr journey to Vienna, the sleeper being th eworst bit obviously! it's so hot, we barely slept at all. Think we're going back to hostel for a quick shower before having a nice relaxing evening..at least until we get to thte hostel! so looking forward to Vienna. Suppose a travelling low was always inevitable, and it couldn't have happened in a prettier place, but really jsut want to get over it now! Maybe Poland's popular native bagels will help...! xxxxxx