Tuesday, April 26th

Tip of the Hat to German Transit Workers

United emailed early this morning to say German workers were taking a work stoppage day tomorrow and we needed to change our travel plans.

No problem. The first available day for our same itinerary was Friday, giving us two more days. "Book it Danno," was our reply, if you remember the original TV series Hawaii Five-O.

Extending the car was next. Called Alamo and got Raj (no kidding) at the Call Center. No, both he and his supervisor said the entire contract would have to be re-written. We know that wasn't headed in the right direction. Sandy called Alamo at the Krakow Airport and Thomas was willing to extend the contract at the same daily rate.

Next, called our hotel near the airport and switched our stay from Tuesday to Thursday.

Now, where to go....
Decided to go south and east. There's a medieval walled city called Zamosc that would make an interesting day trip if we stayed an hour away.

Lublin looked like a good choice for 2 nights.

Road was good out of Warsaw. Drive to Lublin took 3 hours. Once again, construction and trucks on the 2-land highway. Patches of 4-lane around larger towns.



Approach into Lublin was heavily congested with ugly high-rise buildings encircling Poland's 9th largest city.

Once inside the fortress of high-rise sentries, the town is outstanding.



A busy, vibrant and a university town. There's a mile long promenade of baroque palaces with a well-groomed park leading to the old part of town where a 14th century city gate accepts passage.

We hurried to the town hall to catch the 2PM Underground Trail - a series of medieval connected cellars.

Toured with a group of schoolchildren and learned about the fire of 1716. (We carried laminated sheets of English explanation as the guide spoke only Polish.)

Got a drink in an outdoor cafe, then met our landlord to check-in at the apartment.

We're going to forego a day trip to Zamosc and explore Lublin. We like this town.

Thank you United.