July 4 - Friday
At the Alser Strasse U-bahnhof station, we must have looked confused (we were). A nice, grandmotherly woman asked (in German) what I presumed to be something like, "Do you need help?" I said to her, "Elevator? Lift?" She asked where we were going. We told her Siebenhirten, the end station for the direction we were going. She pointed to the elevator and we thanked her. This part of the U6 line was on elevated track, so we waited on an outdoor platform. We made our connection to Tram 18 with no problem and got to the Südbahnhof with almost half an hour to spare. We found our platform (#4) and boarded the train. The coaches were well-marked, so it was easy to find our reserved seats (both window seats). Also in our compartment were a family of three and a young couple, although the young man of the couple had to stand, since the family had 3 of the 6 seats reserved. After a while, the couple went to the dining car.

I showed Mike where I had written "please" in Polish, and pronounced Proshe for him. I pointed to "thank you" and said I didn't have any idea how to pronounce that. I saw the mother of the family out of the corner of my eye, smiling at us. I pointed to her and asked, "Polish?" She said yes, so I asked her how to pronounce dziękuję. She coached us on saying "djinkwieh," although Mike kept getting it confused with the name of a friend. The mother said her name was Jana, her son Peter and her husband (after a little discussion) was John - all obviously translated into English for our benefit. Jana said they were returning home from "Roma." Somewhat later, we were joined by Stanislaw, who had reserved the sixth seat in the compartment. He spoke fluent English, and translated Jana's description of her trip to the east coast of Italy to go biking in the hills, and something was said about it being the first time John had met her mother (Peter was about 8 or 9 years old, so there may have been something lost or misunderstood in the translation). We explained the purpose of our trip to Poland (genealogy research) and said where we were getting off the train. Stanislaw said Jana and her family were getting on the same train we were at Katowice, and said we could follow them to the platform. Mike and Stanislaw exchanged contact information, and Mike gave Jana his business card, as well. She exclaimed to Peter, "Professori!"

The rest of the trip to Katowice passed very pleasantly. We were late into the station at Katowice, so we rushed with Jana et al to the next train platform. Not much later, the train to Czestochowa ("Chestohova" - thank you, Jana) pulled in. We boarded and sat across from Jana, John and Peter. We asked her if she had ever heard of Korczak Ziolkowski - she hadn't. Sadly, they got off the train after about half an hour ("this is our city"). I hugged Jana and thanked her - in Polish. As they got off the train, Peter said "goodbye" in English. We smiled, waved and said "goodbye."

Using my list of stations along the route, we found Czestochowa with no problem. We arrived on time, which meant we had a chance to make a pit stop (I had to pay 2 zloty, Mike got past the lady without being challenged). We also checked on our platform (#1). As we sat watching the clock, I decided to ask another passenger if we were in the right place. I had found the Polish word for "go" (do) online, and had heard Jana said it to Peter, so I asked a young lady, "Do Poznan?" and pointed "here." She answered, "Tak" and nodded her head. I smiled and nodded, having forgotten for the moment how to say thank you in Polish. As we boarded the train, someone tried to pick Mike's pocket but Mike noticed and stopped him. We sat in a compartment that only had an older gentleman in it. When the conductor asked for tickets, he showed some kind of pass. He was reading a magazine, so we talked little and quietly. After he got off, we sat next to the windows. Again, using the list of stations, we were ready to get off the train when we reached Ostrow Wielkopolski. Łukasz [our tour guide] met us on the platform and, after stopping for diesel fuel for the car, we were on our way to Ostrzeszow ("Oshtreshuv" - again, thank you Jana).

The Hotel Katrina is over a restaurant which is over a pizzeria. Very nice, clean rooms with new furniture and a bigger shower than we had in Vienna. We registered and took our bags to our rooms - come to think of it, there was no bellhop service in Vienna, either (nor would there be in Poznan). We met Łukasz in the pizzeria for a late supper. Mike & I shared a small prowansalska pizza (Provençal - cheese, chicken, tomato & herbs); we both drank Sprite.

The hotel manager asked what time we wanted to have breakfast (included in the room charge). We agreed to meet at 7:30 a.m.