The silliest mistake I have ever done,
We had made reservation from Booking.com which was giving away 50% discount
the deal was great for a perfect apartment near sea side, But somehow things
don’t go as planned always.. We found out from the front office the reservation
was done for Wednesday, which meant two days later...What? Angel exclaimed!!!,
I now started to hate myself how can I do this silly mistake...?? It
happened to be, that booking.com returns you to the closest date to the
available offer, since our earlier booking was turned down by another hostel at
last minute, I hastily booked non-refundable studio without even rechecking on...date’s;
Now what? The staff at Golden Tulip hotel, were kind enough to understand our
problems, gave us couple of options but neither of it felled under our budget,
Thanks to their hospitality in offering us WIFI we took few minutes and figured
out the best way is to spend another night in Train towards Lodz. Since we have
weekend unlimited journey ticket.. Why not Angle said....with a frown on her
face, I knew she really didn’t mean what she said, But what else we can do... we
learned something here.
At the Train Station,
We showed our
weekend tickets to the clerk at Gdansk station, requesting to reserve seats for Łódź, I knew she
won’t get my accent, as I was repeatedly saying (Lords) thanks to the gentlemen
standing next to us, who pronounced it in local dialect, what sounded as
(WOOJ), Which raised our eyebrows, and letting the clerk back to work.
On Saturday November 2013, at 22:25, train took off
from Gdansk Glowny. “It’s our second night in Train” I said to Angel,
“Yeah...thanks to you” she said... stretching her feet, she closed her
eyes....Angle had put on the alarm. As usual again the train was on time waking
me up early...”It was 4am still too dark for sightseeing I said, we thought to
spend some time at Lodz station benches.
From my solo
trips, I have learned lot on how to strike a conversation when idle. I caught
up with a guy in his 30’s who was busy doing nothing on his cell, with few
shared conversations I learned he was a working for a textile industry. “Lodz
is often called as ‘The Manchester of Poland’ due to its links with Textile
industry”, He said now it is turned more in to Films, than it would be as ‘Mumbai
of Poland’ reframing to Bollywood, Nooooo! not yet he replied.
By Bus :- Again, my Preferred choice is WIFI enabled Polskibus.com, between 80-90 PLN it can ferry you from Berlin
and In between 20-30 PLN from Warsaw, Krakow, booking earlier can even cost you
less.
* It cost 154 PLN (2nd
Class); 247 PLN (1st Class)
Public Toilet- 2.5PLN at all Main Stations in Poland
 |
| Walk on longest Street of Europe |
A) Piotrkowska Street,
After getting
direction from ‘Textile Guy’, we thought of heading to the longest street in Europe,
filled with pubs, clubs, shopping and famous neo-renaissance buildings.
Piotrkowska, 5km stretched Pedestrian Street caters to every taste. If you are
tired you can always hop onto local Rickshaws for 2.5 PLN ride, per person. The
street was going through remake when we arrived; we had to dodge through couple
of construction materials on our way, but looking through part of completed
section, one can judge it’s going to be stunning once it’s repaved.
 |
| Piotrokwska Street in Lodz |
Walk of Fame, Similar to Hollywood’s
walk of fame, Piotrkowska has it’s own HollyLodz, boulevard engraved with star
plaques and names dedicated to local film industry Hero-Heroines, Directors and
artist.
 |
| Julian Tuwim Statues at Piotrkowska Street |
B) Museum of the City of Lodz- (Muzeum Historie Miasta Lodzi)
Our stroll
through Piotrkowska brought us to Liberty square (Plac Wolnosci), Angle was
interested in visiting Church front of it, I thought to take seat at the square
and get some Sun light, flipping through my notes I found out being a Sunday History
of Lodz museum is free to visit for individual visitors. Opening its
doors from 11am to 6pm I pointed to Angel, Why not since its free, the value is
great considering time we have in hand.
 |
| Museum of Lodz City |
The museum itself is in the Poznanski family palace, who were among the
wealthiest Jews in the city. Also to be found artifacts from Pianist-Arthur
Rubinstein and honours awarded to World War II Hero- writer Jerzy Kosinkis
* Museum Webpage
Click
 |
| Arthur Rubinstein artifacts in Museum |
C) Manufaktura- Shopping Complex
Not far from the Museum, Red brick complex caught our attention, later we
came to know from the Tourist information inside; it was once the property of
Izrael Poznanski, Yes!! The same family whose palace we just visited. During
her glory days it employed more than 6000 people for textile merchant.
Manufaktura, at the present day is house to 240 shops, Offices, Cinema’s, Hotel
and Museum of Factory a delight to local citizens.
Public Toilet- Free to use at Manufaktura
 |
| I see Photo Opportunity -lying over on of the letters |
D) Alexander Nevsky Catherdal
After visiting, Baltic Cities Orthodox Churches are one of my key interests
and on my check list; Unfortunately, we could only get glimpse from inside, as it
was closed when we arrived.
 |
| Alexander Nevsky Catherdal |
 |
| Street Graffiti |
Łódź has world renowned Graffiti, Keep watch on
streets you will be amazed!!
 |
| In Park at Lodz |
Punting in Łódź:-
· Major buses lines connecting Lodz, depart from Lodz Kaliska Railway
station.
By Air :- Lodz Wladyslaw Reymont Airport is
connected with major airlines, Bus 55 runs between airport, city centre and
train station.
By Train:- Intercity.pl caters to your various needs,
worth checking special offers on their web page as we found out weekend ticket
was a great deal,
The ticket bearer is entitled
to unlimited travel across Poland on domestic intercity and TLK trains, from
Friday 19:00 hours until 6:00 am of next working day, In our case the Monday
was national holiday, we could enjoy the benefits until Tuesday morning 6:00 am,
On board you can take any free available seat, It’s better to take additional
reservation ticket before start of your journey were you no need to pay
anything extra, reach booking office show them your week end ticket and they
will print a reservation for you...
- Single Ride 20 mins
|
2.60 PLN
|
- Upto 40
mins Ride
|
3.40 PLN
|
- 24 Hours
Ticket
|
12.00 PLN
|
* There is student discount for ISIC holders under the age of 26,
in all public transport, It always better to
buy extra tickets in hand as
Ticket vending machines are not available on ever stop/station.
* Do not forget to validate your ticket after boarding the bus/
Tram, If you are not sure ask someone where punch it, There is on the spot fine of 140 PLN + cost
of ticket if your caught by ticket inspector.
