Warsaw-Wrocław-Warsaw-Kielce-Warsaw

A very busy week with two separate business trips - one to Wrocław (Weds-Thurs) and a day out to Kielce (Fri). Wednesday was a flurry of activity from daybreak - meeting after meeting before catching a Dart train to Wrocław. Late lunch. Again I want to try the new smoked tofu and bulgur wheat salad from the Wars in 'bar car number three'. Again, nie ma. So I have schabowy with kapusta zasmażana and boiled spuds. Tradition trumps novelty.

Below: reflection of an inversion, Wrocław Głowny station.

Below: Wrocław's famous Most Tumski bridge (the one with the lovers' padlocks weighing it down) is undergoing remont. If you're approaching it from Ostrów Tumski, there's signage informing you of this fact and rerouting you. But if you approach the bridge from Bulwar Wyszyńskiego or from ul. Najświętszej Marii Panny, or from the riverside footpath from Plac Bema, you will find no such information. No sign at all. Really, really annoying, especially if you're in a hurry.

A historic part of Wrocław that I've never visited before is Wzgórze Partyzantów ('Partisan Heights').  This small park, between Fossa Miejska (town moat) and ul. Piotra Skargi ('Peter Complaint Street') contains a pre-war German monument to the dead soldiers of colonial wars, and an old observatory. Much of it is closed off because of the threat of collapsing old buildings; there's an spine-tingling atmosphere of dread hanging over the place... Below: a wartime bunker/air raid shelter on ul. Nowa.

Back at Wrocław Główny, on the Pendolino back to Warsaw. All goes well until the train passes Lubliniec, then it slows to a crawl. It continues at this pace for a suspiciously long time, then stops. There's an announcement - due to a derailed freight train ahead of us, we have to backtrack and make our way to Częstochowa Stradom a different way (via Kalety) to bypass the blockage. Sadly, it was dark, and I could see nothing outside the train; this would have been an interesting re-route. Anyway, result: the Pendolino arrives in Warsaw over an hour and 15 minutes late. Then home to get ready for Friday's trip.

Friday morning I wake at 04:30, and leave home just after six am to get to Wilanowska to catch the Flixbus to Kielce. FlixBus has taken over the routes that PolskiBus.com created since 2011, revolutionising the Polish long-distance bus market. Souter Holdings Polska, the company behind PolskiBus, remains in Poland as the subcontractor, delivering services for FlixBus.

The best seats are at the front, but these carry reservations; I sat at the front from Warsaw to Radom, where I had to give up my seat to passengers travelling from there towards Kraków and Zakopane.

Below: leaving Warsaw at sunrise, towards the S79 and the expressway south. Al. Wilanowska.

Below: the canyons of Mordor - ul. Marynarska. Nearly fully opened - last tweaks and it'll be a three-lane highway carving through the new-build offices of Warsaw's shared-services district. It reminds me of a newer version of London's A406 North Circular as it winds its way through Stonebridge Park, Wembley, Neasden and Brent Cross

Kielce (below) is not a stand-out, must-visit kind of place. Its population is 187,000; it covers 109 square kilometres. The Warsaw district of Ursynów, in comparison, has 151,000 inhabitants and covers 45 square kilometres.

The main Warsaw-Radom-Kielce-Kraków railway line; looking south from Kielce station.

The FlixBus from Kielce to Warsaw was 35 minutes late arriving from Kraków and arrived in Warsaw 35 minutes late. So one hour and fifty minutes of delay over two days.

Below: back in Jeziorki, photo taken on Wednesday 9 October. Two months earlier, on 8 August, this junction between ul. Karczunkowska and the temporary level crossing was closed for re-asphalting. Traffic was re-routed over the built but famously unopened viaduct for one day only while the work was done. Two months on, the road is every bit as rubbish as it was before the patch-up.

This time five years ago:

Poland gets anglicised as Britain gets polonised

This time six years ago:
Ale, architecture and city politics

This time seven years ago:
The pros and cons of roadside acoustic screens

This time eight years ago:
Moaning about trains again

This time nine years ago:
Warsaw streets - Dolna, Polna, Rolna, Smolna, Wolna. Lost?

This time 11 years ago:
Ditches, landscapes, autumn

This time 12 years ago:
Golden autumn in Łazienki park