In October, 2009 I went to Poland for a Plandampf, a steam event, arranged by the Wolsztyn Experience. I flew to Frankfurt, Germany, by way of Dallas Fort Worth, and met Graham, a friend from England. We drove out to Wolstzyn, in retrospect an error, we could have flown to Poznan and saved a day's driving. The rental car was a 1 series BMW, and since I like cars and had never driven a BMW, it wasn't all bad, though we did get ourselves lost trying to find our way out of the airport and getting going in the right direction. I have to say that an 800+ mile drive after being in an airplane all night might not be the smartest thing to do, but we made it OK. On the way, Graham, navigator in chief, found us a narrow gauge railway in Germany, just off the autobahn. As luck would have it, a train was due in a few minutes, so we stayed to watch it.
Wolstzyn seemed like quite a pleasant town, nicer than some of the villages along the railroad. Poland was under Soviet rule for many years, and some of the villages were quite bleak. However, our hotel was very nice, if a trifle odd, and the beer was excellent. We ate in several places around town and found the food to be very good. I actually gained four pounds over the course of the trip.
The Polish railway company allows access to the engine terminal, for a small fee, so we could wander around and soak up the atmosphere.
Chasing the train was interesting. The Poles have only recently been able to afford cars, the roads were perhaps not up to US standards and the standard of driving was appalling. High speeds, overtaking anywhere, never mind if somebody was coming the other way, or there was a bend. But we survived, although on the day before we left, I actually read the rental car agreement ( I must have been bored) and discovered that we were not allowed to take the car in to Poland. We left for Frankfurt the day before Grahams flight back to the UK, and went along back roads for part of the way, see a bit more of the country. We spent the night somewhere in Germany, in a very expensive hotel, and had a very nice, very expensive dinner. sadly, it was my turn to pay! We set off next morning, took the car back, Graham caught his flight, and I spent the night in a hotel near the airport. Dinner and a couple of beers in the bar and an early night. The flight home was uneventful, no screaming kids and I ending up back home in the late evening.
