Krakow train station will always hold a special affection for me, as this is where I landed after a long-haul Manchester-London, then London-Krakow coach journey in September 1997. And that wasn't the end as I had another 2-3 hour journey to Nowy Sącz in the foothills of the Tatra Mountains where I would serve some kind of two-year 'apprenticeship' in the EFL trade.
Still remember a kind of zany American character called Dr. Nonewicz eulogising about the Krakow train station facade above:
"Just take the trouble to have a look at that building from some distance away, and then just
think that it's only a train station. Yeah, it wouldn't be out of place in Vienna, would it?".
Yeah, I think the good doctor's eulogy sums up the place perfectly, and these wise words have echoed in my ears over the past 16 years or so (not all spent in Poland, as I had four interesting years in Canterbury, Kent, and eight disastrous months back in my hometown of Bury, Lancashire).
Was back in Krakow for the first time in seven years or so a couple of weekends ago on a frenetic daytrip with a friend from Ireland over in Poland with his family. Upon entering the train station on the last leg of the Warsaw-Krakow trek, I immediately reacquainted myself with the Water Tower alongside the tracks:
For some reason, I've always viewed this as a massively underrated and somewhat beautiful building that can almost hold its own with the many incredible buildings scattered round the Rynek and labrynthine streets of Krakow Old Town.
Moreover, when in Krakow a couple of weekends ago, I also loved the black-and-white mural below which was on the wall of the massive shopping centre that now lies alongside the train station:
Love the way that the light in the foreground, inside the train station grounds, kind of blends in with the mural, outside the train station grounds, in the background. Whether intended or not, this juxtaposition seems to work very well.
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