Dear All, You are given not-so-rare a chance to witness my unsurpassed ability to turn simple things into mind-boggling puzzles, or, in other words, attached please find the 1st edition of my "How to get from the railway station to the University campus in under 12 hours" guide. Although this version is to be considered preliminary, I am sending it out tonight because I can well imagine that some of you need this information right now and may not be able to access your email accounts in the few days before the meeting. Tomorrow I am going to check the connections again and send out an updated version, if it turns out that this one is not precise enough. Enjoy! Piotr ------------------------------------------------------------ GENERAL INFORMATION: If you want to take a taxi from the airport or the railway station, make sure that you order it at the information desk there, rather than using those which wait just outside - that should save you quite a lot of money... As far as the Central railway station is concerned, there is one more option: if you exit it on the eastern side (the one closest to Palac Kultury, the huge ugly building which you cannot miss) and continue some 100/150 metres in the direction of Palac Kultury, you will see groups of taxis waiting there - these are safe to use as well. RELEVANT ADDRESSES: Hera hotel: Belwederska 26/30, phone: 841-02-54. University campus: Krakowskie Przedmiescie 26/28. PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION: Day bus/tram/underground fare: 2 zl per trip (of any length and duration). Night bus fare: 6 zl. You can purchase tickets on the bus/tram - then, for the day ticket you have to pay 2.20 zl (*exact* change), and you can only do it before the bus leaves and not when it is in motion. You can also buy tickets in the many kiosks that you can find in the main hall of the station and in the underground passages. When at the station or on a bus/tram near it, please make sure to guard your belongings. Many pickpocket gangs are reported to operate in that area. The following is a sketchy map of the relevant places: (you may want to toggle monospaced view in your message editors to get the picture right) (North) University | Airport ---- Railway Station ---- Rondo de Gaulle'a (and EMPiK) | hotel The relevant routes are: 1) Airport - Rondo de Gaulle'a ("De Gaulle Roundabout", I am going to use the Polish name, because this is what you are going to look for) 2) Railway Station - Rondo de Gaulle'a 3) Rondo de Gaulle'a - hotel 4) Rondo de Gaulle'a - University 5) hotel - University 1. How to get to Rondo de Gaulle'a from the airport: Use bus no. 175 from the airport (this is a _long_ trip!) - in case it is impossible for you to read the name of the bus stop, this is the second stop after the stop right after a huge roundabout between the Forum hotel (brownish and tall to your right) and Palac Kultury (grey, monstrous and ugly behind you to the left), or the third stop after the one between the Mariott hotel to your right and the Central railway station to your left; behind the station, Palac Kultury looms). At Rondo de Gaulle'a, the 175 bus takes a turn to the left into Nowy Swiat street, and this is where you should get off if you're going to the hotel; stay on it if you're going straight to the campus. 2. From the Central railway station to Rondo de Gaulle'a This is very much a subpart of the trip from the airport. You can catch the 175 bus across the street from the station (this is the best choice if you want to go straight to the University campus). You can only get there via an underground passage. You can also catch _any_ tram (no. 9, 7, 25, 42, etc.) going in the direction of the Forum hotel (this is also the direction of 'Praga' and 'Centrum' as some signs may say) and get off on the 3rd stop. The landmark useful in getting both to the campus and the hotel is a tall building at the corner of Aleje Ujazdowskie and Nowy Swiat, with a sign on it saying "EMPiK". To get to it from a tram, you have to cross the street to the left, facing the direction in which the tram is going (i.e., the tram is going eastward, and you need to go to the north). To get there from the 175 bus, you basically need to cross the street after you get off on Nowy Swiat street. 3. Rondo de Gaulle'a - hotel Once you are beside EMPiK, walk a few paces to the north, along Nowy Swiat street - there you need to catch a bus no. 116 or 195 (going south). After some three (long) stops, the street will begin to descend. The Hera hotel is at the bottom of that descent, on the left, before the crossroads. The bus will continue till after the crossroads. 4. Rondo de Gaulle'a - University campus NOTE: the easiest way to the University straight from the railway station is to catch the 175 bus. It turns to the left on Rondo de Gaulle'a and continues towards the University. Getting there from the roundabout: The bus stop you need is on the side of Nowy Swiat opposite EMPiK, somewhat to the north. Most of the buses there go past the University, for example 503, E2 (1 stop), 116, 195, 175 (2 stops). 5. Hotel - University Get on either the 116 or 195 bus. The campus is some 7 stops away (yes, one more than if you were going in the opposite direction).