Dec 23 to 28
Poland

Dec 23
London to Olesnica

A horribly early morning - 6 am - a five minute walk to the tube and then a ride across London to Tottenham Hale, where we caught the Stanstead Express. This was a bit grubby, new ones are to be introduced in May, but it whisked us across the frozen fields of Essex and to the airport.

Check-in was reasonably quick and we then had some entertainment at security, firstly over Valerie's metal hips and then over the make-up bag which she had forgotten was in her cabin bag. We soon reached the airside, however, where we had coffee and I had a terrible bacon bap. After a little shopping for cold remedies at Boots (I thought I was going down with one), we went to the gate and joined the queue.

Tottenham Hale	Katowice Airport

We were summoned aboard, got as far as a draughty stairwell and then stopped for about ten minutes. Once we were aboard, it was a bit cramped but not too awful and the cabin staff were good. We took off about ten minutes late and all was going well until the driver announced that Wroclaw Airport was covered in dense freezing fog and we would have to divert to Katowice, about 250 k from our original destination.

We landed there and waited for a few minutes while the cabin crew sought instructions. They then told us that a bus would appear in 30 to 40 minutes to drive us back to Wroclaw. We walked into the terminal, found some food and I found some cash in a machine. Valerie found that the machine liked neither her nor her card and it refused to give her anything. We then sat and waited for our bus.

Much to my amazement, it arrived outside the terminal almost exactly on schedule and we all piled aboard. Whilst we were even more cramped than we had been on the plane, we made the best of it and tried to see out of the windows as we hurtled off into the night. It would have been interesting to see the scenery but, after the first few minutes drive, all we could see were the lights. Right: Limited views from the bus

We waited for our lift at Wroclaw	Our saviour

After slightly less than three hours, we arrived at Wroclaw airport, climbed out of the bus and grabbed our bags.

It has to be said that Ryanair performed brilliantly in trying circumstances that were not of their making. An exchange of phone calls revealed that our lift was still about half an hour away, crawling through thick fog and heavy traffic. We had a coffee, which was very presentable, and waited. I watched the pretty girls, ie almost all of the girls in the terminal. Poland certainly does appear to have more than its fair share.

Aga and her father arrived, we climbed into the car and drove for more than an hour in the ice, fog, road works and traffic. Facing this trip twice in the day was beyond the call of duty. I would have felt guilty but it is their weather!

We arrived at the house, which had lots of snow piled up on the street outside. Inside, it was large, elegant and of the highest quality, both in design and in finish. There was lots of beautiful wood and it was very well insulated.

Dinner was large and good. I was given a guided tour of the house, including the vodka and preserves cellar, and was then delivered to my hotel about a mile away.