Arrived at the very fancy Polish station of Katowice without incident - for us.. There was a passport check in the Czech Republic, and a young man discovered he didn't have his passport, his mobile or any money! He was sharing the 6 person compartment next to ours with an Indian man (who was very helpful from what we overheard). They spoke in English as that was their common language. We shared our compartment with an Italian student.
  
From Katowice we caught a regional (only 2nd class) train to Trzebinia - I was surprised at how modern and smooth it was . However, we did have an interesting time finding the correct platform to get on it. Polish stations have platforms and tracks - I thought the board said platform 4 so we went there (the furtherest away) - to find tracks 8 and 10 and no board to say what trains were departing. So we walked back to the main area to check it was platform 4 and not track 4. Yes platform 4. About 4 minutes before the train comes in, the notice goes up on the board! 

The station at Trzebinia was a bit different! Very basic. When the train arrived, it had Oswiecim on the front (like a bus). This was a real old rattler of a train.

Raining when we arrived at Oswiecim. Astra Apartments were easy to find - just a few hundred metres from the station. Kristina and her husband welcomed us and showed us around - left luggage, pool/games room, outdoor setting, laundry, communal kitchen! Great room with a fridge, jug, coffee etc - more like an Australian motel room .

We went looking for a restaurant but the rain got heavier. Ended up at the Casablanca take-away near the station, but ate at a table. Ordered from the untranslated Polish section of the menu. Turned out to basically be chicken schnitzel (Bryan) and pork schnitzel (me) with chips, red cabbagge and coleslaw. We also had some sweet cheese pierogis. Couldn't eat all the chips. All very cheap - 40 zlotties is about $A14. Watched the news on TV - Paris is flooded. Had a chat in broken English with the girl who worked there, after the rush was over.

The walk to Auschwitz in the morning was only 1.9 km, but it took a little longer than expected. There were rroadworks and it was so muddy we had to make a detour. (We also took a shortcut which proved to be in the wrong direction. Lol) Then we had to figure out what to do when we got there. It was early enough that we didn’t have to take a guided tour. Entry was free, but we still had to get a ticket . Backpacks haed to be put in the baggage room and then we had to go through security. We spent almost 2 hours there. Then reclaimed the backpack and caught the free shuttlebus to Birkenau. Were not allowed into Birkenau with a backpack. So it was back on the shuttlebus and a walk back to Astra Apartments to pick up our bags. 

We'd sèen documentaries on Auschwitz and Birkenau, but actualy being there was something else. Despite the crowds (back to back tours with a lot of individuals like us), there wasn't a lot of noise.

The train to Krakow was another old one. Krakow Glowny is a big station with a big mall (Galleria) running from it to the start of the Old Town. It had started raining again, so we just walked as far as the market square, saw some folk dancing and listened to some music. Had a fabulous meal and watched everything happening ..... Bryan had the duck and I had the pork spare ribs; plus dessert.