Friday morning our plans were to travel to Bolesławiec to buy some Polish pottery. Our trip was long:

1. A 90-min train ride from Krakow to Katowice
2. An hour wait for a bus
3. An hour-long bus ride from Katowice to the airport
4. A car rental
5. A drive back to Katowice
6. A 3-hour drive to Bolesławiec
7. A mad dash around town to find information about the right pottery warehouse before they closed

We got to the pottery store at 4:20 pm. They closed at 5 pm. A German tour bus showed up right at closing time, so they stayed open for an extra half hour. Elisa and I used all the time to pick out a freaking cool tea set. We got some other fun stuff too.

For dinner we strolled around the center square and tried really hard to locate the source of a good crepe smell. We gave up and settled on really good pizza. The town square was really colorful. We hardly met anyone who spoke English or even German.

Our little compact car took 100 zł of gas (about $40) to fill up after the 3-hour drive. That was a surprise!

• Photos of Boleslawiec