Czech Rep. and Poland

My husband, Joseph, and I traveled to Berlin, Prague, Kraków and Warsaw, March 30-April 21, 2009.

In Prague and Warsaw you can use public transportation free if you are over 70 years old. The ticket sellers do not tell you this, but it’s in the fine print of the brochures that are printed in English. You need to have a picture ID that shows your age.

We would like to recommend Hotel Cloister Inn (14 Konviktska St., 110 00 Prague 1, CZECH REPUBLIC; phone +420 224 211 020, fax 210 800).

The inn is within walking distance of public transportation, Old Town, a laundry and places to eat.

It has an elevator. There’s a free computer in the lobby plus free coffee and tea. The price, which includes breakfast for two, varies by the days of the week and the season. We paid CZK10,832 (near $530) for five nights.

In Kraków, POLAND, we recommend taking a public bus to the Wieliczka Salt Mine. For us, it was easy walking down the many steps in the mine. You take an elevator back up.

We just missed the 10 a.m. tour, because of the long, slow line to get tickets, and were told there wasn’t another until 11. However, they ran a 10:20 a.m. tour in English. The tour cost PLN64 (about $21) per person.

Through our hotel in Kraków, we booked the Folk Show at Kawiarnia Restaruacja (45 Florianska St.). We didn’t think it was worth the PLN80 ($24) per person. The room was long and narrow, and only the few people right in front could see the two dancers; the three musicians were on a small stage. The Polish meal was a bowl of vegetable soup and a glass of beer.

We went to Auschwitz with a private guide, Marta Chmielowska (mobile phone 0603 668 008 or e-mail martachm@op.pl), whom we read about in Rick Steves’ Eastern Europe guidebook. We booked a tour with her through the Internet, paying PLN500 ($151) for the two of us.

We would recommend taking a group tour. It would be much cheaper, as the private guide only drives you there and you have another guide to go with you through the camp. We do recommend going to Auschwitz.

We liked the roof garden at the University of Warsaw Library (55/56 Dobra St.). There was no charge for going into the garden. We learned about it from the booklet “Warsaw in Short,” which you can get free from information centers. It includes information on museums, shops, events, hotels, tourist routes, Warsaw’s history and more.

In the sections “Cultural Events” and “Tourist Attractions,” the booklet includes the name, address, opening hours and cost of each event or attraction.

RACHEL BALDWIN

Anchorage, AK