Carol Pucci: Stretching dollars in Europe

The dollar's value is plummeting overseas, but there are still affordable ways for savvy travelers to eat, drink, sleep and see the sights in style.

Seattle Times travel writer Carol Pucci visited Europe for two weeks and sent dispatches on how to take the sting out of record-low exchange rates. Read her reports from London, Paris, Krakow and Amsterdam.

London, Feb. 25

Is London the new Japan?

The scariest thing about being an American in London right now — other than continued snow showers in the forecast (ah, the joys of off-season travel) is looking at the price of anything in pounds and knowing that it's roughly double that amount in U.S. dollars.

London has always weighed in as a wildly expensive city, but if you haven't been here in a while, prepare for mega sticker shock. The general jaw-dropping costs of everything from a hotel room to high tea at Harrods have been compounded by the dollar's 15 percent decline against the British pound in the last two years.

Here are a few examples: A glass of Kendall Jackson Chardonnay in the lounge at the National Portrait gallery is 6 pounds or $11.40. The meter drop for a London black cab is two pounds — that's $3.80 just to get into the taxi. A four-mile trip costs 9 pounds, about $17. If you want money left over for lunch (don't even think about the wine), embrace the concept of public transportation.

My train ticket on the Gatwick Express for the half-hour ride from Gatwick Airport into Victoria Station was 12 pounds, $22.80 at the current exchange rate of $1.90 — not cheap, but a bargain compared to the taxi fare of around 65 pounds &8212; $123.

An all-day Travelcard for transportation on the London Underground and buses is 6 pounds, about $11.50 ($9 if you're a late-riser and willing to travel after 9:30 a.m. weekdays. This is a good deal considering you can ride as much as you want in a two-zone area that covers most of the tourist sites. I plan to use mine to put together a do-it-yourself, on-off riverside tour of South Bank on the RVI, a special bus (with disabled access) that runs every 10 minutes from Covent Garden, across the Thames River, past the London Eye, the Tate Modern, Shakespeare Globe Theatre, London Bridge and the Tower of London.

Finding reasonably priced lodging is the biggest challenge in London. I gulped when I flipped through Gourmet Magazine's March issue on London just before I left Seattle. Most of the author's favorite hotels were in the $400 and up per night range.

Even a basic double room with shared bath at one of my favorite budget hotels, the Vicarage in Kensington, is $145. This is why my spirits soared when I arrived at Victoria Station yesterday from Seattle, transferred to the Underground and road the District Line to Chiswick Park where I'd booked a $70 room ($100 would be the price for two) in the home of a retired Irish woman named Bridget.

Chiswick is a 25-minute straight shot on the Tube into the theater district and other parts of Central London. Some might view that as an inconvenience, but in London, proximity to an Underground station is what matters most when it comes to getting around, and I like the idea of connecting with a local and staying in a real neighborhood instead of a tourist district.

My single room on the third floor of Bridget's brick townhouse is quiet and spacious. Picture a bedroom in your grandmother's house: There are two twin beds with down comforters, an antique dresser and wardrobe, TV, two mirrors, a bricked-up fireplace and a tea and coffee maker. Six rooms normally share two bathrooms and three toilets, but last night I was the only guest (more are arriving today from Italy and Spain), so I had them all to myself.

This morning, I sat in Bridget's dining room watching the snow falling as I ate a breakfast that will hold me most of the day — eggs, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, a banana, cereal if I wanted it, a pot of tea and a pitcher of orange juice.

I booked online from Seattle through London Home-to-Home, an agency that finds tourists B&B accommodations in private homes. These types of accommodations aren't for everyone. There's no elevator or disabled access and the London Underground seems to be in a constant state of disruption these days, with parts of some lines closed for repairs on weekends — a case for staying closer into town. But if you're on a budget, a room in a private home like this one is a better value and far more comfortable than a cheap hotel. See www.londonhometohome.com for information on prices and photos of some of the homes, or contact any of the members of the London B&B and Homestay Association at www.bbha.org.uk.

Seventy dollars a night for my room leaves me $55 a day for other things out of the $125 per day budget I've set for myself as I travel from London to Paris, on to Krakow and to Amsterdam over the next two weeks.

Doing anything theater-wise seems prohibitive — if I also want to eat.

Even tickets at the Half-Price ticket booth on Leicester Square are $35 to $40 plus a $4.50 service fee. With luck and time, it's often possible to do better by going directly to the theater box office.

I struck gold a few hours after arriving yesterday. Killing time while waiting for a bus in the West End theater district, I walked over to Theatre Royal Drury Lane and snagged a 10-pound ($18.87) peanut gallery seat for a Saturday matinee of The Producers. The seat is in the front row of the third balcony and has what's called a restricted view, which the ticket clerk assured me will be fine as "long as you don't mind leaning over the railing." Not to worry. It's a musical. I plan to mostly sit back and listen.

My expenses, not counting my Gatwick Express ticket from the airport, for my first day in London were $70 for my room, $13 for transportation, $18.87 for a theater ticket and $13.30 for a late afternoon Ploughman's lunch — a huge platter of of greens, apples, English cheeses, veggies, pickles and slaw at Chandos Pub near Trafalgar Square — for a total of $115, not bad considering I was jet-lagged and had no appetite for dinner.

Sunday, I'll see what a few more dollars buys in lodging when I move to the 825-room Copthorne Tara Kensington Hotel, a half-mile from Harrods, which I booked by bidding on Priceline in Seattle for $98.88 including taxes.

I've been to London many times in the past 20 years, and one price that has stayed surprisingly about the same is airfare. Off-season travel has its disadvantages (such as weather) but also many advantages. My round-trip fare from Seattle was $550 in 1985. This year it was $557, and the plane was only about one-third full. Nearly all of us were able to stretch out across three seats. Most of the passengers were British, no doubt on their way back from enjoying an off-season holiday of their own in what's become Europe's bargain-basement destination — the U.S.

London, Sunday, Feb. 27

What kind of room will $98.88 buy in London?

Tonight is my last night in London and I'm moving up several notches in style to an 825-room four-star hotel in posh Kensington for just $29 more than I paid per night the last three days for my B&B room with a shared bath in a private home in Chiswick.

Two words about bidding on Priceline. It works.

My editor, Terry, was bragging one afternoon last month about how he snags fancy New York hotel rooms on Priceline for $150 or $175 — a bargain by his way of thinking. I thought I'd try it, too — only I thought I'd leave off the 1 and bid $75 for a four-star hotel in London.

I picked three areas I liked (Bloomsbury, Westminster and Kensington), ignored Priceline's suggested retail price of $184 and punched in $75 ($98.88 with taxes).

In less than five minutes, a message popped up in my in-box, saying my price was accepted by the Copthorne Tara Kensington, a big, modern hotel about a half-mile from Harrods in a neighborhood surrounded by nice shops, restaurants, pubs, bookstores.

If there are any bargains to be had in London, this qualifies. I don't know that I'd call the Tara a four-star (Expedia rates it 3.5 and Orbitz calls it a 3), but it's a fine hotel and it's a deal. The hotel was asking $131 on its own Web site and rates on Orbitz, Expedia and Laterooms.com (which said the normal rate was $420!) were in the $151-$153 range.

Needless to say I won't be doing anything but sleeping here. The kind of English breakfast that came free with my room in Chiswick cost $30 here. It should be a fine evening nevertheless.

Eating London

When Kim Ford of Florida and Kerry Elling of Colorado arrived in London the other day for the start of their vacation together, they couldn't wait to get started exploring, but first, they needed lunch.

"As soon as we got here, we went to Harrods,'' Ford, 38, told me when we met on a walking tour yesterday. The two friends split soup and a sandwich and ordered two diet Cokes. The bill was $47.50.

"That was our first meal, so we really weren't educated yet,'' she laughed. The friends quickly decided on a meal strategy: Fill up on the free breakfast included in the price of their hotel, pick up a grab-and-go snack for lunch and spend their precious pounds on a relaxing dinner at a neighborhood place rather than a tourist destination.

When it comes to eating out in London, expect to pay more than you would think reasonable, even for a big city. Given that, there are ways to eat well on a budget without having to go to grocery stores and picnic in your room.

For a gourmet, on-the-go weekend lunch, head to Borough Market (London Bridge Tube stop), in South Bank, on the other side of the Thames across from the Tower of London, where artisanal food sellers join the wholesale produce sellers on Fridays and Saturdays.

Cafe Brood was selling hot mulled wine for $2.25 and foot-long grilled steak sandwiches with onions and salad for $7 when I walked through yesterday. The longest lines were in front a stand selling roast pork sandwiches served in foil trays with mango mustard, applesauce and salsa for $7.

There's lots to explore in South Bank. Use the RV1 bus from Covent Garden and time a visit to the Tower with lunch at Borough, a tour of the quirky Bramah Tea & Coffee Museum and a ride on the London Eye (No lines this time of year). To find out more about this area see www.southbanklondon.com.

Another off-the-beaten path area worth a detour is London's East End, especially Brick Lane where dozens of Indian restaurants run by Bangladeshis compete with each other for customers. A friend and I were lured into Chutneys on Brick Lane for lunch today with offer of a free beer or wine with our meal, 20 percent off the menu price and free appetizer.

It wasn't the best Indian meal I've eaten, nor was it really all that cheap - about $20 each — but it was great fun to wander the area and spend some time exploring Spitafields Market where prices seemed reasonable on things that would make nice gifts to bring home — pretty bottles of loose tea for $6, brightly colored bamboo handbags for $20 and glass jewelry made by local artists. Info at www.spitalfields.org.uk.

Adding it up

I've spent an average of $122 a day over the past three days in London, eating well, visiting a few museums (all free), even splurging on a West End musical (Front row center seat, albeit in the third balcony and leaning forward on a railing to see), and a ride on the London Eye (no lines this time of year).

I consider yesterday about as perfect a day as anyone could spend here, despite the rain and cold. Here's how it added up:

Room and breakfast: $70
Transportation: $9.88
Latte at the Nero Caffe on High Street Kensington: $2.66
International Tribune: $2.28
A walking tour of Notting Hill (ala Julia Roberts) with London Walks (www.london.walks.com) :$10.45
Tuna melt and beer at the Elephant and Castle Pub: $10.83
Balcony seat for afternoon performance of The Producers: $19
Pasta and wine at Trattoria La Bardigiana near the British Museum: $20 (Friends paid, but this was my share).

Total: $126.10 (excluding the cost of the theater ticket which I paid for on Thursday).

Bottom line on London: If you've got your heart set on going, go. You can do it. London is hardly a value destination in terms of prices; it's value lies in the fact that its one of the world's most beautiful and historical cities.

Much of what there is to do here is free — watching the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, visiting the museums, trolling the markets, admiring the churches and monuments, walking in the vast city parks and exploring neighborhoods.

Next stop: Paris

London to Paris, Monday, Feb. 28

The Eurostar chunnel train speeds its way from London to Paris in three hours, including a 20-minute ride under water through a tunnel in the English Channel. It's the fastest way to get between the two cities, and also the most expensive.

It's door-to-door service from London's Waterloo station to the Gare du Nord in Paris, and it's worth the cost compared to the hassles of flying and the expense and time of getting to and from the airports. But, as with most everything, the cost depends on where and when you buy.

Whatever you do, don't make a ride on the Eurostar a last-minute decision. The walk-up price in London this morning was $283 one-way.

"If money is your priority, book it in in the U.S.,'' a ticket clerk advised.

I booked my ticket online in late December through Rail Europe (www.raileurope.com) for $90. Be prepared to have a $7 "premier train'' fee and a $10 shipping charge for sending the ticket added to that price.

To get this particular ticket you have to be willing to travel Monday-Thursday between 11 a.m.- 3 p.m. The cost goes up to $142 for peak-time travel on those days and $175 for travel any day or time of the week. Round-trip tickets are discounted.

One reader asks if it's feasible to use the Eurostar to go between London and Paris on a day trip. It is, but it won't leave you much time to explore. The trip takes three hours. You lose an hour going from London to Paris due to the time change and gain an hour on the way back.

The ride itself isn't remarkable for the scenery, but it's one of the smoothest you'll have in Europe, and depending on your perspective, the idea of spending 20 minutes in a tunnel under water can be either thrilling or paralyzing, especially when the train suddenly speeds up and then slows down as mine did today.

Not to worry. It's a quick 20 minutes, and when you emerge, you're an hour from Paris where today, it's sunny and clear!

Paris, Tuesday, March 1

If you've ever thought about coming to Paris during the last week of February or the first week of March (Chances are you haven't, because today, for instance, the high is expected to be a windy 36 degrees), it's not too early to begin planning next year's trip.

This week and last is school break time. Everyone with kids heads to the mountains to ski, and Paris empties out - no crowds, no traffic, no noise, no lines. Parisians I've talked to who live here say it's their favorite time of the year. Yesterday, I could have walked into any restaurant without a reservation, any museum without waiting and most any hotel without a reservation.

The euro, although edging up on the dollar another two cents this week, hasn't had the impact on prices for Americans, or at least it feels that way, that the pound has had in London. Nothing seems shockingly expensive, and so far, I don't see any problems in living well, very well, on $125 a day, a challenge that would be even easier for two sharing a room.

More on costs later, but first a few observations:

• Starbucks undercuts the traditional Parisian sidewalk cafes on your basic latte, or what's known as a cafe creme, or simply a creme in Paris. Still, I'd rather pay $1 or so more and drink mine at a cafe like the Phares near Place de la Bastille where I sat this morning, outside, warm and cozy on the heated outdoor terrace with a front-row seat. I was studying the women of Paris and how they dress for the cold. One wore a matching green beret and scarf while pedaling a bicycle with a baby in a pink snow suit in the back seat; another looked very smart in a black suede fur-trimmed poncho and boiled wool cap.

• Everyone's talking about the new book titled "French Women Don't Get Fat.'' As far as I can tell, it's true.

• Wine costs less than tea or coffee. A good glass of French red at a cafe or wine bar is $2-$3 compared to $4 or $5 for coffee.

• You can buy a pastry out of the window at any one of the tempting bakeries on just about every street corner, and bring it to a cafe to eat with your coffee.

• The French don't hate us. "I don't like American policies,'' a French friend told me today. "But I like Americans.''

• The French speak English and seem more than willing to do so - everyone I've encountered so far, from waiters to ticket sellers in the subway stations, has been friendly and helpful.

• A quick way to translate the cost of something from euros to dollars is to roughly add $1 for every 3 euros - so if the Plat du Jour at a restaurant is $10, figure $13 (or exactly $13.20 based on the current exchange rate).

Sleeping in style

The main reason I won't have much trouble enjoying Paris on $125 per day is that I'm paying $79 (The price would be $105 for two people) for a studio apartment at the Maison Zen, about a 10-minute walk from the Gare de Lyon or Bastille. It's in a Right Bank neighborhood filled with restaurants, cafes, shops, banks, grocery stores and a direct, 10-minute Metro connection to Notre Dame, the Louvre, the Champs-Elysees, and just about every other major site and museum.

The house is run by Polish-born Grazyna Perl and her husband, Jacob, who also operate a Zen meditation center on the first floor. There's a shoes-off policy and I woke up this morning to the smell of incense, but those were small inconveniences worth the quiet night I spent in my room furnished with a double bed, down comforter, marble-topped desk, modern kitchen stocked with dishes and wine glasses and modern, private bathroom and shower.

I almost hate to give this one away ... but more info is at www.maisonzen.com.

Private apartments and B&Bs fall under the category of alternative accommodations, something more people might want to consider, given the high cost of hotels with small, cramped rooms and noise. The Maison Zen usually rents only by the week, but if there's an opening between bookings, they'll take people for just a few days.

Paris, Wednesday, March 2

Bon Appetit!

Candlelight and jazz, little round wooden tables, mirrors and dark wood. The Cafe Hugo, tucked under the archways in a corner of the Place des Vosges, reminds me of a movie set. In nice weather, people gravitate to the sidewalk tables, but a cozy corner table inside is where I had my heart set on having dinner on my first night in Paris.

Like hundreds of cafes in Paris, the Hugo is a place you walk into without reservations and order what you like at whatever time you like. There's always what's called a "Formula'' menu written on a chalkboard listing a main course and a salad or dessert for $13-$15, and lighter dishes such as scrambled eggs with salmon, crepes and dinner-sized salads.

The waiter snaps down a white table cloth and brings a basket of fresh bread. My favorite is the warm goat cheese salad with fresh greens, two oozing rounds of cheese, sliced apples, tomatoes and ham. This and a glass of wine costs about $15.

Despite the dollar's 10 percent drop against the euro since I was here last year, prices in Paris seem more down to earth than they did in London, when it comes to eating, certainly, but also cultural events and admissions and just the basics of getting around.

The Paris Metro is my ticket to ride, especially in the wet snow that started falling today. A "carnet'' or package of 10 tickets good for both the Metro and buses costs $13.85, about $1.38 per ride.

You'll eat well here no matter what your budget. Pastries such as the pain du chocolate and sugar tarts at Paul on the rue Saint Antoine in the Marais are works of art, and sell for about what we'd pay for a scone or a couple of Top Pot doughnuts in Seattle.

The long baguette sandwiches displayed in glass cases in the boulangeries — $2.50 or $3 for delicious fillings such as Brie and tomatoes — make great, quick lunches. But, do as the French do and eat yours standing in one place or sitting on a bench. No one but tourists in a hurry walks around and eats at the same time.

For the best food discoveries, throw away the guidebooks and scout out the informal cafes and brasseries on your own. I was walking in the little Rue Saint-Severin in the Latin Quarter when I overheard a man tell his friends that the little Le Saint-Severin restaurant served the best onion soup in Paris.

A window table covered with a red checkered table cloth beckoned. I went in. This restaurant is in the heart of Tourist Central, but I was surrounded by locals. They were smoking, of course, and one had a dog along. Normally both would irritate me, but this was Paris and I was loving it, all warm and cozy with a steaming bowl of soup, thick with sweet onions smothered in Gruyere, a basket of crusty bread and a miniature pitcher of red wine.

Best of all was the bill — about $13.50, taxes and service included.

Paris, Thursday, March 3

There was a romantic photo in the International Herald Tribune this morning of a couple walking under the Eiffel Tower through gently falling snow.

Believe me, there's nothing romantic about walking around the streets of Paris with your umbrella turning inside out. It's raining wet snow so hard that even the fashionistas here for the Paris fall/winter couture shows seem to be having a hard time staying presentable.

Actually, it's not too bad, in one way. The weather has certainly taken the pressure off of finding new ways to coordinate my all black wardrobe. No one's dressing up. The bigger the scarf the better.

It was a good day for a long bus ride. I started out the morning taking the Metro to rue Rick Steves... oops, I mean rue Cler, a street Steves "discovered'' a while back where Americans now flock. Picked up something called a "pain creme'' for about 85 cents and took it to the cafe on the corner where I found a comfortable booth, ordered coffee and read the paper until the rush-hour crowds thinned. By the time I got on Bus 69, there were plenty of seats and not much traffic.

Steves recommends this route for a do-it-yourself sightseeing tour and he's right on. The bus traverses both sides of the river, passing the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, Notre Dame and other buildings until it reaches Pere Lachaise cemetery about 45 minutes later.

On board were Seattleites Jackie and Joel Smith. It's their first trip to Paris, having received free tickets on British Airways as compensation for their luggage being missing the entire time they were on a cruise last year.

So far, they're having a great time, despite the weather. They went to the Musee D'Orsay yesterday, and today planned a trip to the Louvre. Instead of doing the $8 breakfast in their hotel, they're trying out local bakeries. They took the bus from the airport into town, then the Metro to their hotel instead of a taxi, and they're more than pleased with their $110 room in the Hotel Champ de Mars, just off rue Cler.

"Paris is no more expensive than New York and I don't think we'd have a hotel like this for $110 a night,'' Joel said. "We paid 7 euros ($9.25) to get into the D'Orsay and we felt like we raced through even though we were in there three hours. Think about the Metropolitan Museum of Art. What would you pay to get in there?'' ($15).

My guide for the day was a 50-cent gem called l'official des Spectacles, a 200-page book that comes out every week and lists everything going on in Paris. Buy it at any newsstand.

I'd seen the big museums before so I use it now to scope out smaller gallery and museum exhibits. After the bus ride, I hopped back on the Metro and rode across town to the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation ($5.25) to see a special exhibit of the French photographer's works, including his famous photos of Jean-Paul Sarte in Paris in 1946; Igor Stravinski in his living room in 1967 and the artist Henri Matisse in 1951. Then, after a crepe break ($3.25) at a place called La Boulangerie de Papa, with Papa behind the counter stirring the batter, I popped into a few of the Left Bank galleries and found an exhibit of drawings by Jean-Jacques Sempe, the illustrator of New Yorker fame.

Now it's almost dinner time, and a friend and I are deciding where we will eat. Except for the weather ... another perfect day in Paris.

Paris, Friday, March 4

CHRISTOPHE ENA / AP Snow falls on the Champ de Mars in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Wednesday.

Everyone took off boots and put on sunglasses in Paris today. Sun and clear skies replaced the snow and sleet, reinforcing what I've always believed: There's really no bad time to be here.

I walked the grand boulevards of the Right Bank today after indulging in my favorite (non-budget) splurge: Breakfast at the Cafe Marly in The Louvre. Given the price of most hotel breakfasts, $13 is a bargain for the experience of having your coffee and croissants at a table overlooking I.M. Pei's glass pyramid or the museum's sculpture gallery.

The Marly is a place to see and be seen at lunch, especially this week with the Paris fashion shows underway, but mornings are quiet time and breakfast at the Marly is a relaxing way to start the day.

The Chanel show was just letting out when I walked along the rue de Rivoli. Everyone was carrying gray folders and little, white Chanel gift bags, and chatting on cell phones. This wouldn't be my favorite place to stay or eat in Paris. The restaurants and cafes are high-priced and the shops, if they're not selling Armani or Cartier, cater to those looking for boxer shorts with pictures of the Eiffel Tower on them. A walk around this area, however, always is magical. The Tuileries Gardens were covered with a light dusting of snow, but it was warm and sunny enough for several people to be sitting on benches eating lunch.

My bottom line on Paris: It's a much better value than London, given the exchange rates. You can eat well here for a few dollars or a few hundred and find a decent, comfortable hotel with a private bathroom in the $100 range.

Here's how my expenses added up yesterday:

Room: $79
Newspaper: $2
Transportation: $6.50
Yogurt, juice in my room: $1
Two coffees and a pastry at cafes: $7.50
Crepe with cheese for lunch: $3.50
Museum entrance:$5.20
Dinner with wine at the white-table cloth DeLacaze bistro near Gare de Lyon: $23.15

Total: $127.85

Tonight I'm off to Krakow. SkyEurope, a Bratislava, Slovakia-based discount airline, was having a sale a while back that I couldn't resist: 32 cents (that's right, 32 cents), one-way from Krakow to Amsterdam, my final destination before flying home to the U.S. (The Paris-Krakow portion was $80). Four types of taxes and surcharges brought the fare to a more realistic $32. Still, it was a bargain!

Krakow, Saturday, March 5

Good morning Krakow!

It was 4:45 a.m., 7 hours after I was scheduled to leave Paris on a SkyEurope flight to Krakow. I had made it to Poland all right, but not where I had been scheduled to arrive. I was at the train station. Alone. It was snowing. The station was closed.

It wasn't supposed to be this way.

Bad weather in Paris and fog in Krakow forced our flight to be diverted to another city about 75 miles away. We landed at 1:30 a.m. By 3 a.m., we were on a bus. The driver offered to let some of us off at the train station in Krakow instead of the airport.

Since my hotel was in the center of town, not far from the station, I had decided to take that option. People scattered quickly. There were no taxis. Within minutes, I was alone in a strange city, stuck outside in the cold with no Polish money and no way to get to my hotel.

Time for Plan B. I try to always have one...that and a cell phone that works internationally and at least two credit cards.

Salvation was the elegant-looking Hotel Euopejski across the tram tracks from the station. It too was dark except for its neon sign, but I rang the bell and a sleepy desk clerk came to the door. Yes, he had a room...with shower, TV, buffet breakfast in the morning. I would have paid anything, but the price was just $47. As soon as I got some sleep, I knew I was going to love this city.

I woke around 8 a.m., ate breakfast, asked the hotel to call a taxi and checked into the hotel where I was supposed to have arrived Friday night - the cozy, little Globtroter in Krakow's historic Old Town, about a five-minute walk to the main market square.

This is a 12-room gem in a 200-year-old building run by a man named Jack, who speaks excellent English, and his desk clerk, Peter Typa. My room has a comfy bed, shower, toilet, desk, wardrobe and a view of a sunny courtyard. The price is $40, no breakfast included, but I'm already making plans to try the apple pancakes tomorrow morning at the little restaurant across the street.

I've unpacked, withdrawn money from a cash machine, enjoyed harp music over coffee at the Kawiarnia Koworolski across from St. Mary's Church and am ready to start exploring. It's clear, sunny and beautiful. Think Prague without the crowds; Vienna without the high prices.

Poland is not yet on the euro. The unit of currency is the zloty, and the conversion rate is about 3 zloty to $1. If something costs 10 zloty, that's about $3.33.

Everything's cheaper here. I'm paying about $1 for an hour's Internet use, for instance, compared to $7-$8 in Paris and $4 in London. The taxi fare from the station into town was $3. The apple pancake I'm going to eat for breakfast tomorrow is $1.60.

Finally I see some shopping opportunities in sight. The old covered Cloth Hall across on the Main Square has been a market since the Middle Ages. Today, shopkeepers sell souvenirs. The most popular are chess sets carved from woods such as cherry and beech that sell from $8-$16.

Ah, yes. It is indeed a good morning in Krakow.

Krakow, Sunday, March 6

Krakow is a city made for winter. As a light snow fell this morning, I ate breakfast by candlelight at what immediately became my favorite cafe - Krakow, locals like to brag, has 240 cafes, bars and restaurants, the Cafe Camelot on Tomasza Street, near the Market Square.

A fire was burning in a wood stove in the corner and there were copies of the London Times on a table near the door. I ordered an open-faced sandwich of thick, black bread, rugala and Camembert cheese and a "milk coffee,'' a latte served in a tall glass with cinnamon sprinkled on top.

Krakow is full of surprises like this. Sure, there are plenty of places where you can eat heartier, traditional fare - bigos (sauerkraut with meat) and pierogi (ravioli-like dumplings filled with cottage cheese or cabbage), but Krakow is a young city that also caters to a university crowd with modern tastes.

If you like cities with a small-town feel that aren't really small towns, this is one. Krakow also is a city where you don't have to worry about personal safety or pickpocketing. Most young people speak English and there are enough museums, restaurants, cafes and other sites to keep you busy for days. There's a castle to explore, the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz is a day trip away and Kazimirez, the old Jewish quarter where I plan to have dinner tonight, is a half-mile walk from the Old Town.

The prices are right for anyone traveling on a budget. My breakfast this morning cost $4.50. Later, I stopped for coffee at another cafe and had a piece of cheesecake. The bill was $3.30. Lunch yesterday at a Georgian restaurant - something called a cheese pie, filled with grilled vegetables and a spicy, red sauce-salad and wine was $4.30. My expenses for everything yesterday, including my room, were $71.

If I had been carrying a camera today, here are a few pictures I would have sent home:

--A man on the square in a cap, blue parka and green jogging pants, singing the Ave Maria for spare change as the snow fell.

--The young woman with a stall set up at the far end of Florianska, Krakow's main pedestrian shopping street, who will write your name on a piece of rice and enclose it in a colored glass capsule for $5.

--My glass of hot beer, spiced with cloves and cinnamon, at the Cafe Botanica. Sip it with a straw and watch a fluffy pink head form around the rim.

--The street corner pretzel sellers bundled up in white coats as they stood behind their carts filled with obwarzanki, doughy, round treats sprinkled with poppy or sesame seeds.

--The man who dropped to the floor after too many beers and did push ups next to my table as I ate a pizza with pineapple and bananas, and read Newsweek by candlelight.

Krakow, Wednesday, March 9, 12:05 a.m.

Krakow to Amsterdam...almost.

I hadn't pulled an all-nighter since college. And now it looks like I'm in for my second in a week, thanks to SkyEurope, the Slovakia-based discount airline that promised to fly me from Krakow to Amsterdam tonight for 32 cents. It looks like I'm about to get my money's worth.

About 50 of us have been inside security at the Krakow airport for the past five-and-a-half hours waiting for the flight to take off. A few minutes ago a woman wheeled in a cart piled with Styrofoam containers filled with pork cutlets, french fries and juice courtesy of the airline.

With only a Pepsi machine inside security, we were happy to get some food, but we were still waiting on some news.

Finally an announcement.

"First Polish, then English," the Sky Europe man said as we crowded around him. "Take off is now scheduled for 1:40 a.m."

This means we'll arrive in Amsterdam around 4 a.m.

My Slovakian friend Angela in Seattle had warned me about SkyEurope, but I hadn't listened.

How could I resist a 32-cent fare that even when taxes were added in was only $32.

I'd like to say I learned my lesson, but I have a feeling I'll be flying the discount airlines again. Although maybe not SkyEurope.

In the meantime, I picked up some great tips on neighborhoods to explore in Amsterdam from a Dutch couple waiting here with me. And it's been fun watching a group of women entertain themselves by practicing a line dance.

Stay tuned. When I reach Amsterdam I'll keep you posted on what happens next.

Krakow, Monday, March 7

Dinner for $30 or $3

I'm beginning to think it's almost impossible to spend much money on anything here.

CZAREK SOKOLOWSKI / AP Diners sit outside Cafe Ariel in Krakow, Poland, in this 1997 file photo. The restaurant-hotel is located in Krakow's old Jewish quarter of Kazimierz.

Last night was a good example. I spent what you might call a "splurge'' evening at the Klezmer-Hois, a former bathhouse, now a restaurant in Kazimierz, Krakow's Jewish quarter where much of the movie, Schindler's List, was filmed.

My dinner - beet soup, chicken with ginger and honey, salad and wine in the restaurant's old world dining room - was $17. The cover charge for the Klezmer concert I had come to hear was $7. Since it was snowing, I took a taxi to and from my hotel for another $7, for a total of $31, and that is a lot of money to spend in Krakow.

Tonight, for instance, I ate for $3.15. This was for a large plate of pierogi, Polish ravioli stuffed with cheese or meat; soup with two halves of a hard-boiled egg floating on top and orange juice at the Bar Dworzanin, right off Market Square in the medieval town center.

There are lots of these little places tucked away in buildings around town. They're the nouveau version of the old Communist-style Bar Mleczany or "Milk Bars,'' plastic fork-and-knife cafeterias subsidized by the government to provide workers cheap places to eat.

Menus are in Polish so it helps to know a little of the language to be able to order. (I asked a friend to write down the name of some foods so I could recognize them on the list printed above the cash register). A woman behind the register takes your order, then you sit down and wait for the cook to call out that your meal is ready.

Unlike the Bar Mleczany on nearby Grodzka street where 50 members of a Russian tour group were in line earlier in the afternoon, the Dworzanian has some atmosphere. There was no music or candles, but there were fake flowers on the little wooden tables and the walls were decorated with ceramic artwork. No alcohol is served, but you can get a cappuccino for about $1. It's no wonder the Russians were lining up at the other place though. Prices were even cheaper - 35 cents for soup, 65 cents for cereal, $1.80 for a complete meal of chicken, soup and salad and 15 cents for milk.

Adding it up:

Here's one day's worth of my expenses in Krakow:

Single room with private bath at the Globtroter: $40
Breakfast at the Cafe Botanica (eggs with tomatoes, bread, latte and large orange juice): $4.50
Newspaper: $3.35
Coffee and cheesecake at the Cafe Larousse: $3.30
Hot spiced beer: $1.60
Entrance to the Czartoryski art Museum: Free on Sunday Dinner and concert at Klezmer-Hois: $24
Taxis: $7
Total: $83.75

Parting thoughts

Krakow corners the market on atmosphere, but it wasn't always that way.

"I remember when there were three restaurants on the Market Square and they all served the same thing,'' Marta Weigel, a former engineer turned tourist guide, told me today as we talked over coffee. Before the fall of Communism in 1989, Krakow "was gray, dark and not much of interest to visitors,'' she said. "In the 1970s, I couldn't even be here talking with you the way we are talking now.''

Much has changed. I recommend you come see for yourself.

Navigating Schiphol

If you have to be stranded in a foreign city at 4:30 a.m., Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport is not a bad place to be. That's what time my SkyEurope flight, scheduled to reach Amsterdam at 8 p.m. last night from Krakow, finally arrived today.

If you fly Northwest Airline's non-stop to Europe from Seattle, you'll end up at Schiphol (www.schiphol.nl). I think it's one of the best airports in Europe.

All the signs are in English. There's a "silence center'' if you need a little piece and quiet, lockers for your luggage and a hotel. My favorite places to catch a little rest are the red Big Bertha chairs.

All of these places are inside security, however, and I forgot about that when I claimed my bag and went outside to the arrivals hall. It was too early to bother the family of the hotel where I'm staying (I had already called earlier and canceled my reservation for the night), so I killed a couple of hours in the Jungle Juice Bar, the only place open in this section of the airport before 7 a.m.

A lot of people find themselves with several hours or more to kill at Schiphol between connecting flights, and wonder if they have time to go into Amsterdam.

The answer is yes, assuming you allow time to go in and out of passport control and security. The train into Amsterdam's Central Station runs every few minutes from the airport, takes about 15 minutes and costs $5.15 (compared to about $45 for a taxi). From there, you can walk around or take a tram to wherever you want to go. The Anne Frank house, for instance, is about a 15-minute walk from the station; the Red Light district and all the coffee shops that legally sell marijuana are practically at its front door.

Back to the euro

It's back to reality in terms of stretching the dollar after a few days in Krakow. I've been here only a few hours, but my initial sense is that doing this city on $125 a day won't be a problem. There's good value here, just as I found in Paris.

My choice for a cheap sleep is the charming Hotel Van Onna on the Bloemgracht canal in the picturesque Jordaan district, about a five-minute walk to the Anne Frank House and a 10-15 minute walk into the center of town.

A canal location is always the first choice in Amsterdam (do stay way from the busy Damrack and the area around the train station), but the hotels along the major canals have become expensive and the canals themselves more congested.

I can't imagine a nicer man than Loek van Onna who greeted me this morning in his bathrobe and slippers. He was more concerned that I get a nap than having me pay right away.

The rooms are simple, but newly renovated and spic and span. My single ($53) overlooks a quiet courtyard. There's a double bed (price for two is $105), a small bathroom with a new shower, toilet and sink and a wardrobe. No phone or TV, but breakfast is included. The van Onna takes cash only and doesn't book online. To make reservations, call and speak with Loek or one of his family members directly: 011-31-20-626-58-01.

Amsterdam feels familiar in a lot of ways, not because I've been here before, but because its laid back atmosphere and casual, friendly people remind me of Seattle.

There are hip, modern cafes and restaurants everywhere. After unpacking and catching a quick nap, I went for breakfast at a place called Bagels and Beans, part of a chain throughout Holland where any Seattleite would feel at home. For about $7, I had an Americano served with a pitcher of cream and a hot, whole grain bagel served with a pot of cream cheese and mound of forest ham.

In Paris, I bought some chocolate to bring back to the folks at work. But I ended up eating it to stay awake during the long layover. So today, at an outdoor market, I found a substitute: hemp lolly pops flavored with cannabis oil - six for $6.60.

Amsterdam, Thursday, March 10

Sex, drugs and fake police

Here are some answers to the questions everyone has about Amsterdam. They come courtesy of the Amsterdam Visitors Guide.

• Prostitution. Yes, it's legal and the prostitutes have a union. If you visit one of the women, the guide reminds you that they are not always women. If you're just touring around the Red Light District, looking at the women posing in the glass windows, "don't take pictures,'' the guide warns. "It might get you into trouble.''

• Soft drugs (marijuana). You buy it in coffee shops (not cafes) and it's legal if you are 18 or over. "When you feel sick after smoking or eating space cake, drink lots of water with sugar,'' the guide recommends. "Something sweet will put you right again."

• Fake police. "They approach tourists and identify themselves as Dutch police officers,'' according to visitors pamphlet. "Their objective is to find valuable belongings in your clothes. Read the identification carefully.''

The truth is that this is really just a small part of what Amsterdam is about. Outside the Red Light district and the area around the Central station, Amsterdam feels as safe or safer than any city and the sex and drug scene is pretty low key.

In the Jordaan, the area where I'm staying, for instance, there are more art galleries and off-beat boutiques than coffee shops, and I've seen no red lights above any doorways. Locals buy their stash at neighborhood places like La Tertulia, a family-owned shop on the Prinsengracht canal with waterside cafe tables and a mural of Vincent Van Gogh painted on the wall outside. A menu on the counter lists various prices for hash and weed along with banana shakes and cappuccino. You can buy a hash brownie for about $5.25, a single joint for $4.50 or about two grams of Orange Bud weed for $16.

Getting around

The weather is edging toward spring and it reminded me how walkable and compact Amsterdam is. Most everything of interest is around and in between four major canals that form a U around the historic center. I bought a three-day pass good for the trams and buses when I arrived ($14.50) but have hardly used it.

It always helps to have a local show you around, but how many people know someone who lives in Amsterdam? One of the best, almost-free things to do is to arrange a two-hour walking tour with Mee in Mokum, an organization of retirees who live here and offer guided walks in English ($4 donation).

I walked around with a nice gentleman named Jan, 71, a retired librarian who showed me around the oldest part of Amsterdam where the canal houses lean in and out as if glued together. Along the way we talked politics, why so many Americans are fat, took a picture at a stop where he took his first picture as a photography student in the 1950s and stopped for coffee at a historic cafe in an old lookout tower near the former city walls.

Adding it up

Amsterdam's not cheap, but neither is it a budget-buster. I've not had great luck with restaurants so far, not because of cost but because it's hard to find places that don't seem to cater mostly to the tastes of German tourists. Eet cafes, cafes that serve food as well as drinks, are apparently the places for inexpensive and good meals. I've yet to find a good one, but maybe tonight.

Here's what a day's worth of expenses looks like:

Room at the Hotel van Onna with breakfast: $53
Transportation: $4.29
Walking tour: $4
Lunch (sandwich with Brie cheese, tomatoes and lettuce and juice): $6.60
Coffee: $2.50
Newspaper: $2.65
Canal boat cruise: $8
Dinner (Turkish pizza, side of olives, wine): $10
Total: $91.04

Tomorrow, the Marriott

I really hate to leave my little room in the Jordaan, mostly because I love the neighborhood, but I realize that small hotels like the van Onna aren't for everyone. There's no elevator, phone or TV in the rooms and there's no AC which could be a problem in summer.

I made a $90 bid on Priceline a few days ago for a four-star hotel in the city center or museum quarter, and tomorrow night I have a room booked at the Amsterdam Marriott ($104 with taxes). It's near museums in a completely different part of town. The room is for one or two persons and the hotel is on several tram lines and across the street from the Leidesplein, Amsterdam's party central. Not really my scene, but if you like a familiar hotel chain and a room with all the usual amenities, this looks like a good deal. Several online booking sites listed the room for $220.

Amsterdam, Friday, March 11

Eten & Drinken

Many Dutch words are similar to English. Anyone would recognize these two. The best places to have a drink and soak up some Dutch ambiance are the brown cafes, cozy little bars with walls traditionally yellowed by tobacco smoke (now sometimes just painted that way). A beer or a glass of wine costs around $2.50 and most serve bar snacks such as plates of meats and cheese and grilled sandwiches called tosties.

Cafes that also serve meals are called eet cafes, and they can be very good deals when it comes to a casual lunch or dinner. I found a good one last night called Oude Wester near the Anne Frank House where I ate a big platter of shelled mussels cooked with wine and vegetables, a salad, boiled potatoes and wine for about $24.

If you want coffee, go to a cafe, not a coffeeshop. You can get coffee in a coffeeshop, but the real reason to go to one of these is to smoke or buy marijuana. Some also serve snacks. All of them are marked on the outside window with a little green and white symbol.

Bottom line

My expenses over the past two days in Amsterdam averaged about $123 per day, including my room, three meals a day, a three-day pass for the trams and buses, train fare to and from the airport, one taxi ride, newspapers, coffee, drinks and a train ticket to Delft for a day trip.

The value of the dollar against the euro is dropping as we speak. It's down two cents since I started this trip two-and-a-half weeks ago, and if it continues to slide, and most experts think it will, the costs I've come up with could be another 5 to 6 percent higher by summer. Still, Amsterdam seems to offer good value and it's a city that's worth at least a couple of days on your way to or from Europe, or more depending on how much time you set aside for museums and day trips around Holland.

A postscript on my room at the Amsterdam Marriott, booked through Priceline for $104 including taxes. It's great and it was ready by 10:30 a.m. today.

The room is at the far end of a hallway, a long way from the elevator, but that's the only drawback. The bed is huge and comfortable. The bathroom is stocked with bath products and the hotel is conveniently located near several tram stops. It's near the major museums, but prices at the neighborhood restaurants and cafes are higher because this is a prime tourist area. It's not quaint, but it is comfortable, and for two persons sharing, this would be quite the deal.

Amsterdam, Saturday, March 12

Next stop: Seattle

I'm headed home to my favorite city in the world today, but before I leave, a quick wrap-up on my impressions of the four cities I visited in the past two-and-a-half weeks.

I was able to sleep, eat and enjoy all the cities for $125 a day or less without feeling deprived in any way. I didn't have time to get to a lot of museums, churches, palaces, etc., but if I had, admission prices would have pushed my expenses higher.

It would have been possible, of course, to spend less. If you're young and planning to backpack through Europe, you could stay at youth hostels, eat at take-away places and have a great time for half this amount. The purpose of my trip was to test the reality of doing Europe with a bit of style, staying in comfortable places and enjoying good food without spending wads of cash.

Many people choose London for their first trip overseas because there are no language problems. If I were concerned about prices, I'd choose Amsterdam. The Dutch speak English, the dollar buys more and the city has a very European feel.

Paris is Paris and it's getting easier all the time to get around and make yourself understood. The French speak English and they're much better about it than they were a few years ago.

If you're an experienced traveler, think about branching out and visiting Eastern and Central Europe. Krakow was pure delight and very easy on the wallet.

I'll have more to say in the coming weeks in the print version of The Seattle Times about this trip and about how we're being received as Americans. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to getting home and enjoying a coffee at my favorite cafe, the B&O Espresso on Capitol Hill where an Americano is a bargain at $1.64.