Last week's query:

Any tips on Warsaw, Kattawice or Krakow, Poland? I'm going on business in November and haven't a clue where to go or what to do for fun. Or, more importantly, where and what the great buys are. Any ideas?
-- MARJORIE BUCKHOLTZ

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Our road warriors' responses: Be sure to go to the Jama Michalika -- it's a one-of-a-kind coffeehouse decorated in secession style. U Muniak is a good jazz club. The entire area around the main square is safe, attractive and filled with interesting things to see. For art aficionadoes, the Wyspianski Museum (my favorite) and the Czartoryski Palace Museum are well worth seeing. Wierzynek is a good restaurant (said to be the oldest in Europe). And anyone who has half a day to spend outside the city should take the train to the Wieliczka salt mine and take the three-hour tour.
-- Barrie Trinkle

I work in Eastern Europe year-round, and spend a great deal of time in Krakow, Katowice and Warsaw, so I think I can help. Krakow is the best of the three places to visit in all respects: beauty, history, sites and shopping, but all three are worthwhile.

The best buys are amber and silver jewelry and crystal. Very cheap and very good quality. You can find leather deals as well (bags, shoes, etc.), but these are not as easy to come by as before. Toys for children are also inexpensive and well made. Visit the old town square in Krakow, where you will find the Rynek Glowny market. The shops surrounding the square are very good too (crystal). Visit the Royal Castle and make a side trip to Auschwitz. For a good meal, dine at Cyrano De Bergerac (phone: 11-72-88) just off the main square. Good hotels are the Elector, the Frankouskie and the Forum (ask for a room overlooking the river and the Royal Castle).

By train (50 minutes and at a cost of only $7) you can get to Katowice, which has improved drastically over the past two years and is no longer a run-down, coal mining, gray city. Due to the emergence of Krakow as a major tourist and business destination, Katowice has made the effort to spruce itself up. Not much crystal shopping to be found here, and the best amber and silver is in the hotel shops. Stay and shop at the Hotel Warsazwa. There are some good shoe shops and general clothing shops where leather accessories are cheap and good, but that's about it. Wrangler and Lee jeans are cheap for European prices but probably not as cheap as in the U.S. Places to eat: A Dong Chinese (one of the best Chinese meals I've ever had), the Joker Piano Bar (NYC wine bar style with good food) and CELT, good Polish food, mainly fish and meat.

Warsaw: a capital city that isn't very unique but with lots to do and see as it is transforming every day in front of your eyes from a run-down, overly bombed city to a modern-day European capital city.

Sorry if this is too much information but these places are like a second home to me. Hope the above is helpful. Oh -- and pack warm clothing, I just returned from there and it is freezing!
-- Stephanie Sloser-Eldred

I live in Warsaw and work as an air-personality on Channel 3 of Radio Poland. Don't know much what kind of fun you can find in Katowice or Krakow, but during my show tonight I will ask my listeners and they might have something to say. I will forward this to you.

As for Warsaw itself -- depends on what you are in to, really. Visiting the Royal Castle might be fun, if you are into sightseeing. If you are not, you can try one of many nightclubs or restaurants with diverse food -- from typically Polish to Chinese, Mexican or Turkish and Greek. Shopping might be fun, too, because we are not short of shops. Depends on whether you are looking for something specific or just want to find a bargain.

Official information on the sights, places to stay and eat you can find in City Guides available in bookshops, hotels, airports and other tourist places.

More details from my listeners follow:

WARSAW:

When visiting Warsaw, the listeners of Channel 3 of Radio Poland suggested you should go to:

1. CHMIELNA Street. It is in the very city, between the Centrum Department Stores and Nowy Swiat Street. Chmielna Street is a famous commercial street with many galleries with silver goods and other stuff. On the corner of Chmielna Street and Nowy Swiat Street check Arka Gallery with weird sculptures made of nails or paper.

2. THE PALACE OF CULTURE AND SCIENCE -- the tallest building in Warsaw, in the very center of Warsaw. Go to the 30th floor for a panoramic view of the city. There is a cafe up there, too.

3. THE CENTRAL POST OFFICE at Swietokrzyska Street, next to Warsaw Hotel, in the city. This is just a real post office but everybody's always surprised to see the particular number system applied there for the customers. Plus, the interior design was based on the colors of the rainbow.

4. HARENDA HOTEL. Located above Harenda Club, at Karasia Street, near Krakowskie Przedmiescie Street, next to Polski Theater, close to N. Copernicus Monument. Recommended for its Apartament Suite with old stylish furniture and Jacuzzi. Costs 260 zlotys per day ($75). Downstairs there is a pub, in the basement -- jazz club Harenda.

5. GEANT SUPERMARKET -- a supermarket resembling Shop Right or Winn Dixie.

6. ELEFANT PUB at Bankowy Square, a little north of the city, close to Capitol movie theater. Recommended for the dish of fried camembert cheese.

7. CASA VALDEMAR at Mokotowska Street, close to Piekna Street, slightly south of the city. It is a restaurant specializing in old Polish peasants' food. Very good service, great food, but a bit expensive.

8. SANTORINI -- Greek tavern at Egipska Street on the right side of Vistula River. Very good and very popular; you have to make a reservation to get a table. Phone 672-05-25 (if calling from outside Warsaw, add 0-22 before the number).

9. EL POPO -- Mexican food at Senatorska Street, a little north of the city. Great food, clever design.

10. METRO MILANO -- Italian food at Marszalkowska Street (in the very beginning of the street), south of the city. Run by Italians. Interior design in the '50s style.

11. OUT OF AFRICA -- shop and cafe at Freta Street, in the Old Town, close to the Barbican. Unusual shop with hundreds of coffee brands where you can make your own mix, grind it and take it with you or drink on the spot. The cafe's menu offers dozens of different coffees.

12. TEA SHOP at Nowy Swiat Street, close to Dobra Street, in the city. Dozens of tea brands to take away or drink on the spot. The shop also offers various accesories for tea making and drinking, including the original sugar cane.

13. ARTISTIC KITCHEN inside Ujazdowski Castle, close to Na Rozdrozu Square, south of the city. Restaurant with such dishes as "Green frying-pan baked as a whole" or "Ice-cream with moustache" (made of cucumbers!).

14. CAFE NA ROZDROZU at Na Rozdrozu Square, south of the city, recommended for the best apple pie in town.

15. CAFE BLIKLE at Nowy Swiat Street, close to Chmielna Street, in the city. Easy to notice, with a big sign-board. Come for the best doughnuts in the world!

16. OLD TOWN -- very close to the city. With old tenement-houses, stylish restaurants, shops and galleries. You can hire a horse-cab for a ride.

KRAKOW:

When visiting Krakow, the listeners of Channel 3 of Radio Poland recommend the following places:

1. CHLOPSKIE JADLO ("Peasants' Food") -- a restaurant with traditional old Polish food such as pierogi, czernina (soup made of duck's blood), meat with fresh cranberry, real Polish bread (of the kind you have probably never tasted, freshly baked, fragrant and with firm texture). Located 11 miles south of Krakow, on the road to Zakopane, a little beyond the village of Glogoczow. Phone: 21-85-20 (when calling from outside Krakow, add 0-12 before that number), 0-90-315-813 (cellular).

2. NOWINA -- luxurious restaurant in Glogoczow, several miles south of Krakow, on the road to Zakopane. Look for a sign leading to the restaurant as it is located a little off the road.

3. LOCH CAMELOT -- artistic club, cabaret, with shows during the weekends. Located at SW Jana Street, next to St. John Church, right of Market Square, in the city.

4. BIALY KOSCIOL -- a village a few miles from Krakow, on the way to Ojcow. Recommended for its hotel and restaurant with traditional Polish food.

5. DI PIETRO -- Italian restaurant with sensational lasagna. Located close to Wierzynek restaurant, on the corner of Market-Square and Grodzka Street, in the city.

6. MARKET-SQUARE -- square in the Old Town with clubs, restaurants and shops. Located in the Center.

7. JANA MICHALIKOWA -- famous cafe at Florianska Street, close to the Barbican, next to McDonald's, in the Old Town, in the City. My listener said: "Absolutely necessarily you have to taste Torcik Michalika -- sponge-cake with apples. Wash it down with espresso coffee."

8. PASIEKA -- mead restaurant, at Maly Rynek, close to the Market-Square, in the city. Recommended for its wide selection of mead brands, served also warm and with spices.

9. WIELICZKA -- in a town nine miles away from Krakow. The most famous salt mine in Europe. To visit the mine, you need at least one full day.

10. MASKA -- stylish cafe at Szczepanski Square, under Stary Theater, in the city. Very popular among actors and artists, with the interior design reminding of stage scenography. Recommended for good food, especially fried camembert cheese and cheesecake with red currant jelly.

11. WAWEL CASTLE -- old royal castle, famous all over Europe. In the old town, in the city.

12. WAWEL BELFRY -- at the Wawel cathedral. Up on the belfry there is the biggest bell in Poland, called Sigismund's Bell. You should climb up the belfry, come to the bell, touch its clapper with your left hand and make a wish. The bell has the power to make it come true (as they say).

13. ARIEL -- a restaurant/cafe with traditional Jewish food. Located at Szeroka Street, 200 meters from Wawel Castle. In the evenings the food is supplied with artistic performances.

14. THE MAGIC CAB DRIVER. In the Market-Square in the Old Town you can hire a horse-cab that will show you around. However, among all the cab drivers there is one of whom they say "the magic driver in the magic cab with the magic horse ..." He is said to drive lonely in the streets of Krakow at night. You might catch a glimpse of him sometimes when the moon is bright enough ...

KATOWICE:

For those who plan to visit Katowice, the listeners of Channel 3 of Radio Poland recommend the following places:

1. CASTLE IN PSZCZYNA. Pszczyna is a small town about 18 miles away from Katowice with the reconstructed Castle of Pszczyna Princes, which now has a museum in a big park.

2. HUNTING CASTLE OF PSZCZYNA PRINCES -- very recommended. It is located not far from Pszczyna, near the village of Promnice, in the forests but with distinctive road signs leading to it. It used to be used by the local princes as a shelter during hunting expeditions. Now it has a hotel and restaurant, beautifully designed in wood. On the outside of the castle there is a big fireplace used for cooking game. Montserrat Caballe and Jose Carreras, among others, stayed in this hotel.

3. MARCHOLT -- at Warszawska Street. A restaurant with good food.

4. OPERA, PHILHARMONIA HOUSE & DIVERSION THEATER in Chorzow, 4 miles away from Katowice. They stage many plays, performances and musicals, such as, recently, "Evita."

5. ITALIAN DIVERTIMENTO -- club/restaurant in the center of Myslowice, not far from Katowice, on the way to Krakow. Easy to find, it is located in the very center at the main street. The club offers elegant food and artistic performances.
-- Beata Pawlikowska