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Mike and Beverly-Vstrom to Romania Ukraine Poland and more
It has been two years since our last (and fourth) motorcycle adventure in Europe. We are planning our 5th month-long adventure which begins on about May 15, 2016. We never intended to make 5 trips but Beverly noticed that there was a hole in our previous European travels. She can't believe that we were going to leave those countries behind. That was unacceptable so here we go again.
Our previous adventures can be seen at: **http://2seniorsonabike.blogspot.com included parts of England, Spain, Morocco, France, Andora, Switzerlandand Germany **http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/ride-tales/eastern-europe-two-v-stroms-59213 included parts of Czech republic, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania,Bosnia, Greece and Italy **http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/ride-tales/two-v-stroms-scandinavia-mike-64336included parts of Sweden, Norway, Finland, Russia, Latvia, Estonia andLithuania. **http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...bulgaria-75897 where we added Turkey and Bulgaria plus a little car trip to WW I and II sites. We were reminded that we didn't finish posting this trip. Hmmm, maybe we should finish it. https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1590/...0ea0616b_h.jpg2016 motorcycle trip by Beverly Whipple, on Flickr |
Count Down - One More Dayhttps://farm8.staticflickr.com/7742/...bac9785f_c.jpgDSC_4348
Beverly likes to see how small she can pack her personal items. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7462/...d263b393_c.jpgIMG_1489 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/142185260@N03/] Leaving our home behind for 5 weeks. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/...7bd540dd_c.jpgIMG_1495 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/142185260@N03/] Off we go. |
May 12
The flight from Seattle to Iceland was easy and we got some sleep. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7081/...cda679fe_c.jpg Arriving in Iceland. No, we are not lost. Iceland Air offers free stopovers so here we are starting our European tour in Iceland. Customs and Immigration was too easy. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7087/...aab45ac1_c.jpgDSC_4385 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/142185260@N03/] Iceland is an active Volcanic Island with a population of only 330,000 people. It is part of the EU and is the least dense country in Europe. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7107/...fa8ec686_c.jpgDSC_4394 We arrived early and had to wait for the car rental place to. Got a small Opel with 164,000 km on it. I was surprised how well it worked. We stayed in Reykjavik at an Airbnb place. Airbnb is a company that coordinates private people and travelers for places to stay. We thought we would try it on this trip. We stayed at Lara place which was walking distance to Downtown. Reykjavik is a small city that is certainly trying to develop the tourism industry. It has a small port and a significant fishing industry. Viking history is the theme. The whole country is an active volcano and thermal springs are all over the island. Iceland gets all its electricity from renewable sources. It feels like a very organized civilized place. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7759/...d31ba0f0_c.jpgDSC_4363 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/142185260@N03/] The cultural center is the Harpa which houses the symphony orchestra and much more. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7762/...52f53486_c.jpgDSC_4365 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/142185260@N03/] Inside the Harpa https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7392/...f8fb7a5e_c.jpgDSC_4379 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/142185260@N03/] https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7459/...45c755de_c.jpgDSC_4393 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/142185260@N03/] Went to dinner at the Viking Bar and had two surprises on the menu. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7394/...81984a90_c.jpgDSC_4392 by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/142185260@N03/] We tried the whale but couldn’t handle the smoked puffin. |
May 13
You may have noticed that Iceland is not on our map of planned travels. No, we are not lost. Iceland Air offers free stopovers in Iceland for up to 7 days. Our stay is 3 days. We drove through the countryside along the South coast. It seemed barren. Lava and peat moss mostly on the ground. The evidence of snow covered peaks from below the clouds. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7243/...c5bc72f4_c.jpg Apparently Iceland plants more trees per capita than any country on earth. We didn’t see any. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7410/...083986d9_c.jpg Hot springs are everywhere. Iceland generates all of its electrical energy from the geothermal underground hotsprings, wind, solar and water. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7548/...c2ab3b6f_c.jpg Piping the geothermal energy We went to one of the famous ones called the Blue Lagoon. It is supposed to be one of the 25 natural wonders of the world. It is quite touristy and expensive and is supposed to have significant therapeutic value. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7007/...3580cc04_c.jpg Beverly at the Blue Lagoon https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7299/...187455e1_c.jpg The sediment is said to enrich your skin. So we tried it. I wonder if it is working. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7440/...5d31a23e_c.jpg The Pearl is the fanciest restaurant in town and is built on the water storage system. We were told many times by locals not to buy bottled water as the tap water was the best you could get and the local bottled water was direct from the tap. Must be a boycott on the local bottling company. |
We set out along the south coast to see waterfalls and glaciers.
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7274/...5bf2848f_c.jpg Iceland is 12% covered by glaciers. Despite the claim by the US Republicans that climate change is liberal propaganda, the glaciers are decreasing each year. One glacier was recently reclassified as just a pile of ice. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7003/...7c458bd6_c.jpg We hiked to the bottom of the Myrdalsjokull glacier which is 600 sq. km. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7201/...e60e1ab2_c.jpg We didn't participate in the 3-hour tour to hike on the glacier. url=https://flic.kr/p/GRqXAC]https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7487/...f13ae3b3_c.jpg[/url] There was a rainbow in the waterfall right before the picture was taken. We hiked climbed nearly 400 stairs to the top of one of the waterfalls where we hiked a bit further to see river rapids and more falls. The trail goes even further but we didn't go on. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7652/...d1207cb6_c.jpg Mike climbing over the stile on the trail at the top. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7468/...e61308ae_c.jpg Waterfalls are plentiful and spectacular. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7224/...e4d6f341_c.jpg We found this on a back road that was actually a drive-way that ended here. Our turn around point was at Vic. In 1991, Islands Magazine counted the black sands beach in Vik as one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7238/...44eb1854_c.jpg Rock basalt formations called Reynisdranger at the Black Beach https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7358/...9866f8d0_c.jpg Beverly wanted to touch the Norwegian Sea https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7150/...ab39d920_c.jpg We ate lunch here gazing at the beautiful panorama One more trip to town and we packed to leave. Flight to Frankfurt leaves early in the morning. We liked Iceland as a novelty. Even in mid May, it was only dark for a couple of hours a night. People were very friendly and the living was easy. |
May 15
Flight arrived in about noon. No customs as Iceland is in the EU. Took the train from the Airport to Heidelberg and arrived at Stefan’s place. Found the bike and started on the preparation. The bike needed new back brakes and rotor, oil change, top box repair, and a good cleaning. We met Chris who is a Cider Maker and Orchardist. He shared some Spanish cider with us which Beverly liked a lot. Met also met Jurgen who is a mining professor from Colorado. His background is in coal mining so you can imagine we shared some lies. Had a great dinner. For about Two or three weeks, white asparagus (spargel) is in season and it is a culinary event in Germany. We get it whenever we can. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7285/...f0dfc65d_c.jpg There are bikes here from all over. This one parked outside one of the rooms was from Kuwait https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7527/...2a553352_c.jpg Mike packing up, getting ready to go. |
May 16
Spent an easy day getting the bike together and acting like tourists in Heidelberg. Had dinner with Jorgen, packed and were ready to go. May 17 Set out and decided to go to Rothenburg and then overnight in Nuremberg. Of course I spelled Rothenburg wrong in the GPS and went on a wild goose chase up the Autoban. At least it was a good test for the bike. We drive 85mph (137 km) on the Autoban which is fast enough for a loaded down 650 cc bike with two old people on it. Even at that, we have to stay out of the way of the cars doing 120mph or more. Rothenburg is a walled city which is a popular tourist place. The was interesting; the shops were the same as every other tourist place. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7537/...024183da_c.jpg We parked here and had some coffee and pasties. We sat next to couple who were celebrating their 1st wedding anniversary. The woman was in Rothenburg learning a special horse training akin to “horse whispering.” She told us all about it, even demonstrated riding postures: both good and bad. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7316/...d6c350b3_c.jpg Beverly at the Rothenburg wall. Nuremberg was 200 miles away and was our first days stop. The Nuremberg trials was and is an important history event. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7722/...bc3aecee_c.jpg Like most old European towns, it has an interesting past and a historic old town. Here is the church. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7720/...6fee5049_c.jpg White Asparagus at the market. Yum. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7482/...43a7c409_c.jpg We stayed at the Hotel Agneshof in old town. We were able to park our bike right in front on the hotel. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7486/...aaccd3a5_c.jpg Local wine |
May 18
Nuremburg is a big town and now it is time to leave. We are headed out to Passau on the border of Germany and Austria. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7036/...74b4e94a_c.jpg We went part of the way on the back roads and stopped at a little church bench to have lunch. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7294/...04b7115c_c.jpg We stayed at the Holtel Wilder Mann right in the middle of old town. Passau is a university town with a lively vibe. It is also a port for river cruises which seem very popular. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7057/...fedb485d_c.jpg https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7700/...31409c19_c.jpg Some of the sites. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7225/...7766b822_c.jpg We walked around town and to where three main rivers, the Danube, The Inn, and the Ilz come together. This is Mike at the convergence https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7401/...10740742_c.jpg St Stephens Cathedral has the biggest cathedral organ in the world and the have concerts every day at noon. We needed tickets for tomorrow at noon. https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7697/...22e830e6_c.jpg https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7007/...1a0d2d34_c.jpg We ate dinner at the main town square. |
May 19
We walked around the old town then went shopping for a camera part at the mall. The organ concert was interesting. The second piece was written in an atonal modality, seeming to lack a tonal center. Even though Beverly has a background in music, neither of us have been immersed in this type of music long enough to develop an ear for it. The organ sound is awesome. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7400/2...5b807652_c.jpg https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7378/2...8f152c54_c.jpg The organ in Passau in the St. Stephens church and the church. We headed out to Vienna on the old road along the Danube River. Very peaceful with nice roads and castles every once in a while. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7037/2...09ae8b4b_c.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7421/2...897148aa_c.jpg We ate lunch in an idyllic spot. We stayed for a while watching the river boats go by. We got on the highway for the last 40 miles and hit some torrential rain. Not much advantage to stopping if there is no cover so we just slowed down and splashed through. Our gear worked well. Took us an hour to get through Vienna traffic to our Airbnb place. Weal is our host. He lives in a renovated old building in what was the Jewish area. At one time, King Joseph wouldn’t let the Jews into the main city. They settled in this neighborhood. All over the neighborhood, there are plaques recording where Jewish people lived who were killed or sent to concentration camps during WWll. Karin, a neighbor whom we met, told us about the building plaques. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7673/2...a1a31e2d_c.jpg This is the plaque that was on our building. Went to town in Vienna. It is ranked as the most livable city in the world. We went to a Hungarian restaurant. Beverly wants to eat all her meals there. https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7126/2...07fcb754_c.jpg Then to Hawelka, a quintessential Vienna Café. No food here. |
May 20
Vienna is a beautiful city. Walking, biking, and trams make it easy to get around. There are special markings on the walks for bikes and walkers. Then the trams have their lanes and the cars have theirs. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7397/2...f6316635_c.jpg Bike markings. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7207/2...280a9998_c.jpg Walking/biking way. We walked through the parks, went to the Spanish Riding school which was not showing, got symphony tickets for this evening, and had coffee at the Imperial Hotel which was rated the best hotel in the world. Don’t know about that, but the coffee and strudel were good. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7342/2...e9e81225_c.jpg Coffee and strudel at the Imperial Hotel Every building seemed to be adorned with statues of historic or biblical people. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7489/2...d528d920_c.jpg https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7297/2...f70af81f_c.jpg We had lunch in the park and people watched. In the evening we took the tram to the symphony at the Koncert Haus. It was very impressive. Beverly got some of the music. Most of it was over our heads. Again, some of the atonal music that the people around here must have had a lot more exposure to than us. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7562/2...168b483f_c.jpg Concert Venue https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7618/2...56ed6ef2_c.jpg Concert Hall https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7012/2...e90730f2_c.jpg Waiting for our tram back to our hotel. |
May 21
It is Sunday so we went to a local market for Breakfast. It is a lively crowd. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7156/2...c689c0d2_c.jpg Beverly Working on our blog at breakfast There is an election tomorrow and there is some discussion but nothing like our show in the United States. The main parties are not surviving and the fringe parties are winning. The migrant crisis is the main point of contention. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7408/2...3b5a024a_c.jpg https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7288/2...816c7ec2_c.jpg A little more shopping…. We packed our bike and headed off. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7041/2...39dfa6cf_c.jpg A leisurely ride along the Danube River on a secondary highway. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7354/2...10f9528c_c.jpg https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7700/2...f770f28a_c.jpg https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7228/2...f4ecfc8b_c.jpg Most of the land along the Danube has been farmland and wind machines. There is an extensive canal system for irrigation. https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7571/2...af517cf2_c.jpg On our way to Bratislava https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7385/2...6c20f495_c.jpg https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7169/2...f421498f_c.jpg All along the highways there are paths for bicycles, pedestrians, roller-bladers and such. How wonderful to go on a leisurely bicycle ride not worrying about the cars behind you. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7369/2...e416a052_c.jpg Into another new country for us, Slovenia. https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7296/2...c4e7539e_c.jpg Crossing the bridge into Bratislava. Bratislava is the capital of Slovenia and was at one time the capial of the Hungarian empire. The place was also central in the World wars chapters of ethnic reconfigurations and the creation and dissolution of the Czechoslovak Republic. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7258/2...50068963_c.jpg We had a nice room at the Antares… https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7298/2...0fc91859_c.jpg And they left some local wine in the room for us. We went out for a walk to town and ended up walking all over. The town was bustling and as is the tradition, whole families were downtown walking around, meeting their friends and drinking. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7599/2...0456d8e5_c.jpg Our walking route this evening. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7426/2...20456915_c.jpg This house is near our hotel. We are not in Transylvania country yet but can you imagine going here on Halloween night? https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7426/2...e488f0db_c.jpg https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7311/2...8e93a85b_c.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7295/2...36296195_c.jpg The sites of Bratislava https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7366/2...0f06c2d9_c.jpg T-shirt for a friend at home. https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7737/2...1a16a951_c.jpg Out to dinner. We met three local young professionals from Italy, Poland and Russia. We are discovering that we are somewhat of a novelty: two old people traveling around on a motorcycle. Th.e Italian wanted to take us home and show us around. https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7168/2...c5b53287_c.jpg More sight-seeing walking along the Danube |
May 22 Bratislava to Budapest
We decided that we want to lighten our load. Every square inch makes a difference and we had little too much of this-doesn’t-take-much-space. There is a post office at the mall we walked to yesterday. We stop there first and ship a box back to Germany. We hope the box gets there. Life is much easier on the bike with less stuff. https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7441/2...ed57ae44_c.jpg The mall where the post office is. It is not far to Budapest. We went part of the way on Hwy 9 and then the last part on the M1. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7134/2...fb00c903_c.jpg The border between Slovakia and Hungary was deserted. https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7523/2...4b3ef4f2_c.jpg Here we come Budapest. The GPS kept sending us in circles while directing us to our hotel in Budapest. https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7525/2...4cc68122_c.jpg Eventually we parked in a creative manner near main square to try to figure it out. It is squeezed between two of those metal posts -- a tight fit. As it turns out, our hotel is IN the square. A little drive through the pedestrian square took us there. A parking garage was not far away in a building that also has apartments. They must be high-end apartments when the have a specific parking area for Ferraris. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7501/2...e5007efe_c.jpg The Ferraris have good company for a few nights. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7130/2...b883fc7d_c.jpg Our motel -- Elisas Rooms right on the main square https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7352/2...f8c71c4a_c.jpg View from our room Budapest city is combined from two former cities, Buda and Pest on opposite sides of the Danube River. It seems most major European cities have a history of wars, invasions, and the resulting monuments that record those events. The churches are the main recorders. Budapest has a bustling nightlife. We didn't see much evidence of police. But we did see this interchange which appeared to be the police hassling this guy. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7601/2...2a8df45f_c.jpg |
May 23
Today we are tourists in Budapest. The Danube river is the center of many of the Larger cities. It originates in Germany and goes through !0 countries before emptying into the Black Sea. River cruising is very popular. A beer on a river boat bar is $3.00 and a beer at a bar looking at the river is $2.00. Beer in a convenience shop is $.90. Capitalism is alive and well, just at a lower level. https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7273/2...e3013eeb_c.jpg Having a beer last night at a floating restaurant. The $3.00 beer. Oh wait. It isn't even there yet. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7520/2...31d043eb_c.jpg Enjoying the river. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7394/2...9beaeba5_c.jpg Before going out of the town today, Beverly sits in the window overlooking the square and has a cup of coffee. Went to the central market and then took a bus to the top of the hill where we visited St Steven’s basilica and the Jewish district. It seems that every town had a St Steven’s church. We crossed the Chain Bridge (1839), visited the Buda castle, The Fisherman’s bastion and St. Mathias. The Hungarian art museum makes a poster card picture with the Danube. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7260/2...03b91529_c.jpg St. Stevens Church https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7352/2...a878e43c_c.jpg Fisherman's bastion and St. Mathias https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7358/2...d9aeb09c_c.jpg Chain Bridge https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7337/2...6dae5c89_c.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7723/2...3d69d081_c.jpg https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7707/2...fdc47f52_c.jpg https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7270/2...eb960b0d_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7092/2...0c6f4648_c.jpg Hugarian Art Museum https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7347/2...e5956798_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7441/2...03843ebe_c.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7371/2...c72cc667_c.jpg Thai massages are popular as is this kind of pedicure. Supposedly, the fish eat the dead skin off your feet. We didn't partake. We went to a Hungarian restaurant. We got into Hungarian food but after a few meals, it is very heavy. https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7796/2...216d8750_c.jpg https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7155/2...4b041238_c.jpg Our Hungarian dinner. We went bar hopping and just as we were finishing around 11:00, the place was coming alive. |
May 24
Got ready to go. We had to cross the border into Serbia. We went to Serbia because we had never been there before. The forecast was for Thunder storms so our progress might be slow. Got through the border in the pouring rain. The crossing was very easy. They didn’t even ask for insurance which is the main money making gimmick. Didn’t get pictures. https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7532/2...1c4c9644_c.jpg Thunderstorm weather where we crossed the border. We traveled on back roads in Serbia. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7364/2...781ed67b_c.jpg On our way to Kikinda https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7392/2...d5abc583_c.jpg https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7626/2...98df0071_c.jpg The roads are shared with local horse carts. The entrance to the town is a beautiful tree lined street. Went to the small town of Kikinda and stayed at a hotel on the main square. I guess we were a novelty as there weren’t many US or Canadian people visit. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7061/2...a03eb9b8_c.jpg Bike parked in the Hotel Avala courtyard Kikinda is famous for the resident owl population and the remains of wooly mammoths found there. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7286/2...3ae2227b_c.jpg Beverly with the replica of a mammoth skeleton. They are really big. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kikinda https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7733/2...8b3fefcb_c.jpg Mike in the town square which is large for the size of town. This is basketball country and they knew all about the NBA playoffs. |
May 25
The Avala hotel is family owned and it seemed that Natalie was the head person. One of her sons was going to the US to work as a roller coaster operator in Ocean Falls NJ. That was the buzz around town. https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7063/2...42e3a17d_c.jpg Having coffee with Natalie and Dragona who speaks English and introduced us to her town. Someone who stopped by our outside table asked to make sure that we saw the sights in Kikinda. He said "our town has a soul. The people here get along and love each other." It is a nice place. We did notice, however, that a lot of people smoked. We looked it up and discovered that Serbia has the highest rate of smoking per capita in the world. We headed out to Romania. The border crossing was easy. The roads were secondary but in good shape. We were headed for the Carpathian Mountains but we were in a rain pattern so we stopped in Hateg, a good sized town in Romania and stayed at the Fredrick Hotel. Alex at the front desk wanted to travel on a motorcycle so he gave us an upgrade to a Jacuzzi room. It didn’t have a drain plug but the gesture was nice. https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7043/2...64601185_c.jpg Parked in front of the Fredrick Hotel https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7320/2...993cd356_c.jpg Our Jacuzzi tub that we couldn’t use. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7307/2...da8acb3b_c.jpg View from our hotel We ate at Café on the Park and had a Romanian fried vegetable and chicken dish. People here generally seem thin and fit. Doesn’t compute with the local diet. |
May 26
Headed for the mountains. 0ur goal was to ride the Transalpine highway. It has the reputation as one of the best motorcycle roads in the world. Top gear did a show on this road with some of their exotic cars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transalpina_(DN67C) To get there, we had to go on Hwy 7a. It was interesting but I guess typical of backroads Romania. https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7366/2...21eee5b0_c.jpg https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7528/2...da945d38_c.jpg https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7431/2...9b7d872d_c.jpg https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7295/2...d2c86d49_c.jpg https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7249/2...e22912ea_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7765/2...1cebf6cd_c.jpg The 7A We will hit our goal road in the middle at Obarsia where 7a crosses 67c. Our plan was to stay at Obarsia, unpack our bike for the ride, go south, see the Transalpina then turn around and do it again going North. We arrived to see a car parked at the intersection with a family from Poland. They were combining a vacation with her job where she was lecturing on European trade. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7335/2...963cde7c_c.jpg Meeting at the junction of 7A and 67C Look a little closer. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7399/2...43e00ded_c.jpgDSC_4910 by Beverly Whipple, on Flickr The sign says that the Transalpinia was going to be closed until June 5. The road looked fine to us so we proceeded in a predictable manner. The road surface was excellent but they hadn’t cleaned it yet. The worst thing about biking is sharp turns with mud and wet pine needles. The road peak is 2300 meters. We went to 2100 meters or 6900ft. The scenery was exceptional. See the pictures. https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7708/2...716cae25_c.jpg https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7337/2...11ef6b22_c.jpg https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7660/2...ddc9d208_c.jpg https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7524/2...c9a55fb6_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7739/2...beae89c0_c.jpg https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7620/2...bef49254_c.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7397/2...4b3dc805_c.jpg https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7620/2...09cf56d2_c.jpg https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7362/2...6cd3f4cb_c.jpg https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7717/2...6178c8c2_c.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7309/2...16e80d1a_c.jpg https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7047/2...e308c84b_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7213/2...09c421d6_c.jpg We went back to the junction and decided not to continue. It was raining and tomorrow was going to be sunny. Better to ride this kind of road in the sunshine. Stayed at a lodge. We were the only guests. No internet. We had to read and talk to each other. |
May 26
This was right BEFORE we got to the 7A. Just weaving through some sheep cows and weather. https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7521/2...93a1055e_c.jpg https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7559/2...5859c28c_c.jpg https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7418/2...a8e5d7e6_c.jpg |
Yes, sunny as on your side of the mountain. Also no precipitation the previous night, that was the one that got me at 18 yo, some 45 years ago.
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May 27
It is a sunny day so we are going to do some riding so we packed up and hit the road. We stayed here at the Pensiunea Bradal https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7422/2...06d1dd55_c.jpg All ready to go. https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7443/2...a7f8ebd7_c.jpg The bike had a nice cozy place for the evening. The north part of the highway is not as extreme and has beautiful rhythmic turns. Pictures tell the story. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7201/2...4c013db8_c.jpg https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7352/2...872f6933_c.jpg ...though sometimes the roads were not so smooth. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7405/2...a00db6de_c.jpg https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7097/2...ec327129_c.jpg https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7343/2...236fa291_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7738/2...6f45d2b4_c.jpg Beverly taking pictures from the back of the bike. https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7102/2...8b3d2aac_c.jpg https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7144/2...7ed4ee12_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7796/2...a285e69f_c.jpg https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7292/2...d209caef_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7459/2...c3da5ee5_c.jpg https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7284/2...af95b131_c.jpg https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7376/2...5540fdb3_c.jpg We stopped in Sebes for a late lunch, got on the internet, and made a reservation for a room in Cluj for the evening. https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7589/2...6d37a64f_c.jpg Our lunch spot in Sebes The ride to Cluj was through some nice scenery but we had heavy truck traffic. https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7190/2...e0e36a35_c.jpg https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7744/2...d98a9c27_c.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7648/2...cd3128ef_c.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7110/2...118508bb_c.jpg The Gorge near Cluj Cluj is the second biggest city in Romania and the Transylvania area of Dracula. Our hotel reservation ended up being in the suburbs though our GPS didn’t quite get it. We didn’t want to stay in the suburbs so we got the first hotel that we came to rather than continue to fight with traffic or find a place to stop and look on the internet for another hotel. The locals suggested the Beyfin and there it was with a place to stop. The Beyfin is more upscale than our normal standard. It seems as if locals quite often recommend upscale places – especially restaurants. Oh well. It was a great place to take care of our first chore: go have a beer on the terrace on the roof. The view from the Terrace is nice. https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7394/2...031bc467_c.jpg We made it. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7198/2...3b8aa8a2_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7497/2...c7dc87d4_c.jpg https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7098/2...a9e2fe51_c.jpg https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7294/2...a3943aca_c.jpg After a beer, we headed out for a tour and had a traditional Romanian dinner. Our waiter sounded like Dracula, but that must be our imagination. This is Transylvania, the home of Dracula. The true story id that Dracula is a figment of an Irish author's imagination, and there are no real historic sites. We bagged the idea of Dracula tourism. |
Great story and pics, thanks for sharing
Brought back memories from when I was in Bratislava and Budapest on my trip before Christmas last year Very different to Yakima? Well when I was there in '88' and way haha Ride safe and keep it coming Wayne |
May 28
The weather was threating rain again and we wanted a down day so we were tourists in Cluj. Cluj-Napoca is the second largest city in Romania and the unofficial capital of Transylvania. The city has the typical eastern European city evolution but of note, the patron saint is Michael the Arch Angel and that church is in the city center. A picture of that was posted yesterday. Cluj is the main cultural center of the country and when we were there, The Transylvania Interational Film Festival was there. Almost all the films were sub-titled in English. When we tried to get a ticket to see one, we discovered they were sold out for the evening. The tickets to see the movies were $2 to $4. The town buzz was that Sophia Loren was in the city to accept an award as part of the festival. https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7030/2...2098f20a_c.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7424/2...9870d476_c.jpg https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7431/2...79b86168_c.jpg Some of the Film Festival posters As we do, we wandered around the town to take it in. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7196/2...92f2146a_c.jpg https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7457/2...5e4d9b9f_c.jpg Something to do with the Film Festival https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7685/2...d1762b48_c.jpg https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7003/2...5dc57a11_c.jpg Could this be Romulus and Ramus? Not sure of its signifigance https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7322/2...29a92f8e_c.jpg The hotel we should have stayed at -- much less expensive. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7444/2...e806a2f1_c.jpg Some Transylvania architecture. There were some interesting arts and crafts. The crafts were from specific areas of Ukraine and all were-made items. But even though we looked at something that would fit the grandkids, living on a motorcycle for a month doesn’t leave many storage options. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7073/2...ef05f85d_c.jpg Something for the grandkids? https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7528/2...a7c59938_c.jpg https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7196/2...3673b49f_c.jpg https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7362/2...b702dce6_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7349/2...59663ab2_c.jpg Craft Fair booths The hotel was nice, and we had underground parking. We were strong for the Ukraine border crossing and the drive to L’viv. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7345/2...0c9b7cc6_c.jpg View from our room |
May 29
We headed to the Ukraine and the trip was uneventful. We stopped to get gas and spend as much Romanian money as we could and have lunch. The two kids working at the station had just finished tourism school and were practicing on us. We had to talk soccer and the presented us with two scarfs from the Romanian national team. We will watch them in the Olympics. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7126/2...1f593276_c.jpg Lunch at the gas station. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7075/2...dfa1d665_c.jpg Romanian soccer scarves as a present We crossed the border at Halmeu. It is a small place but there were miles of trucks waiting. The border crossing was easy. One stop on the Romanian side and 4 stops on the Ukraine side. 45 minutes and we were on our way. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7317/2...5009d49c_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7731/2...65ef31b4_c.jpg Looking back https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7310/2...a9319673_c.jpg https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7017/2...0b3ea89a_c.jpg Armed border agents sit in chairs in the shade under the tree. There is a dog in a pen. They have various chairs including an office chair. The woman at the last station asked where we were from. "US". Her: "and you are going to Ukraine for what?" She half-smiled, raised her eyebrows, and gave a little shake of her head. Like we were nuts to be doing this. Beverly asked if she could take her picture. Of course she said "no." https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7597/2...3f96b846_c.jpg Mike waiting in the short line https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7389/2...b6001063_c.jpg Romanian Ukraine border crossing. https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7142/2...a8f3ff10_c.jpg The roads for the first 30 miles were so bad they were laughable. Pictures from the bike a little difficult. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7109/2...f4315cf0_c.jpg https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7795/2...40e33013_c.jpg This and worse for 30 miles. The typical photo opportunities seem to be horse-pulled carts, churches, birds on telephone poles (Beverly is still trying to get a good one. Many of them have babies), people sitting alongside of the road selling their produce, pot holes, gardens, various houses, etc. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7416/2...e9e1b14d_c.jpg https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7208/2...aa8883d8_c.jpg https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7297/2...253598be_c.jpg https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7368/2...121b599e_c.jpg A wreck https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7486/2...b5397fdc_c.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7130/2...e65c9e77_c.jpg https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7459/2...e8ba44f7_c.jpg https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7161/2...014a5171_c.jpg https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7405/2...4309d760_c.jpg We drove to a small town in South Ukraine: Vinogradov. Not much there but we got money, had dinner at the Fontan café and people watched. Dinner with drinks was $8. https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7726/2...baa2e75e_c.jpg We had a visitor at our who was trying to figure our accents https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7381/2...c8ca022f_c.jpg The Fontan Café outside seating on the town square. https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7047/2...cb4ce66c_c.jpg The bill = $7.80 for dinner and drinks. |
Cool RR you have here Mike & Beverly!
Like the easy way and feeling the photo's are following the story, keep 'em coming. Safe travels, Dooby |
May 30 (run-in with the Ukranian police)
We headed out over the bumpy roads. We had about 275km to L’viv and we would go through some thunder showers. Most of the terrain was farmland and eventually the road was drivable. https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7408/2...36366660_c.jpg Off to L'viv https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7234/2...20d03d5e_c.jpg Another common sight -- a pile of firewood https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7425/2...9c5ac062_c.jpg https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7734/2...016a0250_c.jpg https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7768/2...836c66f6_c.jpg Greenhouses https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7699/2...9d937662_c.jpg Newer houses https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7441/2...3f3be796_c.jpg https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7604/2...e1fd6089_c.jpg A huge vineyard https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7264/2...0892758f_c.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7601/2...9af9ca14_c.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7021/2...418d7bbb_c.jpg Weather ahead https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7374/2...08649862_c.jpg We missed a turn and went through a gas station to get back on the road. (There was no one in the gas station at the time.) We were stopped by the Ukraine police for a predictable shakedown. Apparently, what we did wrong was to go out the in-entrance to a gas station. The dramatics were quite entertaining. They started with a fine of about $120. When I said OK lets go to “the official Bank," they wanted to know how much I would pay to the "unofficial bank." There were considerable gestures and hand waving until they wanted my passport. I put out my hands to handcuff me. In the meantime, Beverly was waiting in the sun. This will disappoint the motorcycle community but I gave them about $24 and then it was over. Some clandestine pictures were taken. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7616/2...2ed6a651_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7458/2...5e45dd7b_c.jpg https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7316/2...12cf0106_c.jpg The rest of the trip was uneventful. We went through a small town where they were paving the road. They just stopped the traffic. I don’t normally like lane splitting but the line was a mile long. Saved us at least an hour. https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7407/2...5b6b1f0d_c.jpg Splitting lanes https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7163/2...5f08cac1_c.jpg Here was the problem. We arrived at our Airbnb place in the middle of the city. Anna and her son Magnus live in an apartment owned by her grandmother. We drove right up to the building, found a driveway and voila, a place to park on the very busy thoroughfare while Mike went up to check on our Airbnb place. https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7291/2...271f8783_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7284/2...d7340e9f_c.jpg Putting the bike into the courtyard. It does not lock so we took everything up to the room with us. https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7269/2...65f2ed4e_c.jpg Bike looks good from the balcony looking down L’viv is 760 years old this year. It seems to have been in the middle of a tug of war for most of its existence among the reigning power brokers of the time. It became part of the Ukraine as the spoils were distributed after WWII. We strolled around the city, got caught in a thunderstorm, and ate dinner at the nearest dry spot which was the Astoria hotel. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7105/2...eef8c9b2_c.jpg The thunderstorm from our dinner table |
May 31
We walked around in the rain. It was kind of nice. The city has interesting and varied architecture from the various political influences. We changed hotels, got caught up on chores and had dinner with Anna and Magnus. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7230/2...5501aeb6_c.jpg New hotel https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7387/2...6825a711_c.jpg View from new room https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7315/2...3fab03ce_c.jpg Parking for the bike https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7176/2...f69cbf54_c.jpg A bus stop right in front of hotel. Constant packed buses... https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7712/2...89d141cf_c.jpg ...and trams. Magnus is 8 and is impressed with Netflix of Mike’s ipad and the bike. https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7683/2...c5a7046c_c.jpg Magnus thinking about the bike in his future. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7262/2...2cfe4d74_c.jpg Dinner with Ena and Magnus |
June 1
https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7103/2...ce5ef7d7_c.jpg What shall we have for breakfast? It is like Forest Gump, “you never know what you are going to get.” Then out on the square. The weather is much nicer today. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7026/2...17c536bb_c.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7345/2...086ac4fe_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7393/2...6133cac0_c.jpg Chess is big in Lviv. Many tournaments are hosted in the city. It is also a pastime in the square where men sit on the park benches playing animated games with interested audiences. A women’s championship was hosted this year but we didn’t see any women playing in the square. https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7209/2...46005bb2_c.jpg Playing chess in the square https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7253/2...5767b12f_c.jpg Chess with an audience https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7166/2...c3640172_c.jpg Street art. She was really good. We wanted this artist to draw a picture of our grandchildren from a picture which we got printed at the Lviv-like Kinkos. But when we went back to the square, she was gone. https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7411/2...262a88aa_c.jpg The ubiquitous McDonalds. Yes, we admit to going once in a while. Tonight, ice cream. Anna was our guide to the high castle hill. While hiking up the hill we ran into some women who travel to various countries doing volunteer work...whatever the country needs. What a great opportunity to travel the world as a young person. It is better than waiting until you retire to become a traveler. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7035/2...e70a1857_c.jpg Anna and Beverly and the world travelers. https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7098/2...a5633832_c.jpg Mike and Beverly at the top https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7567/2...2b1c2e3c_c.jpg Women selling their produce on the street. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7089/2...6f760aa2_c.jpg Cadets in Lviv https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7447/2...658069c2_c.jpg Mike getting a hair cut. Cost: $1.60 with .40 tip. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7590/2...7bac27b6_c.jpg Architecture |
June2
The Ukrainian police stop the other day has been on our minds. Mike sort of wanted to fight harder but he was thinking about Beverly standing outside while he was sitting in the car and Anna in Lviv would be waiting for us. Beverly wanted to be more intrusive with her camera but she was thinking about the police taking her phone which had some pictures on it that weren’t copied anywhere else. Though we think we did fairly well with the fine being dropped from $120 to $24, Mike wouldn’t allow them to have a passport and offered to go to jail, and Beverly did get some pictures. Anna said that police are now paid an adequate wage to combat the corruption like this. But unfortunately, that supposed transformation hasn’t filtered into the smaller towns yet. We concluded, for the current moment, that Beverly should have been right in there and taken more pictures. Hindsight isn’t 20/20 because we have no idea what would have happened had we acted more aggressively. Now for today. We got an early start at 7AM to avoid the rain and thunderstorms forecasted for the afternoon. The 200mile drive to Krakow was nice and uneventful. The border crossing o Poland was routine – about 3 stops that took an hour. We were grateful that we were not in a car because it took an hour when we were able to jump to the front of the line. None of the cars appeared to have a problem with us doing that. Cars even moved aside so we could get our wide bike through the crowded lanes. The car line-up was long. We guess that it would have been at least a 3-hour wait had we stayed in line https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7050/2...282e0bb7_c.jpg https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7429/2...be1df547_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7369/2...174278f0_c.jpg https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7200/2...f3892563_c.jpg https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7631/2...de8ac29f_c.jpg Border We experienced very light rain at the end of the trip. It wasn’t until after we arrived that the real rain started. We stopped in a town across the border to get some money. A city event like a fair with craft and food booths was going on. The streets were packed with cars. Mike parked the bike on the sidewalk, joining the many cars already there. We were walking across the street with the crowd when we noticed some police writing tickets for illegally parked cars. Mike went back and asked them if our “moto” was ok. At first they didn’t understand and thought it was a car. They motioned that it had to be moved. When they realized it was a motorcycle, they said “moto is good.” https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7289/2...f049315e_c.jpg Parked on the sidewalk https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7577/2...d065d85c_c.jpg Going to the fair https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7261/2...48475b07_c.jpg All locked up https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7509/2...ec59f274_c.jpg Ethnic food -- Polish sausage otherwise known as a hotdog. Motorcycles really do get preferential treatment in Europe. Not just by the officials but by businesses and other drivers. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7670/2...3f402d47_c.jpg https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7356/2...4a12ea8a_c.jpg Bathroom with helmet holder https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7353/2...f87968c8_c.jpg Bus lanes designated for motorcycles We had wanted to get a place to stay right on the city square but there was no place for the bike. The city square is large and does not allow vehicles. Free parking is practically non-existent. Parking in garages outside the city square charge about 3Eu or more per hour. We opted to stay a little bit out of the center. It was within walking distance and easily accessible to public transportation. We arrived at Hostel Extra, unpacked and headed for town. We had on our good rain-gear and plastic bag on the camera. The Salwater tram was traveling our route but we didn’t yet know how to find ticket machine. We did know that the fine for getting caught without a ticket was about $60 and they weren’t lenient with tourists. https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7315/2...6cbc0faf_c.jpg Our Airbnb host provided some shelter for the bike. On the way into town people were standing in the rain outside and across the street from the KAJKONIK pub. The people standing next to us told us to just wait. The Kajkonik is a character dressed up like a Tatar who once a year, parades through Krakow collecting ransom money and touching people with his mace for good luck. This has been going on for 700 years and is derived in some way from a story about repelling a Mongol invasion, and dressing up like the losers. It has become a Krakow Icon, hence the pub. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7361/2...22afc6bc_c.jpg Something is going to happen soon https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7405/2...00e0f374_c.jpg https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7448/2...00f34a88_c.jpg The festivities https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7259/2...0975326a_c.jpg Here is is -- Kajkonik https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7044/2...626e5d15_c.jpg https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7449/2...09dee084_c.jpg https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7618/2...00c8ceb4_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7021/2...8d9c93ce_c.jpg https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7346/2...5d99883c_c.jpg Walking around the square and town We saw a sign in the square that said a bar was showing a soccer game, so it looked like an easy place to have a beer. We ended up in the middle of a bachelor party for Matt who was marring Holly. After the mandatory ribbing form older men to the groom to be on how he was giving up his freedom, we partied and talked about strategies for his business. These guys are body builders who sell vitamins, and want to market to travelers who might want custom packages of supplements shipped around the world to supply people as they travel. The beer and the party took over and we didn’t finish the business plan. https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7668/2...47a58dc4_c.jpg We chose this bar for the soccer game https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7308/2...8e8050fb_c.jpg https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7369/2...221f26e5_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7338/2...4a6f4a92_c.jpg and found a Bachelor party It was still raining and about 9:30. The place to buy tram tickets was supposed to be easily seen at every stop by the square. We didn’t see any. We decided that since you are supposed to be able to buy a ticket on the tram, that is what we would do. We got on but the driver was behind a locked door, no one else was in our car and the tram took off. We didn’t figure out how to get a tram ticket until the next day. No fines tonight. Back home to bed. |
June 3
The big event for the day was to tour the salt mines. The salt mines at Wieliczka. The salt mines have been in operation since the 13th century and were discontinued only 10 years ago. Miners would stay in the mine for weeks at a time and like the coal mines at home, they used pit ponies and canaries. The work was difficult, hence the saying “another day in the salt mines” to describe a hard day. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7128/2...19e8a512_c.jpg This man showed us how to get a tram ticket. We went down around 400 wooden stairs ao start the tour and then down even more and came up an elevator https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7450/2...8a855474_c.jpg[https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7329/2...9ffeede1_c.jpg https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7387/2...c9e4e475_c.jpg These stairs made from salt https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7155/2...f4d014cf_c.jpg Down into the mines even further https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7453/2...a04f2171_c.jpg https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7450/2...8a855474_c.jpg https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7110/2...0f89033d_c.jpg https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7621/2...12d797b3_c.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7404/2...7d801479_c.jpg Salt mine tour https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7032/2...b0568b1e_c.jpg The miners tour – we didn’t do https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7286/2...d3e7ff37_c.jpg We met these Canadians on our way to the salt mine tour. We rode the train back to town with them. We also learned how to get a tram ticket from this man After the salt mines we walked around town and the square. https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7287/2...a37c97d1_c.jpg https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7367/2...8a4340eb_c.jpg https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7034/2...ae58418a_c.jpg Another bachelor party https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7729/2...f6cc81a7_c.jpg "Be safe in Krakow." We found this in a souvenir shop Tram back home after picking up breakfast. Pack up for early start to Auschwitz. Individual tours of Auschwitz needed to be booked weeks in advance. The choices we had were to take a tour from one of the many tour companies, or go early and be there by 9:00 and get an early entrance. Our hotel Krakow was booked for tomorrow night so we decided to go early and get a hotel in Oswiecim near the museum. |
June 5
Today we decided to push on to Berlin. It is 350 miles and the forecast is for thunder showers. We got on the highway, set it at 80 mph and rolled. Not very exciting bike riding but duty calls. We got caught in a few squalls but generally did OK. The freeways are in surprisingly great condition. It is a surprise because a few years back when we did our Scandinavian-Russia-Baltic tour, we took a ferry from Lithuania to Kiel Germany. The ferry was full of trucks from Poland. We were told that trucks like to take the ferry because the roads are so bad in Poland. That certainly was not the case in our experience. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7501/2...0fe13df7_c.jpg Polish Freeways We met some other bikers at one of the road stops. Of course we had to check out the bikes. The analogy of dogs sniffing any new dogs they meet, I am told, is inappropriate. They were part of a club known as the blue knights. This is an international club of police bikers. One of the guys had a friend and fellow club member from Chicago. He was happy to tell us that, and took pictures of our bike. They gave us some badges. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7541/2...08a0cf4c_c.jpg The Blue Knights with Beverly, Mike and our bike https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7522/2...7abcbb54_c.jpg A gift from the Blue Knights We stopped at a gas station to spend the last of our Polish Zloty and have lunch. https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7756/2...694a4228_c.jpg This is what you can buy with 9 zloty: 2 beers. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7208/2...efeb57cd_c.jpg Our favorite -- A stand up lunch. There are no border stops in the EU zone so we sailed into Germany. We made it to Berlin and found our place to stay. Yuli and Marcus are our Airbnb hosts. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7452/2...cdd2d770_c.jpg Back to Germany https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7725/2...6918227d_c.jpg Parking just outside our Airbnb building. Berlin apparently has no specific downtown core like many European cities. We walked around the neighborhood, had falafel at a sidewalk diner and went home to work on this blog. Talked to Neil MacDonald who is a guy from New Waterford living close to Berlin. We will meet him tomorrow. |
June 6
Our place was about 30 minutes from the Rotes Rathaus (Berlin’s red town hall) where we would meet Neil MacDonald. We bought a day pass for the transit system with a goal of meeting Neil and then starting our tour of Berlin. Neil is active on the New Waterford and St Agnes Facebook sites and lives in a town not far from Berlin. We arrived at Alexanderplatz and walked around. Berlin was mostly destroyed during the Allied Invasion in WWII. It was the headquarters of Nazi Germany so it was a target. The city has a new modern look and the building activity is significant. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7119/2...f0bd0bc6_c.jpg Alexandria Bus/train station https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7247/2...d1e8036d_c.jpg Mike in Alexandriaplatz https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7374/2...efa2ac6e_c.jpg Lunch on Alexandriaplatz https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7355/2...7cc3c1e9_c.jpg Beverly @ Rathaus https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7549/2...194d8a1c_c.jpg The Rathaus Some features in Berlin are like Seattle. https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7492/2...690f9785_c.jpg https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7225/2...3e738045_c.jpg A very tall tower in downtown. In Berlin it is a TV tower. Seattle has the Space Needle. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7486/2...317c4c0d_c.jpg Seattle has so many cranes that it is sometimes referred to as the state bird. It looks like Berlin has even more. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7519/2...f40ca8a4_c.jpg Seattle has Bertha, the boring machine. We met Neil and stopped for a beer. The stories of people and events in New Waterford started, the beer was good and the discussion took its own course. We talked a little about Berlin and what we had done outside New Waterford but it was mostly 4 hours about growing up there. My accent got thicker as we spoke and Beverly just watched. https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7382/2...1eda3874_c.jpg Mike and Neil After Neil left to take the train home, we took the local bus to some of the tourist highlights. Berlin was two distinct cities separated by “the wall” so it doesn’t have an old town core like many of the European cities. https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7420/2...7e53a212_c.jpg Our bus https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7213/2...d9404ba7_c.jpg The 100 and 200 buses https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7418/2...7f59c95a_c.jpg https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7413/2...41409c91_c.jpg An expanded sort of bicycle power https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7282/2...98cd9e7c_c.jpg Brandenburg Gate https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7118/2...f768185c_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7423/2...53771b3f_c.jpg https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7410/2...4939a541_c.jpg It is getting late After a long day we took the train and bus back to our place. We stayed in an area of Berlin called Moabit. Berlin is a city of 3.5M people and although we were inside the ring road, we were still a 30 minute train ride from the tourist area. |
June 7
Our goal for the day was to learn about East and west Berlin and visit “the wall” The Berlin wall surrounded the city of West Berlin to restrict travel to the west and was the symbol of the cold was that lasted from 1961 to 1989. Artists of the cold war period were invited to paint on the wall as a memorial. The blank area shows that some artists refused and didn’t want that time to be remembered. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7441/2...60c0bcdd_c.jpg https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7780/2...f689974f_c.jpg https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7398/2...2221e0ac_c.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7662/2...124b9972_c.jpg Kissing picture of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and East German president Erich Honecker. It was referred to as the deadly love. https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7258/2...df60e91a_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7179/2...680e5d8e_c.jpg For us, it was a great posing opportunity. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7328/2...837dd636_b.jpg Our modern day equivalent on a wall in Lithuania. Trump and Putin. Check point Charley was the main border crossing for Allied Military. The wall was constructed through streets, parks and residential areas. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7384/2...e259588c_c.jpg Then https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7330/2...43728c97_c.jpg https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7325/2...1cae9f93_c.jpg Now https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7288/2...3036d40d_c.jpg Beverly and Amy who we met on the streets of Berlin. Amy works for a tour company. She is from Birmingham and has only lived here for less than a year but still refers to the East and West. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7329/2...63b748fb_c.jpg Beverly sitting on where the wall once was. This bricked line shows up in many places in Berlin Wall museum and a park in the death zone on the East side of the wall. Many East Germans were killed trying to get to West Germany. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7330/2...417f928b_c.jpg https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7359/2...7842bc8a_c.jpg The wall and the death zone We visited lots of other sites and saw many things: https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7373/2...b101a27b_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7601/2...e7d60a97_c.jpg https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7400/2...7b232768_c.jpg It might have been fun to stay here. We stopped for a late dinner, not because we were hungry, but because we couldn’t move any more. https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7372/2...c1d980f9_c.jpg We did a lot of this in Berlin. It was very easy to get around. https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7116/2...2dcffaed_c.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7314/2...3e1d9bde_c.jpg We did a lot of this too. This first pedestrian crossing figures in the world to wear hats originated in East Germany 50 years ago. Surviving a post-reunification attempt to have them removed, the jaunty figures have since gained cult status. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7283/2...e10c2e2b_c.jpg These guys did NOT want their picture taken. But it is our adventure so here they are. Our "24 hour pass" as referred to in one tourist office purchased last night ran out at 3AM. Really, it is a day pass (not 24 hours) regardless at what time you purchase it. We were busted. https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7303/2...e2daa631_c.jpg A little laugh while we were walking around. When we arrived to our place, we had a glass of wine with Yuli and Marcus. Yuli is studying to be a pediatric surgeon and Marcus is a psychoanalyst. They are a very cerebral and friendly couple. We were very comfortable at their house. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7036/2...9180aaf1_c.jpg Our place in Berlin https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7057/2...10852550_c.jpg Our room -- books an bike helmets https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7092/2...eecc1b0d_c.jpg Mike with Yuli and Marcus The next day, our goal was to drive 550km to Sundern to visit Marta and Uwe, our friends we met in Norway on a motorcycle trip. |
June 8
We were on the road by 8:00am. Berlin is a big city and it took us 45 minutes to get out of the city. The road to Sundern is mostly Autobahn, so 130km/hour and a stop every hour and a half and we were there. We arrived about 4:00 to Ferienhaus Blome. Our Airbnb hostess was Hildegard who welcomed us and showed us around. We had the whole house to ourselves. It was quiet with a nice patio. Great place to rest and just hang out if we had the time. https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7356/2...f9a682ab_c.jpg https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7458/2...357bf1f2_c.jpg This is where we stayed We met Marta and Uwe. We have kept in touch and the visited us last year in Washington. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7310/2...475ab642_c.jpg Uwe at Mount Rainier last year We had dinner at a local hotel that had a sister hotel In Kenya. It was African night.[/B] |
Berlin! I love this city, I have been a few times. The first was in 1984 when I was in the Military and the wall was up. I was stationed in Spandau
I hope you managed to get up to the Tower, you get a 360 views the city and there was a restaurant up there too. Keep up the good work Mike Wayne |
June 8,
Today,we went to Munster with Hike, Uwe,s sister, Uwe and Marta.. Munster is a very old city but many of the old buildings were damaged in the war. The city is noted for the many political negotiations taking place here and especially the Spanish Dutch Peace Treaty which established the country of the Netherlands. Munster is a university city with 50,000 students and is the bicycling capital of Germany. 45% of the distance traveled in the town is by bicycle. https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7314/2...01738471_c.jpg bikes https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7781/2...eddcf374_c.jpg and more bikes https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7132/2...ffd9fa33_c.jpg https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7301/2...5103a588_c.jpg https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7510/2...786c0537_c.jpg https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7439/2...9ea9e70e_c.jpg https://c6.staticflickr.com/8/7413/2...d96568df_c.jpg https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7370/2...fd12ff77_c.jpg https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7396/2...55b7914f_c.jpg We visited Martin who is Uwe and Marta’s brother in law and Hike’s husband. His company sells seeds to the European farmer community. They have facilities for testing different strains and fertilizers and sprays. Very interesting and definitely no GMOs. Marin gave us a tour of the fields of various strains of different grains. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7699/2...ffe45057_c.jpg https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7431/2...53089c07_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7293/2...a6670775_c.jpg https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7054/2...6ea29aa0_c.jpg That night we ate at a local restaurant that has been in the family for many generations. https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7361/2...0cf24805_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7190/2...a1895cd4_c.jpg At dinner with Uwe, Marta, Hike and Martin. |
June 9
After breakfast with Uwe, we went back to our place to do laundry, some blog work and other errands. It is hard sometimes to fit in the time to do the day to day stuff on the road. We stopped at a store near their house that sells only local goods: jams, mustard, honey, produce, dairy etc. They were taking the horses including two young ones born in April and May across the street to the pasture. It was fun to watch. https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7359/2...6616189d_c.jpg https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7487/2...20b43890_c.jpg Uwe is the president of a sailing club and has been running it in different capacities for 15 years. He needed to stop by and take care of a little business. We went out to see the boat. The sun was shining and there was a little breeze…… https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7388/2...6286665e_c.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7470/2...42973a83_c.jpg https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7328/2...2fdf9cdc_c.jpg https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7380/2...96cbc61e_c.jpg https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7335/2...a5fc7132_c.jpg We drove up to the local ski hill and climbed the TV tower for a 360 view. We didn't go up in the Berlin tower but we did see this one. https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7445/2...7e00a364_c.jpg https://c5.staticflickr.com/8/7659/2...a594a136_c.jpg The area around Sundern is forested with lots of rolling hills, yet every square inch is used. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7204/2...0f4a9205_c.jpg Mike and Uwe coming down. The viewing platform is halfway up the tower. That evening we had a family dinner with the family. Uwe’s family live together in a complex of 4 dwellings. Helga, Uwe’s mother, still works as a tailor. Thomas, Uwe,s son is a carpenter, but he builds and installs prefab buildings. Hike works in a bank, and Marta runs a doctor’s office. Jan is Hike and Martin's son. The hospitality was wonderful and we were privileged to be part of their family for a few days. https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7681/2...77f82df8_c.jpg Back Row: Uwe Marta Martin Front Row: Jan Mike Helga Hike Beverly |
June 11
Today we are off to Heidelberg for the last leg of the trip. Uwe and Marta took their bike and drove the first 45km with us. It was like old times in Norway. https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7441/2...150b5630_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7613/2...1f024ef4_c.jpg The trip to Heidelberg was 150 miles, half on the autobahn. An easy day riding. We stopped in at Stephan’s, talked to some bikers who were starting their trips, went to dinner, and went to our place to sleep as long as we could. |
June 12 and 13
We had been to the Heidelberg area 9 previous times and never spent much time there. We wanted to see a bit more of the city. We stayed at an Airbnb. When we arrived it was starting to rain. Then spectacular thunder and lightening. We stayed in and watched the European soccer championship games (Croatia and Turkey) in German then went to bed. We took the bus to old town Heidelberg and walked around to see the sites. https://c3.staticflickr.com/8/7786/2...a5c27f46_c.jpg https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7444/2...ff858de5_c.jpg https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7714/2...b51c3d6e_c.jpg https://c8.staticflickr.com/8/7085/2...16c2291a_c.jpg https://c7.staticflickr.com/8/7195/2...1b39d81f_c.jpg https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7423/2...00fe9d48_c.jpg People were getting all geared up for the soccer game between Germany and Ukraine that started at 9PM. We had dinner and a beer on the square but didn’t stick around for the game. The bus was going to be a 15 minute wait. We decided to hop on the rail tram back because we had never ridden it. |
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