Sunday 29th August mileage 7240 Warsaw Poland

Didn't sleep well, the duvet was slightly too short, and I kept thinking I was being bitten by mosquitos!!  I wasn't because I don't have any more bites it was just the previous bites on my feet were making me very self conscious.   Thinking back I think I got bitten on the feet in Kaunus when I was in the Italian restaurant at night!
Breakfast was three kinds of sliced meat, cheese, tomato, bread and coffee, no choice, it all just arrived on one plate (not the coffee!!).  Tried the meats but didn't like them so just had the cheese tomato and bread.
When I went to check-out I didn't have my glasses and I thought the bill was 182zty which sounded about right for the room and the meal + beer last night, but on closer inspection later realised they had only charged me 132zty in total.  I think the different girl in the morning just charged me 132 zty for the room and didn't realise I had a bar bill as well.  I also managed to forget to hand in the key to room 14 so all in all they did not do very well out of me!!   Ah well it seves them right for having mosquitos in their rooms!!

Set tomtom for Hitlers bunker complex (Wolfsschanze) near Kreztyn in northern Poland (180km) and it took me on small back roads.  I slowly sauntered along, the coutryside is beautiful around here. 

Came across a dead animal at the side of the road so stopped to take photo.  I think this is what was described as a Racoon dog in Estonia, but I stand to be corrected!!

Saw a lot of people congregating at a small village, so pulled over to investigate.  Parked in a car park and a woman wanted 2zty to park the bike, so after coughing up this great expense I was determined to see what this high cost attraction was.   It turned out to be a sanctuary  ( a church!!). 

It was all sheeted on the outside, and there were plackards all about how they were raising 2.8M euro to restore the place. 

It was called the "Sanctuaria Swieta Lipka "  Not being a person who is really interested in churches too much, but remembering the 2 zty car park fee I went inside.  Wow !!!!    The place was packed inside, there was hardly any standing room, and people all had cameras pointing up at one end.   I looked and there was a beautiful golden organ all decorated with angels and trumpeting cherrubs etc.

Then the music started up and WOW again!!  All the decoration pieces on the organ started to move, and the sound of the music was fantastic.  Shifted the camera to video mode and took about 1-2 mins of the moving organ pieces and the sound!!   It was a fantastic spectacle and all the more so by coming across it purely by chance !!

Went on to Wolfsschanze and decided to take a guided tour.  I was shown around by a nice lady called Jadwiga.  She had been involved in the filming that had been done on both the American and German films about Von Stauffenburg the person who attempted to kill Hitler with a bomb here at Wolfsschanze.   She reckons the Ton Cruise film is not too bad, but the German film is more accurate.   She showed me photos of Von Stauffenburg with Hitler (he is on the far left), and also one of her showing around king Carlos of Spain!!  The photo of Jadwiga is at the actual spot where the assasination attempt took place.

It took about 1.5 hrs to get round the whole complex, there are about 20 bunkers.  
There is a model of the whole complex to give a feel for how it was all laid out.

I was expecting the bunkers to be underground, but all the bunkers were built above ground..  The concrete was up to 8 metres thick in places.   The Germans had attempted to destroy the place when they left, but you can imagine it takes a bit of destroying a bomb proof bunker system.  Hitlers personal bunker was the largest and is still quite intact other than the roof having been collapsed, but you can still get a good feel for what the place was like at the time.

The buiding made from bricks is just where the secretaries and typists stayed. Apparently you can afford to lose these and they don't qualify for 8 metre thick reinforced concrete.
Jadwinga  scratched around in the dirt and found and gave me some of the bakelite leaves they had used to camoflage the bunkers, also when she pointed out the electricity cables still remaining I said I was an electrical engineer and she said she has some of the original aluminium wiring, and she let me snip a small piece off to keep as a momento of my visit.  

A really good visit I enjoyed it thoroughly, and thanks to Paul Mercer for letting me know.  I am really glad I went to Berlin and then doubled back here to Northern Poland.

Just as you leave the Wolfsschanze complex I saw this really atmospheric shot of trees in a pond covered with weed.  I thought it captured the atmosphere of the place .

Set tomtom for Warsaw (250km) and decided to go all the way and stay at Nathan's Villas again in the centre of Warsaw.   The road to Warsaw was much better than the road from Gdansk to Warsaw that I took last time.  At one point there was a straight section of road that ran perfectly straight for about 10km.

In Poland there are very deep wheel tracks in the tarmac roads where the lorries have been. 

Partly due I think to the hot weather at times, but also thevolume of heavy traffic and lack of upkeep, and also I think the poor foundations.  Throughout all eastern europe there is loads of road repairs and construction work going on, but I have not seen any roadstone at all.  The whole foundation of the roads seems to be made from sand.  You see big deep sections of made up levels but all in sand. 

No wonder the road sinks over time!!   The ruts can be a problem especially in town when you are going slowly, or having to start and stop.  If you are in the middle section and put your foot down to steady the bike when you stop, the ground level can be up to 6 inches below where you are expecting it!!

Back in Warsaw the streets seem familair, and it was easy to get to Nathan's Villas now I know where it is.

I am in a five bed dorm with 3 other lads.  Cost is 58zty ( about 15 pounds).

Went back to the Saigon Restaurant, but didn't order the coconut (not) dish this time.  Settled for chicken and peanut, and yes it was peanuts and it was delicious !!

Back to hostel to update blog.

More later

TOR

Saturday 28th August mileage 6969 100km SW of Olsztyn

Up about 8:00am and away by 9:00am.  Emily was up at 4:00am to go and catch a plane to Croatia. She had gone to book a flight home to Ireland, but at the last minute decided on Croatia on impulse.  Did'n't bother with breakfast and set tomtom for a Suzuki dealership in Friedrichsoen ?? close by.  I wanted to see if they stocked the Cargo bag that I have, beacause the zip has broken on the one I have and I want to see if I can arrange to have it replaced while I am here. 

On the way I passed another section of preserved Berlin Wall, but this one had loads of artistic graffiti.

 Took some photos and then noticed a massive sandcastle just opposite!!

The chap in the Suzuki dealership had never heard of Cargo bags, but suggested I would be better off at a motorcycle accessory shop like Hein Gericke.  He went on the internet and found a shop close by (7km).  I remembered that ther Hein Gericke shop in Bradford sold Cargo bags, so I was feeling with all my Hein Gericke clothing I might get a sympathetic ear !!

On the way to the Hein Gericke shop I passed through a suberb with truly "socialist realism" architecture, and the name on the undergroundf station was Frankfurter.   Also in East Germany there are looads and loads of the russian style apartment blocks.  There must be millions of people living in what was East Berlin

At the Hein Gericke shop a nice chap called Christian informed me that Cargo is a UK firm and only sold in the UK.  He had a look at the problem which was that the small piece of metal that starts the zip and holds it together at the end had come off and now even if you managed to zip the tankbag onto the bike (which is hard without the metal end to start it, it simply unzips itself as you are riding along.  The tank bag, and being able to zip and unzip it are an important part of my security when I park and leave the bike!!

Christain said lets have a go at repairing it.  He found a spare old zip, and I checked that the starting tooth piece fitted my bag, and then carefully removed the long metal tooth piece.  He then melted the fabric section of the zip on my bike and shaped it so that the metal tooth would slide over.  He then fitted the metal piece and clamped it securely with a pair of big tongs and now it looks and feels as good as new.  It works fine and now I am just being very careful when I remove the bag that I don't put any stress on the new tooth.  Good old Christian just saved me 70 euro for a new bag, and also the postage for posting the old one back if I had wanted to claim under the guarantee from Cargo when I get back.
I told them the Hein Gericke suit was working fine, no trouble with the zips.  This made them laugh!!  They fed me with coffee and biscuits whilst I was there. 

Reset tomtom for Olsztyn in Poland and away we go!!   Made good progress in Germany on Autobahn but after about 100km we went into Poland and the contrast between Poland and germany is very stark!!

1) The roads are in much worse condition!
2) The roads are single carraigeway.
3) The drivers in Poland are mad at overtaking!
4) In Poland prostitutes are working the lay-bys and truck stops openly!
5) Houses and property in Poland is very run down.

Nothing else noteworthy on the journey.  Pressed on and as it started to get late I tried a couple of hotels but both the ones I tried were hosting weddings (Saturday night!) and had no rooms.   Eventually found a hotel at roadside (140 zty for room + breakfast).  In room there were about 5-10 mosquiutos so went down and got the insect repellant and sprayed the room.. Down for a meal, Pork stew, potato cakes and the compulsory picked veg.

I have been bitten some time back on my feet, and they are now at the constantly itchy stage !!

More later
TOR

Friday 27th August mileage 6619 Berlin Germany

Weather overcast all day but only small rain showers occasionally.

The two dutch girls are heading home today, but Emily is sataying another night like me.  She has just finished a work contract for a blogging dot com type company and she has decided to take a vacation around Europe for a few weeks before trying to get another job.

Decided to do the Sanderman's free walking tour of Berlin as the one in Prague had been so good.  Met at Starbucks outside the Brandenburg Gate at 11:00.  Our guide was a really cheerful english lad named Mathew from near Liverpool who is studying for a masters degree in politics at Berlin University.  We repeated some of the places I had been yesterday but he fleshed out all the detail that you cannot get on your own.

Over four hours we walked around the city and went to the following places:
Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, Holocaust memorial.

The Alpan Hotel where Michael Jackson lifted his child over the balcony to show the people !!

Then the place where Hitlers bunker had been and where he had committed suicide

The Ministry of Aviation building in the war where all bombing raids on Britain had been planned.  You can still see the bullet marks and shrapnel scars on the building

The East German Parliament building with the mural depicting perfect life under communism and also the photograph in the courtyard showing an actual photograph showing the despair and misery on the peoples faces.

The preserved section of the Berlin Wall that was adjacent to the Topography of Terror exhibition. There was in fact two walls seperated by what was called "death strip"  The photo is taken from within tha area of death strip and looking at the section of wall that was nearest to the west

Check Point Charlie, there was agroup of Trabant cars here.  This is what some people had tried to escape by creating special compartments underneath, or taking out the insides of seats hiding people inside, resowing up the seats and having people sit on them as they tried to cross.

Babal Platz where the Nazis burned the books that didn't agree with Nazi ideology

Museum Island with it's collection of museums.

Matt was very good at painting a picture to emphasise all the facts.  Especially the story of how the borders were opened suddenly and the wall came down immediately after a cock up of communications by a press officer at a public press conference given by the East german Authorities ( DDR).  Apparently he misunderstood or hadn't read the brief and instead of saying the borders would be progressivly openned to certain selected individuals he said that the borders would be opened to all immediately.  Suddenly the word got out from this press conference and 5000 people went to the border crossing to get into West Berlin.  The border guards were told to shoot the people, but they only had seven rounds of ammunition and two rifles, so they let the people through.  Once the borders had been breached there was no way back for the DDR and they openned up all the wall crossings.  People then just proceeded to pull it down.
Met an actress from Holland who was on the tour.  I was telling her about my journey.  When I came to the bit about the dorm with 3 girls she said she could not even think of doing that, she needed her privacy.  She said she was paying 100 euro a night for a not very good hotel.  I told her I was paying 18 Euro a night !!

After tour finished I walked to Alexanderplatz and then to the Hachescher market area, then on the way back to the hostel came across a hippy bohemian weird place called Zapata that looked like a megga squat that artists had occupied.  Lots of metal sculptures that reminded me of an exhibition Savi and I saw in India called "Scraptures" where people make sculptures from everyday objects such as nuts and bolts and pieces of bicycles etc.  The place was covered in graffiti and stank of urine, so it certainly had an atmosphere !!

Also noticed a beautiful building that used to be the Post Office (Postfurant) and another derelict building opposite that again you could see the bullet and shrapnel marks.

More later

TOR

Thursday 26th August mileage 6619 Berlin Germany

Weather rained on and off all day.
Got up early and showered and packed, then went for the breakfast at 7:00am but found out that the breakfast does not start till 8:00am. Decided to skip breakfast (like a normal work day !)and make progress, so set tomtom for Berlin (365km) and off we go.

It rained on me three times going to Berlin.  No problems on the journey, (mostly autobahn) except when I came to charge my mobile phone I realised I had left the adaptor piece that fits into the phone on the mains charger that Savi had brought to Krakow.  So had to revert to plan B and take off all the packed camping  gear lift the motorcycle seat and plug in the other dedicated car to phone adaptor I used before I bought the multi-way adaptor.

Stopped to refuel and read up on the various hostels in Berlin.  Chose one, (Eastener just off Friedrichstrasse) phoned up and reserved a place and off I went again.  Arrived and a nice woman called Fatime I think of some Turkish descent showed me all the arrangements.  When she showed me the bed in the four bed dorm she explained that the other three people in the dorm were girls.  (They came in late and as I write this I only know the name of one girl Anouk.  They come from Holland and are in their early twenties)

Went out at about 3pm and decided to do the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag then the Holocaust memorial and museum and finally the Topography of Terror which is an outdoor exhibition sited where the Gestapo used to have it's headquarters and catalogues all the events that unfolded between 1933 and 1945 and how the Nazi's came to power and took control of the nation.

Had a great afternoon!!

The Brandenburg Gate is very impressive and left you feeling the presence of the Nazi gatherings that took place there.   The Reichstag Building (the German parliament) is a beautiful building with a glass public viewing dome added by Norman Foster, the principle behind the dome is that if ever the german parliament seems to be getting above itself the politicians can just look up and see the people who they are meant to be representing. 

I then moved on to the  Holocaust Memorial .  This is a series of 2711 slabs (monliths) set an rows. 

All the slabs are slightly different to and apparently there are many different interpretations of what the slabs are meant to represent.  1) graves, 2) the varying heights getting taller towards the middle representing the progressive change from mild anti-semitism back in 1930 to deep hatred and the "final solution" by 1942, 3) the railcars that transported people to the concentration camps, and 4) the variety of people who were affected.  If you consider there are 2711 slabs and about 6 million people were murdered then as you look at the photo consider that each individual slab represents about 2000 people who were killed!!

The museum under the monument has a great display of pictures and individual stories of families.  There is a database of as many victims as people can establish and you can see people looking up names of relatives trying to get information.  It is a very moving experience.

You can look up information on different concentration camps, and so I checked up on Kaunas 9th Fort and also on Plaszow.  In looking at the photos of Plaszow during the war I do not think that the house we saw was the commandants house!

I was aware that I had picked up lots of information about how the Jews were treated, but never felt I had a proper understanding of how Hitler and the Nazis actually managed to come to power and to hoodwink if you like the whole German population and establish an effective dictatorship of what was up to then an established democratic country.   So I went then to the "Topography of Terror" exhibition.

It takes about 2 hours to work your way along a stretch of about 500 metres of information boards, photos etc that catalogues exactly how the Nazis came to power in 1933 and within a few months had established total control over the whole German nation.   It went through the roles played by Goering, Boreman, Himmler and other prominant Nazi leaders.

Then moved on to Check Point Charlie on Friedrichstrasse and realised that tomtom had taken me through here on my way to the hostel.  I wondered at the time why people were taking photographs of me as I rode along.

Later I learnred that all the sandbags, huts etc at Check Point Charlie are sham and nothing like what it was when the cold war existed.  All just for tourists !!
Still there were big plackards at the side of the street with photographs of how it really was at the time.

It was all very moving especially the topography of terror exhibition.

Back to the hostel and met the landlord a guy of about 40 who was an east german and he was explaining to me how it had been difficult at the time of reunification.  In the east nobody bothered to own property, it had no value, you couldn#t do anything with it except live in it.  The minute the wall came down property took on high value in the east.  People had saved for cars and these suddenly had no value at all.  Particularly the older generation they found it very hard to adjust to the new way of life.  He was a blues musician part time in a band and he had a small 3/4 size spanish type guitar.  I asked if I could play it later and he said no problem help myself.  In good humour he reminded me of thre world cup result between England and Germany !!   later a couple of American students came in.  They were already pretty drunk and going out for more.  Their names were Kevin and Brad and they had no interest in Berlin culture of history other than gisls and pub crawls !!   Been there got the tee-shirt!!

I wrote up my log and then quietly played the guitar on my own in the common room.  It wasn't easy being only 3/4 size and also it is a while since I played, however I soon got the hang of it and went through my usual repertoire;  hey jude, yesterday, fields of gold, get back, don't let me down etc.  At one time a chap who was staying the the hostel came to the door to listen, said it was good, but I wasn't  convinced myself !!

Breakfast of orange and coffee, met the girls only two are Dutch,  Anouk and Isla, the third girl is called Emily and she is from Ireland.  I think they found it a little off-putting to find a bearded stranger in "their" room late at night, however all ok now !


More later
TOR