Slovakia……

Left Poland today and entered Slovakia. Beautiful ride across the Tatra mountains. Hit heavy fog for awhile but no problems what so ever other than not seeing much for about an hour. Crossing the border was no problem at all. Didn´t even have to slow down. Some pics.

A castle up on a cliff.

We stopped for an ice cream at a dam by a lake.

A slovakian goat tried to eat Tina for lunch. Or her pants at least……

Looks like flowers are another thing that goats like to eat……

Talking about food. Dinner time. See ya!!

//Jan

At a hotel in Poland I got a beer with a straw!

After mondays tour to Auschwitz/Birkenau + the Salt Mine we drove a couple of miles, it was dark already when we were done at the mine so we thought it was enough for today. We found a little hotel along the highway for 140 szloty (approx 280 SEK or 30 Euro). Nice and clean and friendly staff and as usual not very good at english. We did have internet but it didn’t work so we couldn’t update yesterday. Here just a few pics from the hotel.

Can anyone tell me why on earth women are served beer with a straw here!!!?! (at a hotel in Poland) 🙂

Our hotel last night in Krzyszkowice.

Strange way to advertise the hotel, a cloth line towards the highway. Or do they have a laundromat here?

Polish is a tricky language but at least I’ve learned that this word means “entrance”

Breakfast. I asked for ham and cheese and some butter for the bread. I got ham, I did not get cheese but I got this. Take a guess what it is!

The reception.

Auschwitz and salt mines……

Ok. Monday. We walked over from the hotel and spent time at Auschwitz and afterwards packed our stuff and drove over to Auschwitz/Birkenau II. There are actually three camps all together and the place was huge. A monument over human stupidity and pure evil. Frightening what we as humans are capable of. You know what this is all about so no more writing. Here are some pics…..:

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We drove for an hour and visited the salt mine in Wielica. Got there at 5.30 in the afternoon. Much more up lifting than Auschwitz even if many people died here too in accidents when working in the mine. This place too is on Unesco´s world heritage list and well worth a visit then in the neighborhood. I, Tina and two other people was guided around in the under ground for a couple of hours. Great guide and they´ve done a wonderful job with the exhibition. Glad we stopped for a visit. Interesting place even tho I can imagine that it must have been horrible to work there. Some pics…..:

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Amazing what people can create 150 meters below the surface…..

//Jan

another 300 kilometers

Our plan was to leave early but I don’t what happened, all of a sudden it was after lunch hours before we were on our way south. We talked with theese nice polish guys for a while, packed our gear and finally were on the road again. Another day with nice weather even though we got 3 drops of rain at first but nothing to pay attention to.

Tina and the side car guys. Today we learned that their BMW’s actually are Russian BMW copies. Cool bikes nevertheless!

Jan having a power boost snack. It’s getting warmer and warmer – today we had over 25° C the hole day. Sweater off!

Jan on the highway. Sometimes the roads looks like this. Sometimes the roads are just terrible to ride on.
Bikers in Poland are very eager to wave to you when on the road, which is nice. At home that’s not as common anymore, unfortunately.

My new love and savior – The new S&S belt! I’m sometimes having nightmares about what would have happened if my former belt didn’t break just BEFORE we left. Would have been VERY big trouble (and very expensive) if it would have happened somewhere on the road in the middle of eastern europe….

Lunchtime. Jan trying to look innocent after taking a pic of me and his lunch.

Now bedtime. Need to prepare for a tough day tomorrow. Auschwitz will be interesting to see but will for sure be pretty depressing. I clearly remember the terrifying feeling after visiting the Killing Fields in Cambodia earlier this year. Can’t believe how cruel human beings can get! But nevertheless it’s a part of our history and important to not forget! Hopefully this planet will be better one day…

Road construction and lazy bike riders…..

Oki. Left the hotel WAY to late today. Talked to people we met and spent too much time with the computers surfing the internet. Left the hotel after 12….. Lots of hookers along the road today. Seems like a shag on sunday afternoon is good business. Lots of road construction heading south too so we changed our plans alittle. Arrived at a hotel just across the road from Auschwitz after sunset so we will visit the camp tomorrow instead of today. Abit nervous about sleeping across the road from one of the most horrible places on the planet, to be perfectly honest. I´ve visited several other similar sites around Europe earlier and it´s not a very pleasant visit. It gets to you. Important to learn more and expose oneself to these horrible places but not exactly like visiting a fun fair. Will be tough. I was thinking about the upcoming visit to Auschwitz during todays ride and felt abit low. I needed to cheer myself up so I took a pic of Tinas helmet and the front fender of my bike during our rather late lunch break. Here is Tinas helmet:

And here is the front fender on my bike:

Seems like we both share a fascination for wicked stickers. And here is my lunch:

Tina is taking pics of her food it seems. Silly thing to do….. :o)

Need sleep now. Will be a long day tomorrow. Auschwitz and the salt mine east of Krakow. And heading further south after that. More later.

Cheers//Jan