Poland

Greetings from the land of confusing signs, Poland. When I first got to Poland after riding across Germany, I spotted a welcome sign. There was no place to park there, so I parked at a gas station down the road, walked back, darted across a stream of traffic, and took a "selfie".  Can you read the sign? I can't either, but it certainly sounds impressive.

I like the traffic signs in Poland. Look at this one of the little traffic crossing girl at a school zone. Cute.

If this cow sign was in the United States it would be shot full of holes. I have yet to see a cow on the highway.

I've not seen any deer either, but I am glad to know they are around. There has been a lot of opportunities for them to jump out onto the highway if they wanted to, because I have been going through a lot of forests. There does not seem to be nearly as many people in Poland as in the rest of Europe I've traveled in. They claim to have some wildlife left in Western Europe, but there are so many people there that wildlife doesn't stand much of a chance (except maybe in the bars at night -- that's a joke if you can't tell)

I have been seeing rabbits and squirrels and magpies and other things, including this great big bird and his (or her) enormous nest. Can you tell what kind of a bird it is?

It's a stork. Raise your hand if you knew that. And look where it chose to build its nest.

At first I couldn't figure out how a bird could build a nest that big on the top of a skinny light pole, but later I saw that people put big platforms on the poles to encourage the bird to build there. Apparently they bring good luck (or maybe babies -- which could be considered good luck too).  These birds are all over the place. I've been seeing oodles of them (look out people -- a baby boom is headed your way)

Maybe the reason it does not seem so crowded in Poland is because there is such a high unemployment rate that a lot of the people have to ride bikes everywhere. I guess that is why there are bike paths running alongside all the roads.

Where there are no forests, there are huge farms instead. The one on the right is full of wheat. I'm not positive, but I am pretty sure the one on the left is asparagus. But notice something strange? No fences. I have almost never seen one here.

Can't be looking around at storks and asparagus. Gotta keep my eyes on the road. Otherwise, look what can happen.

I am going to have to ask somebody what wypadki and Koniec mean. I can't find them on the internet. They are on a lot of signs.

Speaking of signs, I was ready to find this one after a long day of riding.

I had hoped to stay at a hotel or hostel tonight, but it is Saturday and I am in Warsaw, so everything is booked up.  I like this campsite though.  It is very clean, the showers are nice and hot, and everyone is very friendly.

I have directions for the tram into town tomorrow, so I am look to a good day of exploring the city.It is after 11:30 now, so I had better toddle off to bed.

More later,
Roning forward

Berlin and Potsdam

I have Odysseus, my Vstorm, parked out in the cold, drizzly rain (hope he doesn't mind), while I am cozy warm in my room in the Hostel.

Each day, I wake up thinking I will head off toward Poland, and each day I look out the window, see the rain, and say: "Nah. Poland can wait. I'm not riding in this weather." Instead, I have been exploring the heck out of Berlin. Mostly, I have been taking tours led by young university students from the United Kingdom. They are here working on on a PhD in history (or some other subject). The tours have been excellent.  Meeting place for them is at the Brandenburg Gate.

The first tour I took told us all about the Hitler years. We stood on top of the bunker where he committed suicide. Now a parking lot is built over the bunker. Germans wanted to erase all memory of him and of those terrible years. After he was dead, his body was burned so that nobody could come see it.

Just down the street is all that is left of the infamous Berlin Wall. What a brutal time in history that thing represents.

Around the corner and down the street is Checkpoint Charlie. It was the only crossing between East and West Berlin. There is nothing there these days except souvenir stands. I didn't even take a picture. I did take a picture of this guy, though. There are hundreds of these pedal cabs running around, taking tourists here and there. There are also lots of people zipping around on bicycles. I guess with 27% unemployment, a lot of Berliners can't afford a car.

Today, I took the train to Potsdam. Here is a picture of the palace where Stalin, Churchill and Truman met to divide up Germany and Berlin at the end of the War. See the red star? Stalin had that planted just to show the other two guys they were on his territory.

The "Wall" ran right through Potsdam. The orange pole shows where it once was. The grassy strip between my camera and the wall was a "No Man's Land". Try to escape through there and you got shot. Maybe you can see the machine gun "tower" just to the right in the picture. It is just to the left of the blue sign.

Here is the "Bridge of Spies" across which the Soviets and Americans would swap spies back in the day. There is a marker right in the middle which shows the demarcation between Soviet and American territories. This bridge was opened to the public the day after the Berlin Wall fell, and it has been open ever since.

Potsdam is a very interesting place. It was the home of the German Kaisers, and it has some beautiful buildings and palaces. The Soviets let the place fall apart, but now it has been renewed (tax money hard at work). Probably the most beautiful of all the palaces there is Sans Souci. It was built by Fredereck the Great who, among his many accomplishments, introduced Europe to the potato. Here is his grave. Can you guess what people put on it? You got it: potatoes

This internet connection has slowed to a crawl, so I am going to shut down this post. It probably is not all that interesting to most people anyway. I plan to get back on the road tomorrow, so maybe I will have more motorcycle tales to tell in my next post.

Bye for now,
Ron