| Diary
September
La Spezia, Italy 2003-09-29 11:02
Hi again!
First of all we like to thank Dahlens bygg in Växjö, Sweden for sponsoring us with a full tank. Thanks to the family Thuresson.
Praha was just as nice and beautiful as we were told. What a city!!! There are a lot of things to see there and the atmosphere is great. The church by the castle in Praha is probably one of the most spectacular buildings both of us have ever seen. Since there are no campgrounds in Praha we had to stay in a hostel. Lucky for us we ended up in Sir Toby's hostel, a nice and clean hostel with the best and most helpful staff. After have spending two days in Praha we steered south to a small city called Cesky Krumlov. After have being spoiled with nice sunny weather since the start of our trip it suddenly got very cold and rainy. The long hours that we spent in the cold rain were worth the trouble though. Cesky Krumlov turned out to be an extremely nice and cosy city with small alleys and old buildings everywhere. After a couple of days in the Check Republic we went to Austria. The journey to our next stop Salzburg was very nice with a lot of mountains and valleys. When we came to Salzburg we realized that it was to cold to put up the tent. This was very annoying since the hostel prices in this city are very expensive. 20 Euros per person in a dorm!!! Come on!!! We spent two hours looking for a cheaper place to stay. Two wasted hours of course.
After one night in Salzburg we took of to Venice, Italy. Our first day in "the most romantic city of the world" turned out to be everything but romantic. Of course we needed to have our first big fight there. So typical! It all started because of empty stomachs, headaches and dry lips. We spent the whole evening in Venice being really angry with each other. The next day we almost felt forced to give Venice another try. With food in our stomachs and aspirins and lip balm in our pockets we had a wonderful and romantic day. The only thing that got in the way of all romance was when we had to escape from a restaurant because Helena made the toilet flood...
Today we have seen the leaning tower in Pisa. It was very cool because it was really leaning a lot. After our short visit in Pisa we steered north. We are now in a city called La Spezia. Tomorrow we will try to get to the French border.
Until the day of today everything has been going very well. No problems with the bike or with our equipment. Only one fall so far, but Helena made that one all by herself. No bike involved:-)
See you soon,
Helena & Daniel
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| On our way in Cesky Krumlov |
Helena in the "city of romance", Venice |
The leaning tower in Pisa |
Praha 2003-09-22 9:11
After have spending the night on the Stena Line ferry our adventure finally began this Tuesday. When we arrived in Gdynia we got a little bit confused. Since we have spent all our time studying and planning for Africa, we didn’t have a route planned for Poland. We didn’t even know what currency they have. But hey, what ever, that’s what make a trip like this funny. We finally decided to drive to the capital of Poland, Warszawa. What a traffic! What horrible roads! And dear Poles, you drive like crazy! Daniel has a stiff neck from shaking his head to these drivers. I guess we just have to get used to it :-)
We ended up spending four nights in Poland. Besides Warszawa we have visited Czestochowa and Krakow. Czestochowa is the spiritual city of Poland. There are monks and nuns everywhere. This city also has a spectacular and giant monastery. Krakow is however by all means our favourite city so far. It has old beautiful buildings everywhere plus an amazing atmosphere.
Outside of Krakow you will find Auschwitz which we of course have visited. We spent around four touching and almost unpleasant hours in this concentration camp that nowadays is a very interesting and well-done museum. We didn’t have any clue about how big Auschwitz really is. After have seen the size of it and after have seen heaps of hair (!), shoes, clothes etc. that once belonged to the prisoners of Auschwitz, we have now a much better idea of how many innocent people that where actually killed in this massive and disgusting terror massacre.
Before we started this trip we where warned about the corrupt police in the Check Republic. We didn’t even spend ten minutes in this country before we found this out by ourselves. After we had passed the border from Poland to the Check Republic we stopped near a taxi station to ask for directions. We got the information that we needed and steered to the highway. The first thing that we see is a police officer that stops us and leads us into his office. We don’t understand anything. Have we been driving to fast? What’s going on? Daniel even imagines losing his drivers licence for a while. The police show us his TV-screen. Of course he has been filming us. It seems like we have made various traffic offences… It all ends up with a fine of around 300, - Swedish kronor. Lucky for us we only have 150,-, which seems to be OK. God, we were relieved. But at the same time, how annoying! Damn police officers!
Damn, this life is nice. It’s fantastic to wake up in the morning not knowing what to expect of the day.
Se you soon,
Daniel & Helena
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| Let's go!!! |
Our new daily routines... |
The baracks of the prisoners, Auschwitz |
Växjö 2003-09-14 15:51
First of all we like to thank everybody for the nice respond in our guestbook. We really enjoy reading all messages, so please continue to write.
The last couple of weeks have been really stressful for us. To prepare for an Africa trip like this is easier said than done. When we think that everything is under control we suddenly think of something new to fix.
- Can you please fix “this” or “that”?
- No, I’m sorry. I don’t have time. I have so many things to do. My schedule is for sure busier than yours.
- What? Do you think that I’m lazy? I have been stressing around the last couple of weeks. Have can you say that? I’m getting really angry now…
This is how our conversations have been like lately. We have been getting on each others nerves “a couple” of times. The trip is getting closer and closer and both of us are stressed and nervous. God, it’s going to be nice to finally take off. Tomorrow 9 pm our ferry from Karlskrona, Sweden to Gdansk, Poland will depart. Not in one year, not in 4 month and not in two weeks, but tomorrow. It almost feels unreal.
If we are ready? Oh, yeah! The bike that has been inspected and served is in great shape, the 43 litres tank is mounted, the comfort saddle is wider, softer and finished, all our equipment is packed and all documents are fixed. (You’ll find new pictures of our equipment under the headline with the same name.) We have, of course, been test driving our fully packed bike and it’s been going really good. No worries.
The media part has also been quite eventful lately. Our interview with Nöjesmix has been published (www.nojesmix.com). Same thing with the report in the Norwegian magazine “Adventure World” (www.adventureworld.no). Last Monday Helena was interviewed by the local newspaper in Gävle, Arbetarbladet. The interview was published 11th September. Both of us have also been interviewed by the entertainment magazine in Växjö, NöjesNytt. Their article will be out 2nd October. Other good and important news for us is that we now have our own diary and guestbook on the website of BIKE (www.bike.se ), the biggest motorbike magazine in Sweden. Funny bunny…
This is it for now. We have to check to packing for the last time now
Well what else can we say…Goodbye Sweden!!! See you in one year!!!
Daniel & Helena
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| Our articles in NöjesMix and Arbetarbladet |
Our bike and spareparts |
This is our new home and camping equipment |
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