Update

There's a few things that don't fit into any particular post, so I'll just throw them all together.

The Google Map link: our journey now goes onto 2 pages. If you want to see where we have gone after Latvia you'll need to click to go to page 2. Very impressed with ourselves that we don't even fit onto 1 page!

The poor wee Clio... we're still hoping a charity in Finland might take our trusty stead so it doesn't have to go to the knackers yard. But it's going to stop here in Finland, which nobody guessed (or even knew we were going to); so that at least saves us on chocolate fish! But seriously, we think we'll have 2 winners. Ben's brother's political answer of going "all the way we want it to" (no country specified) is most correct and we can see how he got his job. Closest by both geography and kilometres will be Peter Burton. So we guess we'll be giving them 5 choccy fish each. We've just clocked 10,000 miles since Calais today, so it'll end up at something over 16,000 km.

The one last point of order: we've had a few requests from some ladies for a pic of Joanna sideways. This from the City Museum in Tallinn:

Also, her new hat!



She's also just got some new maternity troos, and discovered that it was her old trousers that were uncomfortable, not her tummy. We'll try to get a pic of the groovy pants soon!

We're in Turku, and fortunately Ben isn't uncomfortable with people staring at him. Somehow his Hawaiian shirt and blue corduroy shorts don't fit in... Yes we've just done a big load of washing...

Lithuania

As we drove through the towns of Lithuania it became clear where Poland's vowels had gone. We made our way to Siauliai (no good for Scrabble like all those Polish places), a moderate sized town on the road to Latvia.

When we arrived everybody looked grim-faced, but we found a very helpful tourist information kiosk, a lovely hostel, and by the time we were out foraging for dinner everybody seemed happy. The difference between the home-from-work crowd and the going-to-the-pub crowd!

We found a nice pub with traditional Lithuanian food so Ben could complete the customary drinking challenge:


Lithuania were playing Croatia at the European Basketball Champs, which provided a bit of noise about the place. They evidently won from the car horns through the night. Always nice when the locals do well...

The next morning we visited the Hill of Crosses. Lithuanians have been putting crosses on this small mound since the 14th century. Many are memorials to people deported to Siberia. The Russians bulldozed it at some point but the Lithuanians snuck past guards and barbed wire and planted more. It´s now more than 100m wide and 100m deep with crosses.

Kaliningrad

(12-13 September)
After a cheery entry into Kaliningrad from a friendly border guard ("welcome to Russia!"), we set off to find somewhere to spend the night. Little did we realise that our two Lonely Planet books were worse than useless. Prices had doubled, so we wouldn't recognise a bargain, and Svetlogorsk is no pretty wee village to spend the night. There is no camping, or even a beach. It's not far from a beach, but still, you can get these things right...

So we ended up back in Kaliningrad city, at the Hotel Kaliningrad. For an ex-Soviet hotel it was actually very nice. It did face onto the worst monstrosity the Soviets built after their arrival:


This was built on the site of an amazing 12th century Prussian castle, that was badly damaged in the war. Rather than repair it, they replaced with something hideous instead that has never even been used! They later discovered it was built on hollow ground - tunnels that had once connected the castle to the cathedral.

Konigsberg, as it was before the Soviets grabbed it after WWII, was one of the finest cities in Europe by all accounts. The old pictures show an amazing place with stunning buildings and a vibrant city life. Most of the buildings were destroyed in the Soviet assault in 1945 - which could have been largely avoided but the Nazi commander refused to surrender until the Red Army was knocking at the bunker door.

We went to the bunker, which Hitler had used for a lot of his planning earlier in the war. The details of the assault and damage to the city were all somewhat depressing. Similarly depressing was the ethnic cleansing the Russians then carried out - from an almost purely German population there are now virtually no people of Germanic descent living there. People either fled or were carted off to Siberia.

On a brighter note, since the fall of Communism, the city has started to be re-built. The Cathedral, which sat damaged for half a century, is being resurrected:


The cathedral also has the tomb of Emmanuel Kant and his museum. After 15 years it is still under-going work, but is well on the way to recovery.

In the last few years the city has enjoyed much better times economically, which has also allowed some new buildings that are not concrete tower-blocks. Here´s the new Orthodox cathedral (also not finished):


The main thing that Kaliningrad is famous for is amber - it produces 90% of the world´s supply. The Amber Museum was impressive with its works of the fossilised sap.

We had another good drive around the Kaliningrad region as we attempted to leave. We hadn't learnt not to trust our guide book and followed their recommendation to cross to Lithuania via the (apparently) very picturesque Curonian Spit. However the Russians make it prohibitively expensive to take a car that way, so we were diverted back to the main route, only getting slightly lost on the way. Joanna's cyrrillic reading is improving though.

Warsaw

Before we left Krakow we tried to get a russian visa from the consulate there... but to no avail, they only process locals. So we drove north, faced with torrential rain and the prospect of getting our visa from the main embassy in Warsaw.

It was dark by the time we got to Warsaw, which didn't help our search for a campsite. Neither did its apparent non-existence. Hostels turned us away at the door, and it was looking like we'd have no room at the inn... Our only option was to stay in a suite at the Metropole - you've got to do what you've got to do!

After quite a bit of toing and froing, and a wack of cash we got the visas. It would have been near impossible, due to Russian tourist bureaucracy complications beyond our control, without a very splendid lady at the embassy. She had had an English professor from Oxford and was very keen to chat and help two harmless looking stragglers out!

Whilst we were being processed, we popped out to see Łazienki Park on our visa lady's recommendation. This has to be one of the most stunning parks in the world and could take days of your time meandering through it. Here are some of the highlights:







The park's so great it still has red squirrels!


Having had such a battle looking for accommodation for the previous night we decided to head north to the scenic town of Olsztyn. So we did a quick bit of drive-by sight-seeing on Warsaw's city centre. In WW2 85% of the buildings were badly damaged, and needed rebuilding - so they did, exactly as it was before the Germans came. It took them decades, and even longer to pay for it. So we felt a little guilty we weren't spending more time as we wendled our way around the picturesque streets.

We made it up to Olsztyn; it was pleasant enough, but the real attraction is meant to be the forests and lakes to the east. We couldn't dawdle though; we had a date with some Russian border-guards...

Clio for Free!

We've had a little change of plan. We were looking at logistics and it was going to be too difficult to get rid of the car in Russia/Kazakhstan; also we would be driving constantly to get to China in a few weeks' time.

So we decided it would be nicer to sleep whilst a train driver did the miles.

Which means the Clio is going to be left in Finland.

And it's either going to have to go to a very special Clio retirement home; or if someone knows someone who wants a free car - with only the small catch that it'll need picking up from Finland - it's theirs!

We'll be wanting to get rid of it in Helsinki on 24/25 September...

Any takers?

Krakow

(3 - 9 September)
Well we did quite a bit in Krakow, although a fair bit of it involved wandering about in the rain. We were there for a whole week, which is the longest we've been stationary since early June, and will probably be the longest we're somewhere until early November.

Krakow has the largest medieval town square in Europe apparently. This is half of it, the clothmarket building is in the middle of the square.


Sorry for the rain in all the pictures, but the only fine day we went to Auschwitz (more on that later).

Also sorry for the darkness of this picture, but we'd been the largest gothic cathedral, in Seville, so a photo of the largest gothic altar was necessary (this in a church on the town square):

The church, St Mary's Basilica, also has a trumpeter who plays all around its tallest tower every hour on the hour, all day and all night. Very impressive. We went to see him many times...

We spent our first couple of days in Krakow camping in the rain, before Joanna's parents flew over to join us, and convinced us we'd be better off in a nice hotel. We hadn't done too much sight-seeing before then as we attended to some admin, and wanted to wait to see things with Joanna's folks.

After we'd shown them the wet town square, we managed to make a trip to Wawel Hill, which is the spiritual heart of Poland for the religious and atheists alike, apparently. It has the cathedral where most of the Polish Kings, Queens and Heros were buried from way back in the 13th century onwards. And it also has the main palace from when Krakow was the capital.
Hill:


Palace:


It was raining of course:



In the cathedral there is King Sigmund's Bell:

We went to the inn where the Bell ringers have gone after ringing it for the past few hundred years - they each have their own numbered tankards. And they serve nice food there too.

As we said before, the only (vaguely) sunny day we decided we couldn't handle the sudden cheeriness and went to Auschwitz.

Due to a slight wrong turn we ended up at the Birkenau (Auschwitz II) camp first, which was the death camp where most people were killed.


About 1.5 million people were murdered there, almost 90% Jews. The scale is all pretty hard to comprehend. Auschwitz was the only camp that they tattooed prisoner numbers onto their bodies as they were killing in such volumes it was hard to keep track any other way. They think 1.1 million went to the gas chambers (with the scale increasing until the end of the camp - particularly as Hungarian Jews started arriving in numbers in late 1944); the rest were worked to death on starvation rations.


This is the inside of the gate to Birkenau that would have been seen as victims were getting off the trains for "selection" - where about 90% (including virtually all women & children) were selected for death in the 4 gas chambers.


After a long old wander around Birkenau, past the huts where Mengel & other doctors did hideous experiments and other nightmares, we went back to the main camp, Auschwitz I, actually in the Polish town of Osciewim - although all the locals had been forced out. This was better built as it had been a Polish barracks (at Birkenau they built wooden huts of a design intended for a few dozen horses but housed hundreds of people instead), but living conditions were still fairly horrendous.


In Auschwitz I is the museum, filled with horrifying things like 2 tonnes of human hair, all the confiscated shoes, brushes, combs etc of the gassed victims. There's also the wall where shooting executions were done, the parade ground where the prisoners were forced to stand at attention for up to 12 hours in a day, and the cells where prisoners were sentenced to starve to death. It's all very sobering.

Ben was probably a bit naughty taking this photo of his mother-in-law going into the main camp's gas chmaber:


The next day, to cheer us up, it of course rained. But it was National Dachshund Day (it's always an occassion when we show up):


And just for good measure another couple of pretty Krakow buildings; the Florian gate:


and a church with the Twelve Apostles out front:


And then it was time for Ma & Pa MacKenzie to go home. It was great having them over for a few days. Although after getting excited planning family visits to NZ with them it was bit hard getting travelling again. But we're back into the swing of things now. We're in Latvia, having made it in and out of Russia & raced through Lithuania. But we'll catch up a bit more on the blog whilst we're here in Riga, we plan to take things a bit easier the next couple of days...

Zakopane

(2 September)
We just spent 1 night on the Polish side of the Tatra mountains, having already had 3 days on the Slovakian side walking our boots off. So we mainly hung around the very nice resort town of Zakopane. It's very well set up for skiing, hiking etc.

Before heading off to Krakow we took the easy ride of a funicular up one of the lower mountains. Still pretty stunning views:


And Ben couldn't resist the luge:


We didn't really do too much, but sometimes it's just nice to absorb the atmosphere.

Next stop, a wet week in Krakow, but that's a long post, so next time. In the meantime: we've made it to Kaliningrad (Russia), heading to Lithuania tomorrow.

Levoca, Slovakian Tatras

(30 August - 1 September)
We stopped for a couple of days in a camping ground in Levoca, near the Slovakian Tatra mountains. The nice man at the campsite gave us a very "small wooden house" for the same price as the tent. It wasn't much bigger, but it was solid and we could stand up to put our underwear on.

The first day we had a wander in the foothills around Levoca, in preparation for a bigger hike the next day.


You'll note that we're no longer in our vests and shorts. A short time span between Romania and Slovakia, but a big temperature gap.

The name of the peak that we climbed we unfortunately can't find right now, it's in a map in the car across town. But it was over 2300m. It was a good 6 hours up and down.
There were chains to get up/across some rocks, so we got actions shots of Joanna. Not bad for a pregnant lady:


It was a well worn path and there were enough other people going to make us feel confident despite the inclement weather. But when we got to the top:


Or at least within a few metres of it (the last bit needed climbing equipment & better weather) we suddenly discovered there was nothing on the other side... well, a chain down into the mist. But it was only about 5m down and then it was an easier path:


As is the way, once we'd finished our walk through the mist and rain and had no view from the top ... the weather cleared.



Great fun, but maybe the last mountain we climb for about 5/6 months.

Update

We're in Krakow still, having good fun catching up with Joanna's folks, but that does mean we're not doing much blogging. We'll get to it soon, this cafe is lovely - and so fast.
It's a bit wet out:



So we feel a little bad for telling Ma & Pa MacKenzie to skip going to Rome, come and see us it'll be lovely in Poland too... But who could predict it'd rain for a straight week?

You'll be glad to know the Clio is in good shape, with new oil and a couple of bulbs replaced. Mechanics are so good here (and speak english!) that it seems worth driving over here for a service...
I've just added a few more photos on the Flickr bit, but I better get back to the coffee drinkers... We'll give you the full story on Slovakia's Tatras, Zakopane and Krakow as soon as we can...

Spissky Hrad

On our way to the Tatras there was a rather large castle to see. It covers 4.5 hectares, making it one of the larger castles about, and looks very impressive, so we're not quite sure why it's not more famous.



Hrad means castle by the way. Here's a view down from an upper window:


We've a few more shots too, but not to bore you, it's a 12th century castle that each century they modernised a bit and added and extra layer. Until the 17th/18th century when it got all a bit much to upkeep. It saw off the Tartars and the Mongols. Not bad.
Their knights must've been a bit better than this fella though:


It was brilliant, and we saw gophers too, thus proving they're not a made up animal. They're quite small so the pictures don't look so great though.

Then we went on to Levoca, where we based ourselves for 3 days camping. Well in a very small wooden hut, as the guy gave it to us for the same price as a tent.
Ben completed the drink challenge on the first night there:

This one wins the best glass challenge so far, and it's just lucky Ben likes drinking straight gin.

Kosice

Joanna has gone on about Slovakia previously, having visited there on her university holidays. So we had to go back. And it's just dead brilliant. People are lovely, the countryside is beautiful, everything's set up wonderfully, everyone speaks english, their town centres are very nice...

It's not very citified either. Kosice is the 2nd city, with about a quarter of a million people. The capital, Bratislava, is only twice that size. But that's far west of where we got to. We made it to Kosice in the dark from Ukraine, so we're not sure what the east of the country looked like either.

As a slight warning, only pizza places seem to be open after 10pm in the city. We're a bit bored of pizza. Forget American cultural imperialism, it's Italian pizza you can't get away from all over Europe. You're out looking for local cuisine, and what do you find? Pizza, pizza, or, indeed, pizza. So we were forced to have McDonald's. We guess one should occasionally give them some money to keep up their international toilet facilities.

We were only in Kosice for 1 night, and that was the only downside. The central square is beautiful, with this church in the middle:

And the historic city centre is beneath - you can go down and look.

And whilst the bell tree played "Yesterday" to signal the hour:


We got a text from Ben's brother announcing his engagement: Well done David & Katrina!

The excitement got a bit much for Joanna:


And then it was time to head off to the Tatras for some walking...

Number plates

Just an update on the number plate game... We spotted Moldova in our Bucharest campsite, Russia by the Romania-Ukraine border, and Belarus on the way from Chernitsvi-Lviv. Michelle: we have spotted a Virginia plate, but only on the wall in a cafe in Turkey, not on a car sorry...

We've made it to Krakow. We'll be here for a bit. We've a bit of admin to do (incl. working out a Russian visa), and Joanna's parents are popping over so it'll be great to meet up with them.

Oh, and one thought on Ben's drinking challenge: he may have missed a few of the drinks, but has managed to have local beer everywhere but Serbia. Zlatibor was obviously too flash to have local things...

This cafe's only open for 15 minutes, so we'll be off to Tescos then (yes, they've conquered Poland, and Slovakia ...). More updates in the next couple of days: we will get up to date!

Happy Birthday Mike!

Lviv

(27/28 August)
Lviv is beautiful. The Germans failed to bomb it in WW2, so it's full of gorgeous old buildings. Before WWI Austria-Hungary owned it and had it as a local administrative capital, so they built lots of beautiful places. The Opera House is particularly famous:

That's Glory on top, Drama & Comedy to the left and Music to the Right.

The main square is just one big show-stopper of 18th/19th century buildings:


They've so many they can use this building for their polytechnic:


It's alright, they've still got a flasher building for the university:


And even this for their Scientists to hang out (the balcony at the House of Scientists is even better, but hidden behind trees to ruin photos):


Not a lot of people seemed to speak English, and Ben failed the drink challenge as we couldn't find a place with horlika, but we generally loved the place. We did stay in a dodgy ex-Communist hotel to add to the authenticity. All the other hotels seemed dead flash actually. But we stayed in the only ugly grey tower block in the centre of town. We climbed the local hill that the town was first founded on around 1200, and could see an ugly suburb in the background, but our hotel with its dodgy floor-ladies and security guards and pass-cards was the only ugly thing where we were.

When we went back to the main square on the 28th the Nazis, having failed to do too much damage in WW2, were back:

Not quite sure what movie it was but it was all a bit exciting.

A lot more exciting than the next day. After our fine we were very careful with our driving in the Ukraine (no point in provoking the dodgy police - so no more than 90km/h), but got to the Slovakian border in reasonable time. But then we waited 5 hours to get across. For the first couple of hours or so there was much cursing of the Ukrainian's border control people, but they were lovely when we got to them and we then discovered it was actually the Slovakians who were the hold up. They were searching every car for smuggled goods. As ever, when official people look at our boot they soon give up. There's something about strewn backpacking clothes that just doesn't excite them.

Chernivtsi, Ukraine

We got to the border after working hours on a Sunday night, but it all turned out to be alright. The border guards humoured our lack of organisation, and you don´t need car insurance for the Ukraine, so no worries there. We did get insurance, for those fretting, there were insurance stalls just over the border.

We pootled along to the first town, which turned out to be lovely, and buzzing with teenage nightlife. Or at least lots of teenagers with alcohol hanging about. We felt like we´d been transported back to Newcastle...

We only stayed the night, but enjoyed the much more friendly people than in Romania. There wasn't a lot of english spoken, but suddenly communicating across a language barrier became fun again. We also got a plush hotel room for 20 squid!

Only downside was on the way out of town in the morning some dodgy cop decided that we'd committed some "offence", so we got a fine. Ben got carted off to sit in his car and produce the readies, but he didn't have as much as the cop hoped for so he just took the big notes we had... Hmmmm...