Tuesday 18th of July

10.40 We have slept well together with the green man and the fourth man. There are some boats in the wake, great breakfast and Jennifer Rush, Power of love on the radio.

POLAND

18.00 After a train ride from Gdansk we have reached and checked in at Hotel Jantar in Olsztyn. Our backpacks are as heavy as artillery lockers. We have fed pigeons with pears and crackers. Our German might be lousy but this town´s inhabitants´ German and English is worse. We strolled around, had dinner, wild boar pork chop and drank Lech, Polish beer.

Olsztyn

Wednesday 19th of July

07.24 We just had breakfast, a shower and are ready to leave again. Today we will head further east.

16.25 We´ve checked in, in Bialystok, at Dom Turysty Rubin. The station was crowded with Belorussians selling cigarettes. After rain and a walk around half the city in an attempt to find a tourist information in an Esperanto institute we are finally here. Now we will have some food, buy breakfast, postcards and telephone cards. Here as in Olsztyn the staff does not master English.

20.12 We are home after a tour on the town. We have bought postcards, stamps and phone cards. The ones selling them were beyond crappy at English. We walked around; saw a dog we called Rabbe (a pun on rabies) jogging around. We had a pizza for dinner, Coca Cola and a beer for 14,40 zloty. The ones that served us knew English. ”The Lord has answered”. We also saw a car from Canada driving around!

Bialystok

Thursday 20th of July

07.50 I just woke up, I just had a shower, I just haven’t eaten and I am far from ready to head for the train to Warsaw. End of the line today is Lublin. I hope they master any other language than Polish and I hope that we can speak it as well.

17.14 We have checked in at Hotel Piast in Lublin (no English) for 60 zloty night. The journey here took many turns. On the train we met a volleyball player who knew about the Swedish skiers Stenmark and Wassberg. We also met a guy who was the spitting image of the guy that plays Ivanhoe. I think his name is Anthony Andrews. In the train aisle we saw a man drinking vodka straight from the bottle at 10.15 in the morning. He had the smell of a hangover man and showed me pictures of his family and relatives, he was a German with a Belarussian wife. His leather pants made the volleyball player ask him ”Excuse me Sir, do you like country music?” Our new friend also managed to jam a small child’s foot behind our door before we reached Warsaw. We made a short stop in Warsaw where our new friend Zbigniew bought us beer. We said bye and carried on towards Lublin, saw a man ploughing his field with a horse powered plough and a small child played with his train and tried to charm Christer to come and join him. He didn’t manage to get a new playmate.

20.52 We are back after a new tour in a new city. We had Chinese food at the restaurant Piao and also bought breakfast. It is a great city with a wonderful Old Town where we had our dinner. The city gate was mighty and the alleys cosy. We drank Ležajsk.

22.35 We just heard on the radio about severe flooding in northern Sweden. The Slovenian radio told this to us on the mediumwave band. We have so far travelled 814 km

Lublin

Friday 21st of July

08.00 I just got out of bed. Yes a morning without any rush to a station. Soon it is breakfast and then a shower next to the ladies toilet before we walk towards new views.

12.00 We are having a break next to a ghetto monument. Today we managed to get both lost and back. We are having a sausage each and it is a tasty one. It has plenty of sauce and vegetables on them. A guy just asked us if we had seen his keys. We hadn´t.

14.31 We just had a great meal and an Okocim beer at "U Rajcy" in the Old Town. Now we are ready for the next round.

16.03 We have entered the pit stop to fill up with Fanta ®. Christer poured some of it over his fingers.

Majdanek

16.21 We are inside the concentration camp Majdanek where people from over 50 different nations was killed during the war. We saw and took pictures of the monument that commemorates the 25th anniversary of the liberation 1944, the barracks, gas chambers, crematorium and one enormous pile of ashes from that crematorium.

20.40 We are home in our room after having called home to Sweden and got it confirmed that it is really raining a lot. We’ve bought breakfast and realised that the city is full of dog crossings and people who´s got one leg shorter than the other. We are tired due to the walking but are revealing ourselves with potato chips and Perla beer.

21.30 ”Kisses for me” and ”New York New York” echoes from the TV in the reception and it is sung in Polish. The number one of them all was the Polish version of ”Copa de la vida” A singer in a blue vest, black shockhead and a yellow headband was singing.

Saturday 22nd of July

07.25 It is morning again. The time has come to pack and travel on; I just got to have breakfast first.

10.36 We are sitting and shaking on a double decked train. We are on our way to Stalowa Wola where we will have a short stop to switch trains. There are some special people on this train, two gentlemen drinking some alcoholic beverages from a bottle in a bag at around 09.19 in the morning.

11.06 We are sitting on a bench in the sun here in Stalowa Wola in a part of it called Roswadow. Here they are, all the classic characters. The dog Rabbe and the man with a shorter or is it a longer leg.

14.29 We got on the train and got off it. Now I just withdrew 50 zloty from an ATM in Jaroslaw. I am looking at a wall painting over prison camps during world war two.

A wall showing nazi prison camps in the Jaroslaw area.

16.10 We are back on a train. Before we left we had some pizza. We had to eat with our hands since there were no knife and fork. The polish way of eating pizza, lots of ketchup as well.

19.22 We just checked in at Hotel Polonia in Tarnow. I had a dream during the journey here. I dreamt that we were talking to a dog who knew much and spoke English. Just as he was telling us some interesting things Christer woke me up. The passengers who had entered the compartment thought that their seats were more important than my dream!! We strolled around the town and bought something for tomorrow morning. Tomorrow we will go to a new country, Slovakia. Tarnow is a wonderful town and our room is superb. We´ve got a bathtub and the lady in the reception speaks English!!

20.10 I just got out of the tub feeling like a new man. I slipped and lost my grip as I was descending my body into the tub. This led to a bump and a small tsunami. Now we are making plans for tomorrow.

Tarnów

Sunday 23rd of July

05.24 YES! It is possible to wake up this early. Tired inactive but I had breakfast, I had local apple cake and Mirinda orange soda.

09.39 We are sitting in a compartment on our own. A beautiful landscape is passing by. We can see steep hills and luxuriant greenness.

SLOVAKIA

10.49 We are on a station in Slovakia?! with our train. Our passports were checked by a Polish passport police. He looked us up in a thick book. As he was done his Slovak colleague checked us with his small computer. The locomotive that took us here just left, on its own. It has been replaced by another one that has sneaked up on us from behind.

10.52 Behind is front; we are going in the other direction.

13.41 We´ve just checked in at Penzión Atlantic in Kosice in a pink room with a skylight. It is a great room with a shower in one corner. Now we will discover the city.

18.00 We have survived a thunder storm with heavy rain and been shopping, I have among other things bought a bottle of wine ”Rulandske biele” 1999. The wine cost me around $2. The wine is white and taste, well I have to get back on that. We have also washed our clothes. The washing led to that the bathroom sink has almost fallen from the wall and the humidity has risen in the room.

Kosice fountain playing wonderful music

21.52 Back at our place after a new stroll of the town and dinner. We had meat soup, bread, 3 kinds of crumbed meat (heavy crumbed), beer and a large espresso. This cost us $8 each. The fountain on the main square is something extra. It squirts to the beat of the music and has multi coloured lights. The cathedral is almost as beautiful as the Vitus cathedral in Prague. We have so far travelled 1354 km.

Hlavná, Kosice.

Monday 24th of July

07.15 Newly showered, we have a shower blender in our shower. But here as in Poland the cold water tap in the sink is to the left and hot water tap to the right. The all but pleasant sliding door just fell down.

11.20 We have just had a Zlaty Bazant beer by the fountain while a ring of bells played ”Yesterday”. We just saw a man who looked just like Frank Zappa. The beer was delicious and I guess it goes well with some meat. Earlier as Christer was looking at a billboard it got up and left. It was a man inside it, a walking commercial.

12.32 We are on our way to Poprad-Tatry by train and expect to be there in around 20 minutes. We will wait there in about one hour before we head for higher altitudes, the Tatra mountains.

13.46 We are sitting in a compartment of the older kind. Destination, Stary Smokovec, track width, narrow!

16.58 We are back on the train after two hours in Tatranska Lomnica. We didn’t try for higher ground. It was too foggy. We looked around and had a great dinner. I had a Slovak dish with dumplings and meat with ½ litre Tatran and coffee. The cost was 150 koruna or $8.25.

Train station in Tatranska Lomnica.

23.29 The wine is opened and tried. It was really great. I think it will do fine with seafood or chicken. We have now travelled 1594 km

Tuesday 25th of July

07.53 Soon lunch, oops breakfast. After that we will have a small walk around town to buy some stuff before we head north for a journey in time and space.

11.08 We are on the train to Prešov. There we´ll make a short stop before we carry on to Bardejov and its medieval town build in the 12th century by Saxon weavers. This will be an experience.

12.01 On the station in Prešov in a wagon which is of the older kind. Outside a man is removing weeds with a hoe. It is hot today. I wonder if I want to know how hot.

12.35 We have seen another celebrity; John Cleese, he is a stationmaster in Demjata.

12.49 We are no longer train hakers, we are bus hakers. The railway guard said "brom, brom autobus Bardejov" and here we are on the bus. I hope it is the right bus.

16.32 We are in Bardejov. Sometimes the strangest things happen and most often they happen to me. Right now as I was carrying 1 litre of juice and one bread in my hand through the supermarket a guard? told me that bread goes in a bag and the grocery in a cart. Bardejov has a beautiful square, tasty and cheap food at Zlaty Koruna but has insanely zealous shop controllers.

Bardejov

20.18 We are learning about Hungary. We have learned that we should use the public transit in Budapest. This day have made us soft in bodies and brains.

Wednesday 26th of July

06.35 All things are packed and we are ready to get to the station and the train to Hungary. What will happen there?

HUNGARY

09.28 We had to leave the train and cross the border by bus. We are now back on a train after a sweaty ride for us; it didn’t seem to become the elderly ladies on the bus. We are home! Since the border we´ve seen some amazing fields that were really huge. The most impressing one was an enormous field of sunflowers.

15.59 We have just checked in at Hotel Fönix in Debrecen. Today we have been sweating, travelled by train and I was hit in the head by a cigarette butt, it flew in through the window. We have also searched for places to cash in some of my travellers checks. We searched in Miskolc and the tongue twister Nyíregyháza. I finally got the money from a blonde young lady here in Debrecen. Is a man from Prague on the move a traveller cheque?

19.25 We are back after a short walk with a heavy rain shower. We have bought juice, bread, beer and Röfi kolbasz a Hungarian sausage.

23.00 We have just been eating at restaurant Lucullus Ếtterem where Christer started with asking for a room!??. I suspect it was due to the heat. The dinner was delicious and Hungarian coffee is for sure strong. The beer Szalon isn’t one of the best I had. We will soon know if that goes with some of the other kinds. Talléros and Borsodi wait for us. Important words beer=sör, cheers= egészségedre

23.59 It is judgement time. Borsodi is a tasty beer of a Bavarian kind. Now I will study about Budapest where we plan to go tomorrow. The cold water taps are on the “right” here in Hungary. The toilet is flushed by opening a tap and close it is you are done.

Thursday 27th of July

08.20 We sure fell asleep quick last evening. Christer woke up during the night only to find that the lights were on. It is cloudy outside but we expect a sunny (warm) day in Budapest where we will be going in one hour.

13.35 We just checked in at the hostel Vásárhelyi. There isn’t much to say about the trip here. As we reached the station we met/got caught by two young ladies offering us a place to stay. We accepted their offer and Vera showed us here. It is a great room with a balcony and a view over the Danube.

19.35 We have walked around the city, bought breakfast and had a rest. Now we will head out again. This time for beer, food and beer. The crickets are playing outside.

22.50 ”Home” again after we have climbed the Gellért Hill and seen among others the Citadella that was built by the Habsburgs after the 1848-49 revolution to “defend” the city from further insurrection. We also saw the Independence Monument erected as a tribute to the Soviet soldiers who died liberating Hungary in 1945. We also ran into a Swedish tourist group that was entangled by a guide who cheerfully told them about EVERYTHING they were about to do during the next days. We lost our heads on the hill and considered $1, 70 for a beer expensive. We had dinner in a deserted Chinese restaurant after that. Talléros is an all but easy drinkable beer with a taste of bread. Aszok on the other hand is a great beer. Now we await the laundry to be done so that we can hang it out to dry.

The great market hall in Budapest.

Friday 28th of July

09.00 After a shower and 2 croissants and some juice for breakfast I´m ready to take on the new day. The clothes are dry and soon we will see more of the city.

13.30 We are in an open-air café in the Danube. We are to be more precise on the Margaretha Island. It is calm and peaceful here. So much calmer than the Castle District where we were earlier today. We have seen the Fishermen’s Bastion and Matthias Church. We also met the Yankee couple Ed and Patsy Arnold, as picked from a movie.

14.35 We have just dipped our feet in the Danube and will head out to the crowded Pest. We will go there as soon as Christer´s hiccup has stopped.

22.15 We are at home again, we went to the Nep stadium and saw clothes and other personal things scattered around, went by the metro, the tram, bought breakfast, got lost, got back, had Chinese dinner and got here. I am sitting here fresh from a shower and ready for new plans.

Budapest

Saturday 29th of July

07.07 We sure had a mighty thunder storm tonight but now the sun is shining in through the window. The sky might be cloudy but the sun is shining. Soon we will have breakfast and then in three hours we will head to Croatia and Zagreb. This is a nice room, we´ve got pets. We´ve got a cockroach in the shower and a bug in my bed.

12.10 After standing for two hours we´ve finally sat down. It feels great. In the beginning of the traintrip some youngsters did their best to get everyone’s attention. They romped, blocked the entrances and tried to disconnect the wagons of the train.

12.45 We can see Lake Balaton from our window. Beautiful scenery but I am tired. I think I will take a nap. I am hungry but we´ve got a long way to go.

13.12 This is a day for good deeds. Before we left we gave some forints to a beggar who spoke English. Now we just bought key chains from a guy who was deaf and dumb. I bought a shark and Christer a small man with a string for body.

13.54 We are sharing compartment with an elderly Hungarian couple. They´ve got clothes and provisions in a bucket each. They´ve also got what looks like a balance scale. I wonder were they are heading. Their technique of eating grapes is brilliant, suck in the grape, chew, spit out the seeds and burp.

CROATIA

14.44 We have entered Croatia. What will happen next?

17.05 We´ve just checked in in Zagreb, just a short walk through from the railway station. We are in room 301 A not room 301 as we thought. In room 301 there was a tired man who said "problemo?" to us. I am afraid that we woke him up. The trip¨s most charming person was the Croatian ticket controller who said voilá as he returned Christer´s ticket. He kept on saluting us as he passed.

20.35 We are back home after a walk around a very clean Zagreb. No rubbish at all in sight. The city is one of the most empty I have ever seen, but they have great sausage and beer. I must also say that they have great churches. Now we are going to plan for tomorrow. We will just see about that. We have bought and written postcards. Christer has bought newspaper that is dated for tomorrow. They´ve sure got fresh news.

Zagreb

Sunday 30th of July

06.50 We are using a towel as a tablecloth as we are having our breakfast, austere yes, tasty no, necessary yes. Christer´s juice is made from a kind of berries that we´ve never heard of.

10.51 We have just switched train in Moravice and are now heading towards Rijeka. The train we came in had Swedish signs and the numbers on the seats were a strange combination, 13 and 105 together and two different number 1 seats.

12.10 We have just seen the sea, as Christer reached for his camera in his backpack his alarm clock fell out and hit me in my head. Ouch!

15.14 After a lot of trouble and even more walking we´ve found a hotel in Rijeka. We have checked in at Hotel Continental. We have also bought a ticket to Ljubljana. The reason for this walk, that felt like the one Moses did, was that we weren’t welcome in the hotel we found a couple of kilometres outside of town. They didn’t let us in since we weren’t any war refugees nor from Vukovar. What we thought was a cheap hotel was in fact a place for refugees from the war in eastern Croatia some years back.

Rijeka, Croatia.

19.07 We just had dinner and we´ve walked around the town. The dinner we had on Viktoria was delicious. We had Dalmatian rump roast. Now we are ready to have a dip in the deep blue sea.

22.00 We didn’t go for a swim just for a walk. We found a big doll made from fabric. We left the doll on a bench but gave it a bottle as company.

Monday 31st of July

08.20 I just woke up. There is no panic today. The train leaves at 13.05. I am going to rest a little, drink milk and pack. After that we will walk the town and perhaps buy something.

10.35 We are walking around in Rijeka. We are looking at the crowds and at the beautiful Square with marble slabs. We have made up plans for lunch. We are going to return to yesterday’s great place for pizza.

12.17 Pizza yes, same place no. We are sitting in the sun relaxing. In less than an hour our train will leave for the fifth country of the trip, Slovenia. Here we can’t travel on our interrail tickets. I am looking forward to see a new country and a new capital. Christer will soon go for a final stroll around and I guess I will take one later. Someone has to guard the backpacks.

13.06 I left to run some errands. I got back in a slow pace at around 12.58. We got on the train at 13.03 and it left at 13.05. Maybe I was a bit late or? Christer was more than worried.

SLOVENIA

17.16 We have just checked in at the hostel Dijaški Dom Tabor in Ljubljana. The sun is shining outside and soon we will get out there for refreshments, things and similar stuff.

21.59 We are back from our stroll of the town. We have seen the castle and had a breathtaking view. We carried on to the train station, bought postcards, phone cards and phoned home. We carried on to Šanghai a Chinese restaurant and drank Lasko beer to the food. Delicious!. On our way back here we met the two younger brothers of Santa Claus. They smiled and said Buongiorno. Now it is time to wash the clothes.

Ljubljana

22.45 I just got back from the shower and a cloth line hangs around covered in clothes. The toilet paper here is minimal. Tiny separate pieces 10x15 cm. I am happy that there is a big roll of paper for the hands here.

Tuesday 1st of August

07.15 New month. New day, new bed, newly awaken and newly showered. Ready to meet the day. It is breakfast in about 45-60 minutes. Before that, well we´ll see about that.

08.55 Back from breakfast that we had in what looked like a school cafeteria. We had a special feeling as we had our bread, juice and coffee.

09.56 We are on the bus on our way to Bled. What awaits us there? Fair nature experience, wild animals and/or crazy tourists?

10.30 During these weeks we have seen different forms of hay bales. Now we just saw something new. A huge hay fence, looked like a wall bars with a roof. There are different countries with different ideas.

12.30 We have reached Bled and left the bus. As I was about to take an idyllic picture, in the back a beautiful church and in the front a swan, it happened. Out in the water a man came dressed in pants and a sweater. Good bye swan, good bye idyllic picture.

17.42 We have walked around the lake, sent postcards, rested and had dinner. Now we are on our way home. Christer got 500 tolar too much back from the bus driver.

22.00 The time has come to sum up the day. What have we seen today? Fair nature experience? Yes. Wild animals? Well, semi wild swans and fish. Crazy tourists, yes.

Bled

Wednesday 2nd of August

09.24 We are with a, heavy breakfast, a packed back pack and cheerful mood on our way to become speleologists or whatever it is called. Last evening washed clothes are almost dry.

11.01 We are on the bus towards the world of caves. We are on our way to Postojna. We just heard the classic ABBA song "Waterloo” sung in Slovenian?! on the radio.

12.30 We have bought tickets for the toilet and the caves; we will be going down in half an hour.

15.30 We are back on the bus. We went down into the cave by train, walked around and went back. We have seen amazing views, beautiful colours and creations. I am more than ready to go home. Unfortunately we weren´t allowed to take photos inside the caves.

18.21 We are sitting by the remains of a Roman wall. The first stone was placed by no other than emperor Augustus. I am resting, Christer is doing a Budapest (see 28/7 14.35). The wall was once the southern wall of the Roman town Emona. Some parts seem original and some are restored.

22.00 We are back home after that we´ve bought a spoon, walked around, had pizza and gone home. We have planned for tomorrows trip to the sea and we made an economical calculus. Hey, we sure are burning money here in Slovenia. Christer´s pizza had fruits and whipped cream. It was called "Fantasy". No one can eat such a pizza with a smile on his face.

A small accident in Ljubljana.

Thursday 3rd of August

08.35 It is cloudy outside, we hope for sun by the coast, because we are going there. We might take a swim, we might just walk around.

Piran, one of few coastal towns in Slovenia.

21.45 We are finally home. Two hours trip with bus to Piran. Pizza, buying a water melon and finally a swim. Well swimming and swimming? We climbed into the water on a ladder in the concrete. We started to travel back home at 18.00, and got back to Ljubljana at 20.10. We went home with the stuff and out again to buy tickets to Bratislava from a to say the least masculine lady. She asked us with a gruff voice what we wanted and how old Christer was.

23.20 Almost everything is packed! I phoned home and music was played for me during the call. Tomorrow we will see Danube again, Deja vu?

Friday 4th of August

06.38 Here we are again. Two tired heroes gathering themselves and their belongings. Outside the sun is shining and the cars murmur.

09.53 We are heading to the border, both of us half asleep. We are sharing compartment with a lady who isn’t that pleased that I placed my foot on the seat. She is also a huge fan of wet napkins.

AUSTRIA

10.52 We are at Spielfeld-Straß in Austria. We are waiting for our ride away from here. We have travelled far and still got more to travel.

10.57 We are back in the “safe” world. The windows only open an inch. Definitely contrary to wide open windows with a small warning sign and half closed door.

11.30 We are at the station in Graz; on a bench on the platform we saw a slim version of Helmut Kohl.

12.25 We just had lunch, soft cookies and soda. I had a cup of cappuccino on top for 600 tolar ($3.5). We are back in the west longing for the east. Here the hay bales look like small men.

13.47 We are thinking about alpine skiers from former Yugoslavia and have mentioned Bojan Krizaj, Rok Petrovic, Jure Franko and finally Jose Kuralt. Memories from a childhood in Sweden when the entire population watched every race of Alpine skiing following our hero Ingemar Stenmark. School lessons stopped, people stopped working, the whole country was watching when Ingemar was skiing in the late 1970´s and early 1980´s.

15.26 After a short stop in Vienna we´re back on (a rail road) track again. We will be in Bratislava within an hour. It was chaos on the station, hardly any info, no benches on the platform and no signs on the wagons.

SLOVAKIA

18.20 We checked in here in Bratislava at a cost of $5.70/night. Labyrinth walks that reminded me of the classic TV-series “Secret Army” brought us to our room and here we are at a sort of student accomodation becoming hostel during summertime. We will freshen up and repack before we walk out taking a look at the city. They have a funny station here. The passport control of both Austria and Slovakia next to each other. We saw Danube again but had problems crossing it. We finally found a bridge for pedestrians under the car bridge.

21.59 We are at home again after a tour of the city. We found a pleasant restaurant, Minerva and told the guy behind the counter” Table for two please”, no reaction. ”Wir wollen essen” same thing. Suddenly he smiled and said ”Mangiare” in Italian and pointed towards a table. I had a romp roast covered with Roquefort cheese and beer, at a cost of $7. Life is great again. Our amount of toilet paper has changed dramatically. We now have none.

Saturday 5th of August

07.50 Awake and ready to meet the new day in the new city. It hurts from yesterdays travelling and walking but not as bad as we feared.

08.40 There is much joy here. We can wipe our behinds. The lady in the reception gave me a roll of toilet paper. We also enjoyed our breakfast.

Peter near a strange sign in Bratislava. Ask any swedish-speaker what "kuk" means.

14.00 We are in our room after a walk in a rainy city. We have among other things bought lunch for today, breakfast and train food for tomorrow. 1 litre juice, 2, 5 litre soda, 2 cinnamon buns, 4 grahams bread. The cost was 80 koruna ($2.50).

20.40 Back after a final walk in peace. We have seen the castle, Old Town, the National Theatre; visited an internetcafé and enjoyed dinner at the chinese restaurant Golden Dragon. Now it is time to pack and shower before we go to sleep. We saw by the way some newly married couples.

Bratislava

Sunday 6th of August

05.20 We are awake and ready to get going. The time has come to travel to Prague. We are really tired but alive. There has been a thunderstorm during the night.

08.32 Some reflections on a train towards Prague while it is raining outside. Someone is playing an accordion and some others are singing here in the wagon. Some of the prices are coffee $0.40, 0,5 litre beer $0.65 and 0,5 litre Cola $0.72

CZECH REPUBLIC

09.46 Christer is sleeping; there are several different people around me. I feel an urge to have some of my food. I am looking forward to get back to Prague. The accordion player and his friends are in a great mood. The coffee man is cheering him on.

13.23 We have checked in at Hostel Budec in Prague. The clouds are breaking up outside and I am looking forward to soon walk the streets of Prague, have the great food and drink the beer. I will also see the Charles Bridge, Old Town and the rest.

22.07 We are in the room after having pizza, searched a football stadium (Viktoria Zizkov) and a match, found the stadium, no match, walked through the Old Town, bought a newspaper and found out that the match was at 10.15. Walked along Karlova, seen The Charles Bridge. The Charles Park, returned to Wenceslas Square, had some sausages, tasty, and gone back home. Prague remains a beautiful city full of surprises.

Prague (Praha)

Monday 7th of August

07.25 It is almost half past seven. I am ready to meet the new day. Just need a shower and breakfast.

12.42 We are sitting on a bench looking at the Saint Vitus Cathedral. They are renovating the big tower. On our way here along the Karlova we saw a lady who filmed some postcards.

13.37 We just studied a young boy who tried to feed some ants with bread. He then tried to show the ants the way to the bread. He carried on with bringing the bread to the ants. Finally as they refused to eat, he kicked away bread and ants. If he opens a restaurant in the future I for sure will not go there.

Lots of roofs in Prague

17.43 We are sitting in a park behind St Mary-of-the-snows church. We just had a sausage each and digest it right now. The sun is shining and we are about to walk down Narodni and maybe visit the pub U Fleku.

22.15 We are in our room again. We walked down Narodni and saw the National Theatre and Slavia, the famous cafe. We saw a man by the National Theatre who stood and ripped off pieces from a poster while murmuring. As soon as he was there just as soon he was gone. We left as well and went to the station to check about tomorrow. I managed to lock myself in at the toilet but got help to get out. We then went to have dinner at my old favourite U Provaznice in Provaznica 3, great food and excellent prices.

22.55 The night is upon us. It is time to pack. Tomorrow we have a long way to walk. I am afraid we might get sweaty.

Tuesday 8th of August

05.42 The early bird catches the first worm, we are ready not for worms but for breakfast, final packing and a walk to the station. I think we will go by metro the last bit. We don’t have time for breakfast here. It will be selfbought juice and bread.

07.07 We are seated on the train; the first compartment was as hot as a burning sauna. The heat was set on maximum. We did another good deed at the station. We gave some of our Czech money to a girl needing some for a ticket to Ostrava.

POLAND

11.15 We have returned to Poland. There are some stamps in the passport by now. It is calm in our compartment and wagon. There seem to be some problem with a passport in the neighbouring compartment. It is being checked closely. It might have something to do with a visa.

15.16 We´ve just checked in at Hotel Piast in Wroclaw. The room cost us $ 17/night. We got a toilet of our own, shower and breakfast. Not bad at all. Now it is time to get into the centre to cash in my travellers cheques.

The town hall in Wroclaw.

21.55 We have returned after a city walk that began with a visit to a bank. It sure was some visit. I went to a counter where three persons counted my cheques, after that on to another counter, signed three documents and kept two, switched counter again and switched those notes for money and a new note. After this little escapade we bought raspberries and blueberries. We had those while we looked at some kids playing in a pile of sand. They played along until a tractor removed the pile. We have seen a Gothic Cathedral from 1272 with a 90 metres high tower. We had dinner at the square (Rynek) and Christer had to pay more than he expected. His price wasn't for the dish but for each 100 grams of it. 14 zloty suddenly turned into 34 zloty. On our way home we saw a man who tried to bash in a window with his bare hands in front of some policemen. He kept hitting until policemen from two policebuses took care of him. Now we need to rest.

Wednesday 9th of August

08.52 I just got out of the shower. I am on my way to breakfast. After that we will buy a ticket and have a rest before we head further north towards Poznan.

17.26 We just checked in at Hotel Lech in Poznan. Since we got here there have been some chaos to say the least. The train ticket we bought for tomorrow was dated for this evening. We went back to the counter, they sent us to the information desk, the man in the information made a phone call and we were sent back to the first counter, as we got there everything was OK. The first hotel was under renovation and now we got a view into a brick wall and an expensive room. 250 zloty or $35 each.

Rynek, Poznan.

21.30 We are back in the room after a walk to and around the centre. As Christer had made his phone call the telephone “ate” the card and I couldn’t call home. After that we looked for a pizzeria and stores, we found both. I wasn't chased in this store but Christer wasn't so lucky. As he had put his bananas in a plastic bag an old lady came and shouted ”banany, banany”. She took Christer and the bananas back to get weighed. Well, the bananas, not Christer.

Beautiful architecture in Poznan

Thursday 10th of August

05.20 Up and awake?! since almost an hour. We had a shower, breakfast and soon all is packed. We will go to Gdansk, the ferry, the sea and home. On the TV we´re watching Five and Queen with ”We will rock you”. Freddy Mercury has to be spinning in his grave.

10.52 We are seated in a park in Gdansk. We are having a small snack, candy and soda. Not much happened during the ride here and on the last step of the ride the compartment was full. Now we´ll get into the centre and the beautiful buildings here.

Gdansk

14.31 We are sitting on a bench on the platform, waiting for the train to the harbour. We have walked, taken pictures, bought stuff and eaten. We are looking at a man that is beyond wasted. He has gone from knee-standing in a bush to lying down on a big crate. We guess he is trying to gain some strength.

15.09 The next phase in the journey home has begun. We are sitting on our last train in Poland for a while?! We are leaving Gdansk and the tired man behind us.

16.06 We have gone to the end of the line and back one station. We had gone too far and got out and walked to the ferry terminal. We got the return trip confirmed and learned that a cabin might be arranged with in the reception on the ferry. After that we have been interviewed by a guy about our time in Gdansk and later went to a bench for some rest. We hope to be able to board at around 16.30 and we also hope to get a cabin. We are tired; it is 12 hours since we crawled out of bed and into the shower. When will we see a bed and a shower again? 4808 km 4600 min (3 days, 4 hours and 40 min) is the time we spent travelling this year.

17.06 Boarded, We still have no cabin but we will get further notice at 18.00. We are number 12 and 13 in line. We are sitting on the stern deck on the Polferries ferry Rogalin that will take us to Nynäshamn south of Stockholm.

18.26 I am sitting here on the chair and thinking. We have a cabin. It was far from fully booked and I wonder we couldn’t pay for it at once? The cabin cost us nearly $30 each but we do have a bed and a shower. Sweden here we come!

22.17 We have had a sausage each and also seen some guys from Ukraine. They were drinking coffee, coffee that they poured vodka into.

Friday 11th of August

10.41 I am sitting and thinking again, we will reach shore in 2½ hours. Hopefully! What will happen then? We will take the commuter train to Stockholm. As we get there we need to find a way to take us home. The sea is calm and the journey has been pleasant. I am glad that we got ourselves a cabin and I wonder how they are feeling the ones that chose to sleep on deck. How are the Ukrainians we saw last evening feeling? What are they going to do in Sweden?

11.41 We are back from breakfast. It was late today but we are after all on vacation. Behind us two young men were sitting, one of them played with a snuffbox and the other one held his cell phone. The cell phone owners we´ve seen on the trip has had the phone in a pocket or similar. The Swedes holds on to it like their own teddybear.

SWEDEN

13.39 Ashore, sitting at pizzeria Moulin Rouge in Nynäshamn. Pizza for $8, soda for $3. Home again. Expensive again.

19.15 We are at Stockholm’s Central Station. We have arranged with the ticket and await the trainride home.