I had just escaped from the Lithuanian border guards and immediately in the neighboring country. And it seems we are slowly becoming urban foxes. We drove to Warsaw first - although the first thing was probably to visit a gas station. And it was nice because this time we stayed under 200€ (for 140l) for a full tank. That saves a lot on the petty cash after several months and many kilometers through Scandinavia. So we drove to Warsaw, where we spent two nights a little north on the Wkra, a tributary of the Narev. It was beautiful there even though it's not far from the capital.
When we were ready for the city and culture, we started. Luckily we were able to find a guarded parking lot near the city center in advance (Parking Strzezony, 60 zloty for 24 hours), which made it easier. From there it is less than 10 minutes walk to the old town. We've never been to Warsaw before and it's really beautiful. We strolled through the old alleys and streets and finally stopped at a Polish restaurant that was no longer so touristy. The food was excellent (the beer too) and we were then able to shoo the children through the city 😉. No, in the meantime city visits are going well, Luisa already walks a lot and Jonathan can be inside the Manduca. For the last few meters back to the bus, however, we had to bribe Luisa with a scoop of ice cream again.
We then decided to drive out of town even though we could have slept in the parking lot... but that's not really our style. Our original plan was actually to travel more west along the Baltic Sea, as we are expected in Schwerin in mid-October, but sometimes plans change quite quickly. So also this morning. We received a message from friends in the Czech Republic when we would visit them and we thought when, if not now. So we slowly made our way south.
That gave us also the opportunity to see Kraków. Here we also found a guarded parking lot with a 24-hour ticket (60 zloty) in a very good location right next to the football stadium. Like Warsaw, Krakow is beautiful with many old buildings in the city center and a fortress. What we have already noticed in Warsaw and the Baltic States: you can visit churches without admission. So we were able to take a look at a few churches, some of which were extremely pompous. Unfortunately, the weather here was rather mediocre at 10°C and repeated heavy showers, but fortunately we are not made of sugar. This time we actually decided to spend the night in the "cozy" floodlit parking lot, because there was also a large playground for Luisa and Jonathan right next door.
The next day we headed west because I had never been to Auschwitz and visiting the memorial had been on my list for a long time. We spent the night before at a campsite a bit north, where we were almost alone, because the season is over now. There was once again a hot shower, warm water to wash dishes and WiFi - and all for 40 zloty, so about 8 €.
The next day we drove to Auschwitz, parked the bus in a small street a few meters away from the entrance and the official parking lots and parted. Juliane went exploring the area with the children and I went to the memorial. We decided that because Juliane had been there before, I hadn't, and there are definitely better things to do for kids at that age. I don't want to waste a lot of words about it, everyone knows what happened there - I found it mostly disturbing. Of course, I had read and dealt with it a lot before that, but standing there is not the same after all.
After we met again, it was already relatively late and we therefore resorted to the cooking skills of a nearby pizzeria, we drove a few kilometers out of town to a field and spent the night there. The next morning, before breakfast, there was a small demonstration by the Auschwitz police dog unit. But nobody bothered us or Zacharias. Then we had crêpes for breakfast and we drove via Bytom (my grandfather comes from there) towards the Czech Republic and found a very nice place right on the shore of the river Oder where we stayed two nights.
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