Tuesday    13.08.2013
  486km Total: 3279km

The alarm wakes us at 8AM and we stumble down to breakfast where I with an unusually bad appetite eat very little.
Turned out to be just as well because my stomach rejected the breakfast as soon as we got back to the room.
It takes more than just a few beers to cause that effect so I'm pretty sceptic about yesterdays supper being dairy-free.

A pretty bad start to a cloudy day.
It looks light it might be the first day riding in rain which doesn't bode well as we have about 500kms (311mi) to go.
The shortest route from Bratislava to Krakow is through the Czech Republic but I didn't go to Slovakia to ride in CR so we refute that route in favour of the hopefully more scenic route through a small mountain massive called The High tatras.

On the way we find out that the Slovakians have found out that you can actually turn at higher speed too as there's long sweeping curves after another on the 130km/h highway.
It was good fun and a nice flow without any pileups.

We just get farther and farther into the outback until we're out in the real boondocks where I'm pretty sure they've never seen our particular shade of pink skin before.
The road across the Tatras was very nice even though the road surfacing was doubtful, it looked like they'd fixed potholes by throwing out pancakes of asphalt in psychedelic patterns, it made for some pretty exciting riding.

Across the border the first thing greeting us is Polish border guards peering at the border through binoculars.
After a few kms there's a women walking a couple of cows on the sidewalk and soon thereafter the smell of burning garbage hits us like punch in the face.
The prejudices of the former east are confirmed one after another.

About 20kms from Krakow the rain starts that's been threatening us all day, we had incredible luck with the weather with it being overcast for almost 500kms without getting soaked.
We arrive at the hotel, check in and ride the bikes to their secure parking before showering and heading to the old town to find a restaurant.
We find an appetising menu at Staropolska by the square and order a beer-roasted porkknuckle each, I have no idea if it's Polish but it was good and dairy-free.

My references must get jumbled very easy because I sat there freezing like a dog even though it's probably was 20°C.
I would probably have been better off skipping the dessert of frozen strawberry puree with vodka (we're in Poland after all) and lime but it looked so good on the menu it was impossible to resist.
With that dessert in my belly I'm almost shivering uncontrollably so when Bear suggests we should head back to the hotel I'm not arguing.

Tatras

Krakow, Krakow! Two direct hits!

Wednesday    14.08.2013 

After breakfast we head for Krakow's main attractions Wawel hill and Wawel castle, dated sometime in the middle ages and like most of Krakow practically undamaged by the WWII bombings.
They've divided the castle in to subsections where you pick from a menu what you'd like to see.
We opt for "State rooms”, ”Crown treasury and armoury”, ”Lost Wavel” and since the Bear must have been bitten by a mountain goat when he was a child and always need to go to the highest point we also chose something called ”Sanomierska tower”.

I can feel a migraine coming already at breakfast so I'm in a bit of an "everything sucks"-mood but after the Lost Wavel and the tower we get some coffee and some sugar in form of a fruit salad.
The Bear gets cream with a hint of ice-cream and cream with taste of ice-coffee.
I get a cup of coffee and an espresso as a shot with my coffee in the hopes of the caffeine taking the edge of the migraine.
It might have been just low blood-sugar but whatever it was the refill helps so I definitely see the second part of the tour in a brighter light than the first.

After going through "state rooms", the treasury and the armoury it's time for lunch.
Since the service was good and the waitresses where nice there's really no reason to go elsewhere so we head back to the castle café for a light lunch.
I get more coffee for dessert and true to his game the Bear gets cream with a hint of something.

After the castle we wander around the city before venturing into the Jewish quarters which where supposed to be an attraction.
If ugly houses and bad restaurants is your thing I guess it might be but since I'm not of that particular persuasion it was extremely underwhelming.

There's a city map posted with the Oscar Schindler factory so we head there but it's so anonymous that we actually walk right past it before realizing we're there.
Since it's already closed for visitors we snap a few pretty meaningless shots of the exterior basically just to prove that we've been before starting the (long) walk back.
I'm starting to feel that the statute of limitations on the whole Hungarian taxi incident has past now so I've started whining about cabs again but the Bears insurmountable hatred for all things taxi is as strong as ever so walking it is.

After a half-marathon we're back in Old town and wander around until we find a restaurant that can satisfy a dairy-free stomach.
After the traditional Slovakian meal I really don't care about eating local just now if I'm not going to keep it down so I go multicultural and order a steak with fries and weissbier.

Wined and dined we head back to the hotel and on the way we're met by the clear and strong vocals of a soprano singing outside St Michaels Church.
It's a street musician who just decided to stand there and sing to make a bit of money but she is so crazy talented she'd make an x-factory jury break down in tears.
I was completely blown away and all but emptied my wallet there and then.
Her singing lingered after us for a city block and was a perfect finish to our stay in Krakow.
 

Wawel

St. Michaels chuch.

City walk

At least we where there.

Thursday    15.08.2013
  298km Total: 3577km

Since we're staying two nights in Warsaw and realistically won't have time to see much of anything the first day anyway we're not in much of a hurry to get on the move, after all a 300km leg should be pretty quick... or at least we thought.
It started out well enough with one of the easiest exits from a major city ever, one right turn and then straight on for 100kms (62mi).

But it turns out the Poles hate speed almost as much as they love not have one village end before the other one begins.
After 100kms of 50-70-50-90-50-70 I'm ready for a straight jacket and a mental institution, the odometer is standing completely still!

But then again that's probably why the Poles overall have no respect for speed limits so once in a while you just "had too" ride a bit over the limit just to not hinder the traffic.
I'm usually not rabid about speed limits but we saw so many radar controls during the day I'd rather not be separated from either my license or the bills in my wallet in an unfavourable negotiation with a Polish traffic cop.
Eventually we arrive in Warsaw.
Of the 300kms (186mi) ridden I think max 40 of them where on 120km/h motorway and that was between two of Polands largest cities.
If your going touring in this country you'd better take into account that it probably going to take a lot longer than you think doing reasonable distances.

We arrive at the hotel late afternoon and finally there's a hotel with secure parking right beneath the hotel instead of riding several blocks away leaving the bike in the hands of someone in a port-a-potty with embrasures.
Obviously someone called ahead and warned the hotel because they've locked the minibar! Severely traumatising!
So we had to get the welcome beer along with the meal at a restaurant at the main square in old town.

It's starting to get very ease determining the sights, the last four towns we've been in has had a castle and an "old town".

The food wasn't very Polish, we had chicken skewers with fries but at least we drank local beer which was very good.
The Bear has developed a taste for cream with a hint of coffee so he had that while I had coffee with a hint of coffee.
After supper it's already dark so we just made a detour by the war monument for the Warsaw uprising on our way back to the hotel.

The parliament building and the square in old town.

The war monument.

The theatre was an even grander building than the parliament.