Day 11 - Prague ->Warsaw, Poland

Got up really early as we had major ground to cover - 611km to Warsaw! We dropped Matt off at the airport as this is where he was flying home from on Monday so he had to check in to his hotel. After that, off to Warsaw. A highway leaving Prague soon ended, leaving us with a very scenic 2-lane road running through the mountains. Lots of campers, motorcycles - a very scenic, touristy area. Our Tom Tom guided us to some crazy 1-lane roads going up very steep hills - on more than one occasion I wanted to turn around except there was no room. Eventually, we got onto the main road leading to Poland. As we crossed the border into Poland, the roads immediately got 10x worse - potholes and patches everywhere. Whoever said the roads in Poland were horrendous wasn't kidding! The E67 road we were taking led us through a bunch of similar sounding Polish towns. We did not see a true divided highway until the end of the trip - 90% of the road was 1 lane each way, sometimes with a half lane to move over next to it. This made for some insane passing maneuvers, with traffic getting out of our way as we were passing multiple trucks at the same time. Strangely, this began to feel normal after a while. Unfortunately, there were random 70kmh zones all over the place, complete with speed cameras and live Polish cops shooting radar guns - thankfully, we didn't catch their attention. Really interesting roads - anything goes here, including ATVs, tractors, horse-drawn carriages, you name it. Polish drivers are insane and impatient - sometimes you'll see a car passing on a two-lane road while in the process of being passed by another car altogether. The trip through Poland was seriously long, due mostly to the piss-poor roads - 411 miles took us close to 10 hours to complete but this did include two stops, one of which was at a McDonald's in Lodz, where they happily speak English and accept credit cards(take that Denmark!). We hit some traffic coming into Warsaw, once again followed signs for 'Centrum', parked our car and went looking for a hostel. Found one right in the middle of everything, checked in and went exploring. Really pretty city, not as pretty as Prague. Absolutely insane driving - here you have to dodge trams, buses, bikes, etc. Lots of construction and traffic as well. Found the main drag, Nowy Swiat, and walked up and down. Since this was a Sunday night, not a whole lot was going on but we did find a bunch of outdoor places to eat/drink.
Had a few pints of Zywiec, ate dinner and decided to call it an early night as we need to get back to Vilnius tomorrow.

Day 10 = Berlin -> Prague, Czech Republic

Got up fairly early, got some good McDonalds breakfast and started driving to Prague. Great roads leaving Berlin and continuing into southern Germany - Thom got to experience the autobahn and was a big fan. As soon as we crossed into the Czech Republic, things changed for the worse. We purchased a road tax stamp at a local Esso(Exxon) Stop n Go. Smooth and well-maintained highways ended in the Czech Republic as our Tom Tom GPS unit guided us to one lane winding and twisty roads. Eventually we reached a proper E road(thoroughfare) and continued on to Prague. Very scenic countryside and the weather was beautiful, forcing us to stop a couple times and snap pictures. Reached Prague with no issues - again, followed signs for 'Centrum' and started looking for hostels. Found a hostel right next to old town Prague, in city district 2(the city is divided into numerical districts, with old town being 1, new town being 2 and so on.) After maneuvering our van into the smallest courtyard possible and putting our bags away, it was time to explore.
Prague is absolutely beautiful! Genuinely old buildings that look really old and well maintained, not artificially done up. Went to the Metronome, climbed a hill to the castle and snapped some amazing pictures. Found the main old square where they serve huge sausages and beers in to-go cups - got some beers for the road which definitely helped with the long hill climbs we were doing. Just a beautiful city, with streetcars, cobblestone streets, etc. After that, we decided to join a bar crawl where for 12E or so, you get to visit 3 bars, get unlimited beer for an hour and get to go to an exclusive club. We figured it was a good way to meet people and it proved to be true.
We went to three different bars and the dance club - the party scene in Prague is great and the people were definitely interesting. Compared to Berlin, it's less gritty and definitely more touristy - the city has a more old Eastern European feel to it. The night ended earlyish around 4am as we needed leave for Warsaw the next day. Prague is definitely a fantastic city to come and sightsee in - different vibe from Berlin but nevertheless fascinating.

Day 9 - Berlin

3rd day in Berlin - I love this city! Got up and went to Alexanderplatz. Got up to the TV tower to see Berlin from 200+ meters up. Absolutely fantastic and scenic, took lots of pics. My SD card seems to be corrupt so there's a hiatus on the pictures but I should be getting a new one today. After the TV tower, I went to the DDR museum to see how life was in former East Germany. Very fascinating and interactive exhibit - reminded me of old Soviet Lithuanian days, except I think we had it a little better. Grabbed lunch near Potsdamer Platz and rode the U and S bahns for a while, exploring the city. Berlin's public transportation system is really fantastic - trains run every 5-10 minutes and you can literally get anywhere using a train - take that, Washington Metro! As the evening set in, we went to an art gallery exhibition in East Berlin and saw a show by Laurie Lipton - very interesting and provocative art and good people to talk to. During this time, a crucial soccer match was going on - Turkey vs Croatia and we were told that if Turkey wins(Berlin is close to 50% Turkish) then Germany will have to play Turkey in the finals and the city will certainly erupt in riots. Turkey ended up winning and cars were honking and fireworks were going off continued throughout the night, with Turkish flags waving everywhere. We went across the river into West Berlin and had a few drinks there - one positively awesome thing about Berlin is that you can drink beer anywhere(street, subway, etc.) so we were taking advantage of that by getting road sodas. I also got their version of jumbo slice and we partook in the Turkish celebrations that went on during the night. The night ended at 3ish as we went to bed - tomorrow we hit the road towards Prague. Berlin will definitely be missed. Auf Wiedersehen!

Day 8 - Berlin

My SD card is having issues at the moment so I can't post pictures. On day 8, we went exploring in Berlin. There was a ton of stuff I wanted to look at - Brandenburg Gate, Reichstag, Hitler's bunker, Checkpoint Charlie, remnants of the wall. We got some breakfast and got started. Immediately I realized just how great the transportation system is here - the S and U bahns take you anywhere you need to go and FAST! Downtown Berlin is absolutely beautiful and massive(be prepared to walk). Very touristy and everything is laid out logically. Brandenburg Gate was beautiful, as was the restored Reichstag. Tiergarten was great to walk around in and I even discovered a massive memorial to Soviet liberating troops, complete with two actual tanks. After that, I went and saw Checkpoint Charlie and even got my passport stamped with 6 actual entry/exit stamps. Finding Hitler's bunker was tough because it's not an official tourist site but I managed to locate it after a while - it's located in a courtyard of an apartment building and there's a small plaque with information, layout, etc. I also went and visited a memorial to the Berlin wall - there was an observation tower where I saw what it looked like when the city was divided in two - very interesting. As night approached, we had dinner and beers at the Red Rooster(our local neighborhood bar, very cool) and met up with Iris, Matt's friend. Had a few drinks with her at a different bar and it was interesting to hear her stories on life here, as she has lived all over the place. The bars got rowdy as there was a soccer match going on between Germany and Portugal - Germany ended up winning so there was a lot of yelling and firecrackers going off, cars honking, etc. These people love their soccer. Tomorrow brings us more Berlin and an art gallery opening in the evening and we are off to Prague on Saturday.

Day 7 - Berlin, Germany!

We got up fairly early with the intention of getting out of Denmark ASAP(see previous post). Got on the road and stopped to get food at a local McDonalds - once again, no credit cards and hundreds of kronor for a basic value meal. Our plan was to get to Gedser, Denmark and take one of the five or six ferries they run per day to Rostock, Germany. We got there, again paid hundreds of kronor for the ticket(but they did accept my Visa!!!) and got on the boat an hour later. 75 minutes or so later, we were in Rostock! Very scenic town but no time to stop as we had to get to Berlin! Before long, we were on one of the famed autobahns. It started out with speed limits increasing from 50 to 68 to 80mph. Once we got outside of Rostock, it became a free for all. It is fantastic! Everyone is very well disciplined, trucks arent allowed to pass on the high speed sections and there was very light traffic so I was able to open it up a little bit. I got it up to 130mph or so and held it there for a good 10-15 seconds before slowing back down(if you can call it that) to 110mph or so(my cruising speed for the entire drive). Even when I was doing 130, I had to do it in the right lane because there is always someone faster than you who needs to pass you(you are NOT allowed to pass on the right). Sure enough, I was passed by plenty of cars during my high speed jaunt - thanks for making me feel insignificant! We stopped at a roadside cafe and had some real German cooking - wienerschnitzels und kartoffel - and filled up with diesel - 8$ a gallon, which seems to be a common theme. We made it to Berlin in record time - it is a really cool city and immediately exuded a great, gritty, fun zoung vibe. Navigated our way to East Berlin, where our hostel was - we ended up getting a big room with a private bathroom so we were happy. Unpacked and went exploring. East Berlin seems like the equivalent of Adams Morgan/Columbia Heights in DC - a trendy, urban neighborhood filled with young people. Found a couple of bars and we were delighted to find that prices for drinks have become normal again - 3 to 5 euros a beer. After a while, we decided to call it an early night as tomorrow is going to be filled with sightseeing, etc.

Day 6 - Orebro ->Copenhagen

Woke up earlyish Tuesday and ate a delicious breakfast prepared by my aunt. Pity we couldn't stay longer but we had to get to Copenhagen and meet up with Matt so off we went. Once again, fantastic and picturesque roads(see above) - we even took a local 2-lane country road that had tons of speed cameras. Drove through a couple of towns on our way to Malmo - once again, very vivid colors and everything belongs in a postcard. Stopped to fill up and had our first shocker of the trip - diesel is over 8$ a gallon! Also stopped at a local elk museum, where for 35 SEK we got to see 7 humongous elks laying in an area surrounded by electric fence. The trip was very fast - there was hardly any traffic on the road but unfortunately only a 70mph limit, so keeping to 80 and under was the norm. Finally got to Malmo, paid what turned out to be over 40$ to cross a long suspension bridge and drove into Copenhagen. This is where we needed to meet Matt - the plan was that he was going to get a room at the airport hotel and wait for us but we didn't know which hotel or any further details than that. I drove Thom to the international terminal and he came out five minutes later saying that Matt has been located at the Hilton across the street! Went to meet him, stashed the car at a far away satellite lot, unpacked in his room and headed out into Copenhagen via train. Before I go on I will emphasize that Copenhagen turned out to be a very picturesque city but ultimately, it(and Denmark in general) turned out to be the biggest frustration of the trip thus far. This was mainly for two reasons:
1) Everything is absolutely ridiculously horrendously expensive. We're talking 10$ for beers, 20$ for meals. You pay hundreds of kronor for pretty much anything and then you realize that it's only a 1:5 ratio to the dollar. Uh oh. Put it this way: the smallest expenditure in Denmark turned out to be my overnight parking charge at the satellite lot.
2) They don't take credit cards. They take debit cards with PIN codes. Forget about using a normal credit card to pay for most stuff - they shake their head at you, spit out some scandinavian gibberish and ask you to put in a PIN code. You don't have a PIN code. You try using your debit card with its own PIN code. That fails. You're now SOL. This is after you're being charged 6$ for a 20oz Coke. Thankfully, between the three of us we had at least one working debit card.

We walked around nighttime Copenhagen-once again, nice and picturesque- and tried to go into a couple of bars but there was just no positive energy being exuded anywhere. The icing on the cake was the metro that stopped running early, forcing us to take an overpriced cab(170DKK-I honestly had lost count at this point) back to the hotel. We crashed early with intentions of getting out of dodge ASAP. Tomorrow it's off to Gedser where we will take the ferry to Rostock, Germany.

Day 5 - Stockholm and Orebro

We got up at 9:30am and ran outside to see the ship pulling into Stockholm. Went back to our cabin, got our bags and went and found our car in the cramped car section. Drove off the ship and stood in line for what appeared to be a border checkpoint...but we're in the EU, there are no borders! The guard came up to me and asked me to blow into a breathalyzer - the thing beeped, said something like 'kin alkoholin' and he told me I could go. Turns out they check every single driver coming off of the boat - the guard told me they send at least 5 drivers to jail on the spot...considering how much drinking goes on that boat, I'm not surprised at all. Drove into Stockholm blindly - we had no map so we were following signs for 'Centrum' and looking for a large 'P' designating a parking spot. The city is gorgeous! Clean, tidy streets, dedicated bicycle lanes(with their own traffic lights), large and easy to read signs. Made our way to what looked like downtown and parked in a tiny garage. Started walking and found an absolutely gorgeous harbor with buildings on the shore that were definitely postcard material. Different crowd in Stockholm - much more multicultural and ethnic, lots more people walking around in general and the city is very clean. Took a bunch of pictures, had coffee and pizza - after seeing a breathalyzer earlier, I avoided beer for now. At 2pm, we went back to the car and started making our way to Orebro to see my aunt(220km to the west). Swedish highways are magnificent - great pavement, little traffic, everyone drives very well(pass left, then stay right until time to pass again). Limit is 68mph - we were doing 75-80 the whole time with no issues, with the Ford barely breaking a sweat(I am actually really looking forward to the autobahn...). The Swedish countryside is fantastic as well - vivid colors, beautiful rolling hills with windmills and farmhouses. We made it to Orebro and went to find my aunt, only to discover that her beautiful apartment is right above one of the main nightlife strips - very convenient! We unpacked and she made us a delicious dinner and we went exploring a bit. Orebro is a fairly large town by their standards(5th or 6th largest in Sweden if memory serves correctly) but since it was a Monday night, not too many people were out and about. There is a waterfront area with a castle so we took pics of that. Then, looking for bars. We found two but last call was at 12 so we called it an early night. Tomorrow - driving to Copenhagen to meet up with Matt!

Day 4 - Riga and Ferry to Stockholm

Day 4 kicked off early as we woke up at the hostel. Got breakfast and then joined an EAT RIGA(not CAT RIGA, despite what the shirt looks like from afar) walking tour. Saw some interesting things, including an authentic Russian market(this just reinforces how many russians there are in this city), various interesting old buildings and coffee shops. We broke off from the tour early in order to get on the ferry - before we drove off, we bought about 6 huge bottles of beer to take on the ferry with us.

Got to the boat, drove the car in..they pack them in tight! Found our cabin - tiny 2 bed cabin, with a shower/bathroom ..awesome! Went exploring afterwards..it is sort of a half cruise-ship, with a casino, two bars, duty free shops and a couple of restaurants. Realized a couple things right away: 1) there is an ridiculously large amount of drinking going on the ship, done by people ranging in age from 15 to 75. 2) Most of those people were from Lithuania. 3) We weren`t getting any sleep on this boat. We went to the night time show at one of the bars and saw a music quiz being played by inebriated passengers(ladies annnnn gennlemen, question number 5: name this song(band plays song, drunks scribble down answers...). We had an early night since Stockholm was waiting tomorrow - plus, nothing really interesting was going on anywhere, unless going shot for shot with a 16 year old was your idea of a good time. Thom is also putting his trip pictures up - you can see them at www.flickr.com/photos/tw

Day 3 - Hello Riga!

Since we went to sleep at 5:30am when the sun was already up, we didn't get a whole lot of sleep. I got up at 10:30 and went to meet up with Marius to get our van for our journey. He wasn't able to get us the van that he originally planned - registration issues, etc. - so he got us something a little smaller. I turned in the tiny Colt and got a 2007 Ford Galaxy. It's a GREAT vehicle, 2.0L diesel, 6sp manual. Rides and feels far better than any American ford I've ever been in. Has room for 6 people(it's sort of a space van concept, see above), has good solid power and gets 28-30mpg cruising at 70-75mph. It was raining and getting cold, so the weather was perfect for leaving. We made our way out of vilnius but didn't get on the highway until 2pm. Since the ferry left Riga at 5:30 every day, we figured if we get there on time, we'll hop on the ferry today and spend more time in Sweden than originally planned. The highway ended in Panevezys and became a two-lane road, where passing is done at your own risk. Border crossing was uneventful - no more checkpoints, just slowly drive through as bored border guards keep an eye on things. Welcome to Latvia! One noticeable difference right away - their flags are EVERYWHERE! The road turned into something I've never seen before - two lanes of traffic now began having two half lanes next to them. The concept is if you're passing someone, the oncoming traffic moves over for you into the little half lane so you don't have to wait for a gap in traffic. This made for some insane passing maneuvers with the van passing within inches of oncoming cars and trucks as it passed buses and slow moving farm machinery. We reached Riga at 5:30, found the passenger harbor surprisingly quickly and pulled into the parking lot to watch our ship pulling away. I went ant secured tickets for tomorrow's ferry and we went searching for a hostel. Parked our car in old Riga and we were able to find a hostel within minutes of just walking around. Interesting enough its a gentleman's club/hostel - they share an entrance but apparently both tenants don't get along with one another. Riga is beautiful - the old town is larger, better kept up and more tourist-oriented than Vilnius. Lots and lots of strip clubs(you get harassed about coming in and when you refuse, they ask you if you don't like women), places to eat and drink outside - there's even a TGI Friday's.
Different kinds of people here as well - lots and lots of Russians and British tourists, women are far less attractive and there are lots of thick, scary looking brutes hanging out on street corners. Exchanging money is a sad affair here because 1 lat is worth over 2 dollars so 40 dollars yielded me less than 20 lats. We grabbed food at a pizza place, walked around and then went back to the hostel to hang out - eventually, we met up with the two young people running the hostel and they took us to a quiet bar, followed by a french dance bar. Too many 1L beers and interesting conversations to recall or count but the night ended early at 3am. Tomorrow - walking tour of Riga, museums, more beer and then hopping on the ferry at 4!

Day 2 - Full Day in Vilnius

Day 2 began pretty early - jetlag is now gone! Quick breakfast and then off to see some tourist sights. Started trying to climb Gediminas Castle, only to find out that the path leading up the hill is now closed off and one must take a 'funicular'. It took some time to find this funicular and to figure out what a funicular actualy was - it's a fancy elevator that takes you up the hill. After that, beer and cepelinai on Pilies street(the two go very well together, despite the time being noonish). Then, a lot of walking around. Circling old town makes you realize how small this city really is - it's easily walkable, with lots to see(old churches, etc.). Eventually, we met up with my cousin, and Thom wanted to go find a rock - climbing gym that he heard about the night before. We finally found it in an old, run-down school in random neighborhood near the train station. As he climbed him some rocks, cousin and I grabbed an early dinner at a nearby Cili Kaimas. Afterwards, we met up with one of my cousin's friends and the night officially began. The four of us went to Mambo Pizza where some sort of a concert was taking place. Tons of drunk young people, a thrashing metal band on stage - fun! The headlining act was GnG Sindikatas - they're phenomenal live. The night then led us to Brodvejaus pub in Old Town - supposedly one of the best places to dance the night away. And it was. We met a rowdy group from Scotland who were there celebrating/mourning one of guys getting married. The conversations we ended up having with them were the most memorable. According to Willie, the loudest and drunkest of them all, the friend getting married was 'fockin sheit' - a lot of other things were also 'fockin sheit', including gas prices, women not understanding their slurred advances and strip clubs being way too expensive. The fact that there were 15 of them meant they had an advantage in numbers so we kept running into them throughout the night and bought one another countless drinks. The dancing kicked off at 9:30 and the DJ was absolutely awful, spinning obscure 80s and 90s hits that I've forgotten long ago. On wing and a prayer, I requested Flo-rida's 'Low' only to be informed that he did not have it and had no intentions of even looking for it. Time flew and by the time we were done, it was 5am. Lo and behold it was daylight outside(side note: night falls here at 11pm and the sun rises at 5) so we had to call it a night as we were leaving for Riga the next morning.

Day 1 - We're here!

So we're here and if the first day is any indication, this is going to be a GREAT trip. Landed on time - thankfully no waiting in line for passport control(no more borders in the EU). Met mom at the airport as she was completing her month long stay here and was on her way back - Marius wasn't here yet with the car so we all grabbed coffee/beers at the airport cafe. Weather was good, a little windy - definitely no 101F heat waves here. Marius showed up and apparently there was a problem with registering the van(they just got it in last night from the factory) so he said it might take an extra day - in the mean time he gave us a Mitsubishi Colt minicar to drive for two days. Great car but really tiny, so probably not good in any kind of accidents. We made our way out of the airport and went to my grandma's to unpack/eat. After that, off to Akropolis's Hyper Maxima to get a SIM card for the phone. While there, we ran into some furry cartoon characters trying to sell us cereal and juice so naturally, we needed to get pictures with them. We promised to buy whatever they were peddling to get the pictures so naturally they were upset when we walked away at the end but pretending not to know any lithuanian definitely helped. After that, the night started. Met up with Martynas, took a little nap at his place and then went walking around Vilnius for a bit. Went to Uzupis Cafe and then an outdoor patio on Gedimino prospektas where everyone was watching some soccer match. Then, off to Transilvanija bar where Martynas eventually joined us. Great bar, great decor, good random people to talk to. We left the bar to go to some going away party nearby for some random Germans - when we got there, apparently the cops were already 'on their way' so we ended up not staying very long. However, I did grab some guy's holstein cow mask which I ended up wearing later on that night with great comic effect(see below picture). The night went on in Transilvanija(there's really no last call here) until jetlag finally kicked in and we made our way back home. Today is a full day of sightseeing in Vilnius - there's a castle to climb, beer to drink and cepelinai to eat. Hopefully the van situation works itself out since we're supposed to leave for Riga tomorrow.

Some initial observations so far:
-Vilnius is prettier than last year. They're on a continuous improvement path, everything is really kept up.
-While food is more expensive, beer isn't. Hello 16oz of GOOD beer for 5lt!
-Women are still gorgeous and being a foreigner definitely helps.

International Driver's Permit

So I'm reading up on the driving regulations in the countries we'll be visiting(mostly looking to see if there are congestion charges, taxes, etc) and I notice that some countries need an International Driver's Permit in addition to a US license, in order for the license to be valid in that country. Needless to say, I don't have one. Panic mode sets in - it's two days before the trip - and I begin researching. Turns out I need it in order to drive in Latvia, Poland and the Czech Republic. I figure no worries, just don't get pulled over. Ah, but what if they check(czech?) it at the border and refuse to let you drive in? Crap. Apparently AAA issues these things in the US..it looks like the picture above and it's essentially a translation of your existing license into a bunch of different languages(hopefully including Esperanto, the language babies teach each other). So I go to the local AAA office after work and 10 minutes later, I have an IDP! It's got official-looking AAA stamps all over it and says it was issued in Florida....uh huh. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

T - 5 Days

Most of the planning has been completed, rough road itinerary has been set and hostels investigated. Starting June 11th, I will be taking a 2 week road trip around Europe. Some details:
Starting Point: Vilnius, Lithuania
Ending Point: Vilnius, Lithuania
Vehicle: Opel Vivaro 1.9CDTi
Peoples: Rokas, Thom, Matt, random Latvian hitchhikers.
Dates: 06/12 - 06/24
Total mileage(according to Google Maps) 2159
Cities on Agenda(refer to letter on map below):

• Vilnius, Lithuania(A,I)


• Riga, Latvia(B)


• Stockholm, Sweden(C)


• Orebro, Sweden(D)


• Copenhagen, Denmark(E)


• Berlin, Germany(F)


• Prague, Czech Republic(G)


• Warsaw, Poland(H)

Map of Trip

View Larger Map

Over the next two weeks, I will be posting updates from the trip and will be uploading photos whenever possible. Between now and then, I have to pack and get mentally ready - this is going to be sweet!