The next day we headed out to explore Vilnius, with an amazing walk back to the station where the food halls were and around the old town. It is such a beautiful city with lots of life. That afternoon we went to the old prison, built by the Russians (pre revolution), and used by the Lithuanian, the Soviets and the Germans to house whoever they felt like (pretty much). It was a tough place to visit, but also a great way to understand the history. They explained how in the early 90's after independence from Russia, the Lithuania was unsafe (they call it the "Wild West Era"), but now it felt like one of the safest places we've been.
We had 2 more nights of Italian food (both times amazing pasta), and another day of city wandering (including watching a bike ride that was running through town - need to get my act together and register next time!). Then early the next day we headed for the station again, and off for a one-night stop in Kaunas, Lithuania's second largest city. It was on the way to Poland and we love to get a second view at a country. Kaunas was a delight, a beautiful town with a great cycle path along the river between the station and our hotel. We even went for an extra few k's along the river the next day!
Next it was off to Warsaw, sneaking our way through the Suwalki Gap changing trains at the Polish border. This 65k wide gap between the Kaliningrad (Russia) and Belarus is a pretty tense place, and we had passports and ID checked multiple times from the police at the stop and on the train after. Intense!
Again we arrived in Warsaw after dark, but as experienced night owls we wandered through town feeling safe with people out and about, no problemo! Our apartment looked a bit dodgy from the outside but was totally cool on the inside. Another 10 out of 10 for comfort combined with the feel of living like a local.. awesome! We hopped straight out to grab a late dinner at an amazing Chinese restaurant around the corner. It was sooo good! The following day was the big Warsaw adventure, with 24 hour public transport tickets we went to the old town, to a new cool area, the across town to the "Museum of life under communism".
After a chill final day in Warsaw including Serena getting the "Full Aussie Breakfast" (I was a little disappointed the didn't call it the "Full Aussie Breaky" but alas, that's really a minor issue). We got up early on the following day to ride in the quiet for our 7am train to Berlin. I'd like to say I planned it well and picked the early train to we could enjoy what was an amazing ride through quite bike paths in the cool morning air, but the reality is it was the only train available that day! So, we hopped on the "Berlin Express" and hung up our bikes, and relaxed for the roughly 6 hour trip,
Of course, arriving in Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Chief Station - I had to look up the exact translation because it was driving me mad) had to be special. It's Berlin, a place I've always really loved, and as we left the station into steady rain, I knew we were in for an adventure! Only 4k to the Hotel.... as we walked (it's too crazy to ride in rain, in a new city, in the crowds, trying to navigate) - the rain eased slightly, and as we got closer we felt confident enough to stop for lunch at what turned out to be delicious Vietnamese place, sooo good! Good enough that now the rain had stopped!
After settling into our swanky'ish hotel, we headed up the street to check out our local area, and wow, it was so nice. Our hotel wasn't far from Alexanderplatz, so we were in the old East Berlin, which now is very elegant, like a cute street in Paris or Vienna. Amazing how great the place looks and feels now. A thorough wander around town the next day just reinforced how great Berlin is looking these days. We walked to the location of the wall where I first stood on the platform and looked over it in 1985, it is one of the great positive outcomes I've seen in my life, that the wall is now gone and the city is whole.
So, after a quick 2 nights in Berlin it was time to head back to France, and with no bike spaces available on express trains we decided to go slow trains. With 2 one-day-all-Germany passes for us, and 2 for the bikes, we headed to Berlin Hauptbahnhof early, riding through cool, quiet and beautiful streets, to catch or planned 8am train (no bookings needed), the first of what we expected to be 6 trains, to get us to Karlruhe, right next to the French border, 12 hours later. Now... for all you nay sayers, yes, we know this is a crazy plan, and yes, we knew we were going to be exhausted after navigating 8 hours of trains, 5 platform changes, 6 bike loadings, and 4 hours of stop time, but what we didn't know is that half way through on a hot train with standing room only (but we had seats!) I'd get a message on my phone app saying the our 5th train had been cancelled because the train signal workers had called in sick and they had to close that line! That might have been the moment that broke a weaker team, but after 2,500k on the bike, and about 2,000k on trains, we we're up to the challenge, and on the fly added an extra 2 trains in place of the missing 1, and after some train magic managed to arrive in Karlsruhe 5 minutes later than planned. Tick, tick and double tick (of course, we also booked a hotel in Karlsruhe while we were standing on the final train, smiling at what legends we are!).
Serena's Turn
I'm having chuckle reading Mike's entry - yes, we are legends, yes, we love riding through the cities early in the morning when it feels like everyone else is asleep and we have the whole city (and roads/bike paths) to ourselves, and yes, it's been an amazing journey these last few weeks of train hopping with the bikes. AND YES WE'VE EATEN FANTASTIC FOOD. Geez, that Chinese we had in Warsaw and the Vietnamese is Berlin is making my mouth water - both so unexpected and just incredibly delicious, I honestly couldn't believe our luck.
So, now that Mike has done all the logistics stuff for you, I can wax lyrical on my thoughts and experiences. I LOVED LOVED LOVED Vilnius - what a wonderful surprise this city was, riding and walking in from the station late at night it was like a dream to turn the corner and discover so much life and action down the main drag of the Old Town, lights and laughter, great food smells floating past as we walked down past all the people feasting. And the vibe was fantastic - not at all what I was expecting - it was light, fun, alive, and there seemed a freshness, a newness, not bogged down drinkers and revellers, but a youthful spirit of enjoyment and laughter. I loved it. And our stay there continued the same way, a lightness in our step, the food was fun (and a bit whacky, the potato dumplings everyone was eating at the food market we had to try and found both a little off-putting and deeply comforting, but we spoke with a young waiter about them the next day and he LOVES his grandmother's potato dumplings, they are part of his comfort world), the energy was both calm and lively, and to be frank everyone was so bloody well dressed - I couldn't get over it, everyone had great haircuts, almost designer daggy clothes, from young to old, it was a very cool place. The other thing that struck me was how spacious the city felt - I'm not sure why, but it felt like I could breathe wherever I was, I didn't feel packed in like I felt sometimes in Riga, and even touring the Old Town in Tallinn was a little claustrophobic, but Vilnius seemed more open, with more room, wider streets, there was space, and you all know how much I love space. So, Vilnius is my kind of place, I was sad to leave.
But I enjoyed Kaunus, (still in Lithuania) it was quirky with a lot of street art around - we stumbled upon a "yard gallery" which was a project of a small group of apartments to bring connection and community together by everyone creating their common "yard" (spaces such as driveway and carpark) into an art gallery - so fun, and so cool. And it's now famous. We just stumbled on it and it took my breath away.
Now we move into Poland, and Warsaw. I've never been to Warsaw, and had heard great things. And I have to say it was a pretty cool city. I found the people a bit stand off-ish, but there was a great vibe around, it's a bustling place and we got to see both the old and the new. The old was beautiful, and of course sad at times, but the new was FANTASTIC, and it felt upbeat and hopeful to spend so much time in their modern spaces - we stumbled on two old factories transformed into eating spaces and shopping centres, but cool ones, not Westfields, honouring the old within the new. Inspiring.
And Berlin. I've never been a huge fan. This is my third visit, and though I wouldn't say I love Berlin, this time round I think I finally got it. It is a crazy, colourful city, and everyone is just themselves - and you see EVERYONE there - all sorts, and it's all acceptable and embraced. Everyone's just going about their own business, their way, and I bloody loved it. Of course we revisited a few of the main places, but really for me, it was about seeing the people and being amongst it - we rode the public transport all over, and I was just glued to my people watching. It was textured and colourful.
And now we're here in this little town after a massive 12 hours train hopping yesterday - which was tiring and SUPER FUN. Mike did all the hard work to get us here, when we couldn't find spots for the bikes on the fast trains he did his thing and magically conjured up a day of train hopping all the way through Germany on local and regional trains - it was AMAZING. I loved it. I got to see and be part of train life in Germany for a day, I saw and chatted with people I wouldn't normally meet or see, and stood on a queue for the loo at one station for 15 minutes! It was good fun. We arrived tired but happy last night, went out to a pub for some dinner and slept the sleep of adventurers. That's all you can ask for.
And now for the pics..
Vilnius - we love you!
I was wondering which route you would take am so happy you made it through the gap safely safely
ReplyDeleteWowzers, sounds intense but total legends! That potato dumpling thing looks delish, a bit of sauce and its kinds like a shepherds pie?
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