Almost home

Short version: I'm in Warsaw now.

Long version...', 'Italy could be a better country: it's really difficult to hitch-hike there. I got to Warsaw from Nice in little under 2 days only thanks to Poles (you can always count on your fellow countrymen when coming back home - or at least other Poles can).

Anyway, it's good to be back in Poland and see sign saying "BAR BABILON ZAPRASZA", "LUKSOR KEBAB NON STOP" or "TYLKO U ANI BROWAR TAKI TANI 3,50". They had tea for 2,50 PLN in Babilon, thank you, one more please. At last normal prices. Nothing better than tea at 4 a.m., when you're waiting for a sunrise and enough light for anyone to be able to see your "W-WA" cardboard.

I'll stay for a couple of days with my relatives here.

So, a little summary:
Germans are generally quite helpful, but you have to ask them. Italians are OK, if somewhat noisy. They're afraid of hitch-hikers, but that doesn't have to be a drawback for everyone. French (at least in Nice) are generally unpleasant. Maybe Vincent was right when he said that everyone there just tries to screw you. When asked for directions, they point the other way. When asked for a favor, they ask for money. Hrmpf. I didn't have much to do with Austrians, but half of the country stinks. They decided they have to build their biogas facilities in regular intervals along motorways to indicate that they're ecologic.

And now - the dessert. The Alps. Somehow I didn't feel like writing about them earlier.

Both crossings were magnificent. On the way to Genova it was raining most of time, but between that - sights were breathtaking. Lone monasteries on tops of mountains, overlooking valleys and so on. On the way back, there were the Mountains of Fire (which makes it better than that - long time since I placed some song citation) - at least 5 fires, quite close to each other. There were a lot of these guys flying around all the time. Which reminds me, I've seen them practicing near Ile Rousse earlier: they flew just few meters over tops of the masts of boats anchored there.

Weather report

Temperature - hot; humidity - absurd. No Benedictines practicing backhand though. But I think they'll appear soon.

...or not

I've got mixed feelings about Nice:

It's a very big, very expensive tourist resort - Cote-d-Azur-and-so-on. Enormous beach is covered with people. The main boulevard - wide street and huge sidewalk with palm trees and everything isn't as impressive as it should be - but hotels and casinos do their best to make up for it. On the other hand, areas apart from the strict tourist area are a bit dirty and, well, it stinks. A lot.

On the other hand, it's obviously quite cosmopolitan city - you see a lot of Muslims, Japans and so on. On the other hand, Vincent says that people here are generally mean and always trying to take advantage of you. Don't expect a lot of hospitality or simple friendliness. One would think folks here will be more open towards new people.

On the other hand, there's Nice at night - with quiet air saturated with spruce scent. The small park around orthodox church here (quite impressive) is perfect for a nap. Or a whole night's sleep, if you don't mind jumping over a fence.

On the other hand, you've got different fingers.

Oh, and I'm staying in a red-light district - if you want to be euphemistic. Or a hooker street - if you want to be accurate. Something new.

Nice... very nice...

The ferry from Corsica to Nice cost me around 50% of my total budget so far, and 50% of that was a tax. This sounds crazy, but I actually paid French tax. They made me do that. Bastards. The ferry itself should be called "Shaker" - like Corsican trains. It was a good teeth massage. Also careful armchair design and spacing between them rendered sleeping virtually impossible. Bastards.

Anyway. Finally - some pictures. A faithful documentation of what the hell I've been doing. Eva, observe frequent usage of The Jägermeister Hitch-Hiking Hat.

Pic1

Pic2

Pic3

Pic4

I managed to contact Magda without problems, right now we are having one of these in a WiFi-ed pub. During short walk from port to her flat I managed to take 3 showers: one at random tap on a street, one in a fountain and one where a city pipe had broken and water was being spread into the air. Still hot, QED.

You know these awful merry-go-rounds, with horses and elephants and everything, made of cheap plastic, with annoying music and flashing lights? Well, today I saw one of the almost-original ones. The difference between Polish and French merry-go-rounds is like the one between French and Polish beer (which means we win overall).

Small update - still alive

Some serious news today: I've shaven (first time since Gdynia), I've found a piece of straw in my pants (stormy night near Niedernberg) and I'll be leaving Blue Sky soon. Life is slow and simple here (although it doesn't include much sailing, as I've learnt), and since I got invitation for next time - I'll be probably seeing George and Michael again, but time is running out. I'll decide exactly what to do later, in Nice.

Dangers of the Mediterranean

It wasn't a Bastilla Day - it was a Bloody Jellyfish Day. For some reason really a lot of these stinging bastards appeared out of nowhere, enabling Michael to satisfy his primal bloodlust. He used a harpoon. For jellyfish hunting. That'll teach'em.

These Stinging Bastards can hurt quite seriously, which makes them good addition to the Spiky Bastards, whose needles break off and stay in your foot after you step on them (what Rob has personnaly experienced). Yarr, those be treacherous waters.

The firework show I wrote about turned out quite impressive.

Still relaxing

It's been 3 or 4 - but who's counting - lazy days, so I'm in a mood for a relaxed blog entry. We have just finished dinner (did I mention that George is great cook? Well, he is. The food here is of the kind you'd expect in a fancy restaurant, not on a sailing yacht), Marcel was invited. ', 'Marcel is exactly a person who you'd call a sea wolf. His hair's white as snow (so is his dog, who keeps watches at night during ocean passages), you can tell it's Sunday when he's wearing a teeshirt and he's been around the world alone. Twice. He lives on a boat moored just next to Blue Sky and considers half of this port to be his own yard: whenever a boat is coming in or going out - he is assisting. Quite a good way to make friends - you can see him being a guest on other boats all the time.

It suddenly occurred to us that tomorrow is Bastilla - biggest French national holiday (there'll be fireworks just next to the harbour), so we probably aren't getting spare parts for the engine until Monday. There's a possibility of going to the mountains (around 2700 meters - you can imagine grin on my face) considered.

Whatever happens, we're well prepared. Our supply of wine's been refilled today by 20 (twenty) liters, and Michael says it's been "small shopping". Hm.

Oh, and the water temperature is around 30°C now. It's 2230, and I can't make myself wear a teeshirt. I'll probably spend another night in the hammock (it's streched between mast and forstay permanently now). I'm still doing a lot of snorkeling. Not many shells to collect unfortunately.

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And now for something completely different: writing this blog made me realize that my English skills are much worse than I'd like them to be. It's a good thing having professionals for correcting my mistakes.

Deep blue

Have you ever been snorkeling in the Mediterranean? The water here's crystal-clear (visibility around 40 meters), incredibly warm, full of fish and salty enough to keep you on the surface. Can you imagine an aquamarine Corsican bay that has all of that? Of course you can't.

So what you should do is: go get a National Geographic video about underwater Mediterranean wildlife, watch it 3 times to get general idea, then throw it away. Get a snorkel and mask instead, hitch-hike to Italy (should take you around 2 days from Tricity - maybe 1 if you're a cute girl) then do that yourself. If it doesn't make your Top Five Experiences In My Life list, I give you your money-you-spent-getting-here-by-hitch-hiking back.

Not-so-bad luck

For some reason, we had some bad luck today. The engine's been damaged, so we're stuck in paradise for few days, waiting for parts to arrive. Lots of snorkeling, hammocking and presumably mountaineering to do. I'll try to include some pictures but I can't guarantee anything.

The sky was made for us tonight

I made it to Genova previous morning. Took me a while to get to city centre (I had to spend money. D'oh.), another while to find marina and two more whiles to find a boat - but I managed to do that without calling anyone so I'm kinda proud of myself. Whole crew went to the city, so I waited for them a while. George and Michael turned out to be great guys, and Blue Sky is indeed a beauty. First few hours left me amazed how much equipment one can fit on one boat (Michael says he's got too many toys). I got used to generator sound fairly quickly though. The fourth crew member is Rob, Australian. Quite difficult to understand him sometimes :).', 'After getting acquainted we went for a short walk around Genova's old town - quite impressive (they have a zebra Cathedral, and most of banks - and some groceries as well - have hallways around 300 years old). But Italy is subject for another trip.

So is France, but Corsica looks also great - even though I haven't set a foot on it yet - right now we're anchored in a small random bay where we got early afternoon. I'm writing this in cabin, and it's quite hot (at 11 p.m.!). Which reminds me: the water is 26C. 26. And they have snorkels here. And you can see the fish all the way down at the bottom perfectly clear. AND - life is good.

Oh, about the title: the sky during the overnight passage to Corsica was really clear, and since the orange moon set around 2 a.m. it's been perfectly dark. You won't see a sky like that on land.

Random thoughts

I suppose that long-distance relationships might be a bit difficult. When, for example, a guy's Polish, currently between Italy, France and UK (intending to go to China soon), and girl's German staying in Romania for next year. For example. I'm optimistic though (as usual).

Yet another entry...

...they're getting too frequent, aren't they? That's probably because I already got used to German keyboard.

Last night there was a really big thunderstorm around here. A bit fake, to tell the truth, because it hardly rained and only every 50th or so lightning made any sound. What we've done was of course lying in the middle of random field watching the show and occasionally getting a raindrop in the eye. As a consequence, it's not so hot today (but on the other hand it's 8 am and everything might change yet).', 'I think I can say that safely now: the famous (famous among Poles at least) term "Polish hospitality" is little exaggerated. I'm not saying that Poles are generally unfriendly people - but by no means they're more outgoing or generous than others.

Off to A3 now. If I'm lucky (and I am), I'll be in Genova by evening.

2:0

Watching these Italians go crazy was really fun experience. In the middle of the night streets suddenly became green, white, red and "Viva Italia". They're honking outside the window even now. I wonder what will Genova look like.

Anyway, it's been a few days in Heimbuchenthal/Niedernberg/Aschaffenburg now. I had great time here hanging around with girls (now, how could I possibly have non-great time?), watching beautiful sceneries of Bayern, climbing hills and swimming in lake - both in the middle of the night and hanging around with girls. You can probably tell I don't get much sleep, but it seems to be the case with everyone else around. There are more interesting things to do here. I'm also starting to walk barefoot. Again.', 'I spent this night at yet another HC member's place. Claudia has impressive collection of alcohols, taking up almost every flat area, and none of bowls, mugs or plates in her kitchen seems is from the same set (ok, that's a small exaggeration).

Unfortunately, I'll be leaving shortly, but there's more ahead. I'm familiarizing with a thought of going south, which is actually pretty scary. It's around 150°C in here, even in midnight, and I'm supposed to go where it's even hotter. Hope that Italian food makes up for that :)

A bit more about this place. Heimbuchenthal is really beautiful town squeezed between two hills - and it's just one of many similar. From my experience, the main method of communication in here is hitch-hiking - which gets quite confusing, as the roads tend to go in every direction at the same time. Aschaffenburg is a medium sized city with nice castle and old town. Nothing exceptional, but somehow very pleasant to stay in. In a while I'm supposed to get to Nidernberg from Aschaffenburg - without guide this time.

By the way: HospitalityClub has almost 160 000 members now. Make this number even bigger - go register.

Did you know that...

...hitch-hiking from Gdynia to Heimbuchenthal takes just under 12 hours?

The first ride, catching which took me around 10 minutes, was around 900km long! Thanks Tonny! The rest of the trip was almost as good as the start - only once I had to wait longer than 10 minutes. Hitch-hiking alone in Germany is so easy it´s almost no fun anymore. I got to the right place around 23 just to find that Chris is at her graduate party. Well, she didn´t know that I´ll come, neither did I - and I wanted to make a surprise anyway. Eventually I met with her, Eva and Sabrina in Niedernburg. Google Earth says it´s around 1200kms. This makes 100km/h on avarage. Not bad. Faster than any train, that´s for sure.