Day 30 - 15 July 2018 - Heidelberg, Germany to Home

We didn't have to eat breakfast until 8:30am, so we got to sleep in a bit. Just before 10am Christopher, Stefan's son, showed up to take us to the airport in the family Mercedes. It was a great one hour drive north to Frankfurt with him and we enjoyed some solid conversation. At the airport we found the Condor counter which has a check in for just US Bound flights. I inquired if there was room on the direct Seattle flight and learned it was oversold. The agent seemed to indicate that we should be able to get on the Anchorage flight, but he was pretty non-committal.

We cleared both immigration and security and went out to the area where Condor flights generally depart from (no specific gate was listed as we were so early for a 3pm departure). Flights to Vancouver, Seattle, and Minneapolis were in the process of check in. Condor uses a method of scanning your boarding card to gain you entry into a holding area. From there you are bused to the tarmac and your airplane. I inquired whether it appeared we might make the Anchorage flight and the gate agent indicated 'probably'. So we waited another hour and finally another agent called us up and gave us our boarding passes without so much of a look at our passports. Angela got a middle seat in row 12 and I was put in a window seat on the right side of row 34.  On the tarmac, they used both front and rear doors to board the aircraft.

The flight left on time and headed out on a route that took us east of England. Condor is sort of a budget airline so there were no free snacks and little in-flight service. We were served a light lunch which was rather blah. In Economy there are only 2 movies and 2 TV shows for the video offering unless one wants to pay 8€ for a pass to view a 'premium' title movie. I scanned the list and decided it wasn't worth it. So I finished my UBoat 505 capture book (the same UBoat that is on display at the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry and I have crawled through it).

Also I updated my blog while listening to music from their audio collection (which was pretty decent).

When we approached the Greenland coast, we were treated with wonderful views of a bleak landscape. There was a rush of passengers to the right side of the airplane to snap photographs. Tilt!

We landed on time, our luggage was first off the carousel, and we very quickly cleared immigration and customs (fastest ever international clearing!). It was then a long walk to the south terminal where we checked in for our Alaska Airlines flight to Seattle which was scheduled to depart 2.5 hours later at 6pm.

After clearing security (gotta love TSA Precheck), we purchased a couple large sodas at McD's and relaxed for a bit before heading out to our gate.

The flight left promptly at 6pm and I ended up sleeping through most of it as by now my body was thinking it was 3am. After arriving in Seattle, we gathered our luggage and caught a cab home. And just like that our first 2018 European adventure was over. Now to get back in the swing of things at home for a bit. 

Day 28 - 13 July 2018 - Cesky Krumlov, CZ Republic to Heidelberg, Germany

Today was planned to be another 330 mile ride to get us back to our home base in Germany at Knopf Tours in Heidelberg. After another wonderful breakfast and loading the bike and Czeching out from the R-Penzion, we headed out of Cesky Krumlov past the Castle and on to the nice two lane roads of the Czech Republic. We made a fuel stop to try to use up some of our Czech currency. The road parallels the border with Germany but finally cuts through the mountains to a remote and unmanned border crossing. With the advent of the EU, there are no border checkpoints between member countries.  

Once we were on German roads again, our pace picket up substantially as the German roads are superior to anything we experienced in the other two countries. Since we were "heading for the barn", a fast pace was now preferred over the meandering pace of much of the past month. Near Passau, Germany, we turned north and rode the A6 freeway until we encountered the worst traffic mess of the whole trip. It took us 2 hours to go just a few kilometers. Finally I had enough, and made our way to an exit and changed the GPS settings to avoid interstate type roads. That worked for a while until we encountered another road closure due to an accident and a required unsigned detour. The remainder of the ride we spent on little back country roads and in one little village the road was blocked, but we snaked our way past the barriers and connected up with our route on the other side. Nothing like having a GS for a little sand and gravel fun.

There were a few rain showers in Germany but in Heidelberg, it was very warm (80f plus). We fortunately were assigned a main floor room in the BMW suite, and we unloaded the bike for the last time this trip, cooled off with showers, and then walked into town for a little Doner Teller dinner at the local Doner shop. Those are very popular here in Germany and fairly nutritious. Another traveler, Norman, from BC was here and we chatted about our rides. It's really encouraging to meet other like-minded travelers and share our stories. He had been 8 weeks to the north into Scandanavia and to Moscow and St. Petersburg.  

And so ended our trip at just under 3,000 miles for the month. Tomorrow, we need to ride about 24 miles to the local BMW dealer and get an oil filter so I can change the oil. I'll also wash the bike and prepare bluetooth intercoms, and they were fabulous. They lasted the entire day and were quite clear. Previously we used very inexpensive bluetooth intercoms, but the sound quality suffered. The bike ran perfect and we averaged around 41mpg. While we camped for the first 4 nights, the weather turned cold and wet, so we didn't camp the rest of the trip. We think that for future trips that we'll forego camping as it's just not that much more expensive to stay in pensions or bed & breakfasts. It'll sharply reduce the bulk of what we are carrying. We'll likely continue our routine of riding for a day and then staying at a location for a minimum of 2 nights to allow for some sightseeing. If a location is worthy, we can extend our stay. I can't say enough good about motorcycling around Europe. We hope to be able to do it for at least a few more years.

Day 27 - 12 July 2018 - Cesky Krumlov, CZ Republic

After waiting for a couple of weeks, we were glad to be back in Cesky Krumlov to be able to visit the famous castle and tour the medieval village. We tried to get tickets online for the castle tours but were unsuccessful so we decided to take our chances by purchasing them at the ticket office. So after a continental breakfast in the Penzion, we walked into town to the main ticket office where were told that we had to purchase them at the Castle ticket office. Off we went to hike up the hill into the castle to the ticket office where we learned that there was no problem getting an English Language ticket. We booked a 10AM - Tour 1 (Earliest owners), 11:30AM (Later Owners), and 1PM (Baroque Theatre). The first two tours were very small groups of less than 10 or so and that worked out really well. Unfortunately we could take no photos inside the castle on the tours, but I can highly recommend the tours. Also worth noting is that there is a mighty impressive collection of ornate porcelain heating stoves that we have ever seen in Europe. This reflects mightily on the conservation effort for this castle. We were also able to walk across the closed in bridge above the Roman style open bridge that we had walked over the night before. In the Baroque theater tour, it was impressive so see how elaborate the theatre was constructed in the mid 1800's to have all sorts of movable sets all powered by ropes and pulleys and operated below the stage floor. The theater was restored in the early 2000's and Baroque performances are performed here. On the tour we met a couple from Philadelphia who were doing a car tour in the Czech Republic.

After the formal tours were over, we hiked up the hill to the lavish and well manicured garden and then to the revolving theatre where the audience is rotated 360 degrees. We then walked back through the castle and did some shopping before walking through the village once again and back to our Penzion to drop off our purchases and take a little break. It was then time to walk back into town to find some dinner. The restaurant I wanted to eat at was closed so we went across the street to the Mill Restaurant located at the former mill and they had BBQ ribs on their menu which is what I wanted from the other restaurant. It was fun to eat there, feed the fish table scraps, and watch the rafters come floating down the river. I should mention that we tried to book a rafting trip, but they had none with a guide and I didn't want to do this without one on an unfamiliar river with no prior experience river rafting.

After dinner we wandered the streets some more and found some local dessert trdelink which is a cylindrical pastry baked over open heat and then stuffed with ice cream and whipped cream. It was so good, so sweet, so rich and so bad for us. We then walked back to our Penzion where we spent the rest of the evening and watched the sunset and the illuminated castle come into view. 

Cesky Krumlov is a another "don't miss" castle. While we really adored Malbork and its great self guided tour, this one is special because it has not only been preserved and conserved on the outside, but much of the interior is as it was used. Even the Nazi's preserved it and it was never subjected to bombing or artillery shelling.  

This would be our last day of formal touring this trip. Tomorrow, we head for Heidelberg where we store our bike and I'll prepare it for its long winter nap before we return and ride it on some new adventure. It's another 330 mile day ride.

Day 26 - 11 July 2018 - Wroclaw, PL to Cesky Krumlov, CZ Republic

After loading the bike in a light drizzle that eventually stopped before we left, we left Wroclaw in some pretty heavy traffic and used some ring roads to skirt riding through the city center. It was much nicer riding once we got out in the countryside. Traffic was pretty heavy and soon we reached the Czech Republic border.  

The roads were small and we found an ATM in a little town so we could refuel the bike and have money for food, tours, and lodging. We then encountered a couple of construction delays, but nothing like those we found in Poland. Following a brief rest stop for a little picnic lunch and after passing through some more charming hill country roads, we encountered some light drizzle. That drizzle stopped and then it started again. So we stopped and I put on rain gear. Not a half mile further, it began to rain intensely so I was glad to have that rain gear on. The rain persisted for another hour and a half. Fortunately we were riding most of that on a motorway.  

As we approached Ceske Budejovice, the traffic got very heavy, but once we were free of that it was only about 6-8 miles of farm roads to reach Cesky Krumlov. The Garmin Montana GPS navigated us directly to our lodging at the R-Penzion which is located on a hillside facing the castle complex. We were warmly greeted by our host at 5pm and shown to our cute little room one story above the ground floor.  Interestingly the GPS initially projected a 3 pm arrival, but 2 hours were lost due to road construction, heavy traffic, and gas or other rest breaks.

After checking in we headed for the old town, found a couple of dams for my Dam Tour Album and ate dinner at the Jelenka restaurant which didn't honor its 10% discount ticket the hotel provided us. But it wasn't a big deal as it was only worth a couple bucks. Afterwards we hiked up the steep hill to the bridge that connects one hill with the castle. There is a roadway that passes under and through the castle but it is primarily a pedestrian thoroughfare. We wandered our way through the medieval village taking pictures in the wonderful lighting conditions before walking back to our Pension and retiring for the evening. This is going to be an interesting village and castle to explore.

Day 25 - 10 July 2018 - Wroclaw, PL

Today we planned to do a 'free' walking tour of the Old Town. When they say free, it really means that at the end of the tour one donates what one thinks the tour is worth. So after fixing a little continental breakfast at our hotel, we walked to the market square to meet our guide. It turned out the market square in this town is a bit different in that the town hall is in the middle of the square and the "square" surrounds it. It took us a bit to find the meeting point at the statute of Fredro who was a famous comedian in history times. Simon, our guide, greeted our group of about 20 in a light rain. The group was very international with participants from England, Belgium, USA, Germany, Holland, and Poland. He led us on an interesting tour through the OLD City and over to Cathedral Island. When the tour was over he noted that he was doing two other tours that day and the 2pm walking tour to the Jewish quarter & WWII history. So we decided to take it, and began to make our way back to the meeting point. Along the way we re-visited the central market and found a little bakery and decided to purchase some pastries. And that's where the story got interesting.

As I stepped up to the counter to order our items, the male clerk said "Alaska, are you from Alaska?". He was referring to my Alaska Airlines hat that I typically wear. I said "No, we're from Seattle." He proceeded then to recount the fortunes and misfortunes of the Seattle SuperSonics including their move to Oklahoma City. It was another powerful statement of both how small the world is and the impact that the team had on the world.

Back at the meeting point a smaller group gathered for the 2pm tour, and off we went. Fortunately the rain had stopped and this walking tour was completed in the dry. At the end of this tour, Simon, our guide, recommended going to Floor 8 of a local shopping center to get a rooftop view of the city which we did. The view there was terrific. We made our way back to the market square photographing all the little gnomes (an eclectic symbol of the city) we could. Near our hotel we found a Taco bar and enjoyed a Mexican meal which was actually quite good. After that dinner, we walked across a nearby pedestrian bridge and toured Malt Island (named after the Malting plants that were here up to the 1970's when they were blown up. We ended our day watching the France-Belgium World Cup game in which France won 1-0.

Tomorrow is another big travel day as we make our way down to Cesky Krumlov Castle in the Czech Republic. We weren't able to visit this castle on our trip north, so we're fitting it in our trip south to Heidelberg.    

Day 24 - 09 July 2018 -Malbork to Wroclaw, PL

For the second time this trip, no rain was forecasted for this travel day. We left around 10am expecting to be into Wroclaw (350 miles south) by around 4pm. However, we encountered a lot of road construction and several unsigned detours that caused me to figure out a way around them. There was lots of truck traffic and idiotic drivers who tried to pass on the right and crowd in. Much of our riding time was spent on the 5 road and portions of it weren't even on the GPS because they are new. I would guess that the road construction we've seen in Poland will go on for 10 years or more. While it is underway, all the traffic is routed through little two lane roads and small towns and villages. We took a lunch break about half way and then pressed on.

Arriving in Wroclaw around 7pm, we found our little hotel (Wroclaw City Apartments) easily and the parking as well. While they are on the second floor with no elevator, it was really cheap at around $34/night. After cooling off with showers, we walked to Old Town and found a Sushii restaurant for some late dinner. It was fascinating to watch the sushii chef who was Polish and not Japanese. We also found a dam for the Dam Tour thread that I post to and a little dwarf (apparently there are many of those to discover here).

Tomorrow we have planned a walking tour of the old town with a guide, so we'll learn more about this interesting town.

Day 23 - 08 July 2018 -Touring Malbork Castle

After breakfast we walked the 1,000 meters to the ticket booth for the castle and for $29.50 Polish Lot (about $8US) for a senior rate we purchased an entry ticket which included a GPS enabled audio guide. That guide was fabulous and helped throughout the day. The Malbork Castle is the largest castle in the world measured by either land area or number of bricks. I'll not describe going through the castle, but I will say that if there is one castle in the world to see, it's this one. The preservation and conservation work is fabulous, the audio guide is so very helpful. We even had lunch in an inside restaurant and that was excellent. Following our visit to the castle, we took a little tour train around the castle and the nearby city and small dinosaur theme park. The cobblestone street and lack of suspension on the trolly cars probably loosed every kidneystone I have or ever thought of having!

For dinner we had chicken wings and salad at Pappa's and it was very good. This was a stop I really appreciated making despite it being a bit out of the way. Due to time constraints, we had to cut out riding up to Denmark, but all that we have seen in Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, and Lithuania has been so nice.

Tomorrow will be another long 300 mile ride down to Wroclaw, Poland. I had originally planned two nights in Malbork and then 3 nights in Cesky Krumlov, but it would have been a 600 plus mile riding day between Malbork and Cesky Krumlov. So we conferred and decided to ride 300 miles to Wroclaw, spend two nights (one sightseeing day in the old city); and then ride 300 more miles to Cesky Krumlov and spend two nights there with one full day for seeing the castle there. I can't emphasize enough that 300 miles of riding in Europe is a lot of riding especially in Poland with all of the road construction and unsigned detours.

Day 22 - 07 July 2018 -Vilnius, LT to Malbork, Poland

We ate breakfast and packed up the bike and were able to leave around 10am. We retraced our incoming route to Augustnow, Poland using mainly small 2 lane roads. The weather was clear and that was much appreciated. From Augustnow we continued west toward Gdansk. There was ample amounts of road construction and unsigned detours which didn't help keeping a fast pace. The last 40 or 50 miles were on a pretty fast 4 lane freeway type road before the turn west to Malbork.

At Malbork we found our hotel with a little help from a local. We were assigned a ground floor room with offstreet parking for the motorcycle. We could see the Malbork castle from our hotel and there was a prison across the street along with a pizza joint and an ATM. We unpacked and enjoyed a pizza at the Pappa's restaurant across the street before retiring after a long day. We had 1/2 of a pizza left, so that became breakfast for the next 2 breakfasts!

Day 21 - 06 July 2018 -Vilnius, LT - Day 4 - Performance Day

The day had finally come for the choir's performance with the mass choir. We didn't have to be to the meeting point until 2pm, so Angela and I headed off walking first to the central market and then wandering the streets of Old Town. The most interesting part of the walk was when we stumbled upon the artists colony with all sorts of pianos as part of displays. There was even one in the river! We found a bench along the river and had a little picnic lunch.  

We found the group at what we were told was the meeting point. A little while later another choir member came up to us and said the meeting point was changed to a little further away. So we moved there. I was told I couldn't walk with the choir in the parade to the fairgrounds, so I walked off and made great progress in walking to the venue location where I found a good vantage point from which I used our GOPRO to video many of the groups that passed by until some 2 hours later the Choral Sounds NW group finally showed up. From there I made my way into the seating area in from of the amphitheater. At the security check I was totally surprised that I couldn't take in my little remaining portion of potato chips. All I got was a stern "NO FOOD!". Later I saw lots of people with food that they must have snuck in. There was no firearms or other contraband check! Just food!

The concert was wonderful although I couldn't understand a word of it. It lasted about 3 1/2 hours and there was certainly a great display of patriotism in the final few numbers. Even the President of Lithuania was there and she greeted the crowd. And all too soon it was over.

We met at the meeting point and then made our way to the bus which whisked us to the center of the Old Town where we enjoyed a late dinner at the Casa Number 4 restaurant before sharing an UBER ride back to the hotel at 12:30am. Others were staying on to party and do kareoke. For us, tomorrow would be a long day as we decided to see the Malbork Castle in Malbork which is some 333 miles west of Vilnius. Due to the road conditions, it would be over an 8 hour ride, but would it be dry?  

Day 20 - 05 July 2018 -Vilnius, LT - Day 3 - Full Day Practice

Today was a full day of practice for the choir so Dan and I went first to the Tolerance Museum which had a large collection of Jewish art along with a few fragments from the former Grand Synagogue which the Nazi's blew up in WWII. From there we walked to the Holocaust Museum and saw more chilling evidence of the atrocities that were committed against the Lithuanian Jewish population.  

Following a nice BBQ ribs lunch, we walked to the main market and then to the Train Museum which is housed in the main train depot. Unfortunately we got there too late to view the outside exhibits, but we were able to see the inside collection. What was particularly fascinating for me was the collection of hand powered hacksaws and drills used to cut and drill railroad track. That's a lot of hand labor!! After we returned late in the day, I somewhat caught up on my YouTube videos before answering a request to have dinner with a choir member who could not stay at the venue all day because of physical limitations. My salad was nice and we enjoyed a fun time together.

Angela got back around 10:30 and we caught up on each other's day.

Day 19 - 04 July 2018 -Vilnius, LT - Day 2 -

This day in Vilnius was a split one. For the first half we went by coach to the island castle at Trakai which was about 45 minutes west of Vilnius. It's a beautiful old brick castle that has been wonderfully conserved with lots of interesting exhibits. After visiting the castle we enjoyed a progressive lunch involving two restaurants. At the first we had a traditional item of Kabinas (a pork and potato stuffed pastry not unlike a calzone) and at the second restaurant a very nice chicken noodle soup was enjoyed.

We were also able to view some very old watercraft that were on display. Since the second half of the day was a practice time for the choir, the bus dropped them off at the venue and took the remaining spouses back to the hotel where another spouse, Dan, and I walked to the nearest LIDL discount grocery store. Afterwards I came back and worked on my blog and waited for Angela to return about 9:15pm.

Day 18 - 03 July 2018 -Vilnius, LT - Day 1

Our first full day in Vilnius was to be a total tourist day with no real Choir activities planned. So we got up and had a quick breakfast at the hotel. Strangely enough, nobody checked to see if anyone was supposed to getting a meal. Promptly at 9am we boarded our bus for the day's touring which started with a tour through Vilnius. We visited a number places that we had visited on our previous trip although on this trip we didn't get to go into most of them like we did 2 years ago. There were lots of Lithuanians in full ethnic costume throughout the city and especially around the main square and the various churches as they were practicing and preparing for the upcoming song festival which the choir that Angela sings in will also be performing. That choir represents that largest group from America singing in the festival.

From Vilnius we drove to Kaunas which is about an hour away by motor coach. There we did another bus tour of the city before heading off on a walking tour of the old city and had lunch. Angela and I also met up with a cousin of the best man in our wedding and she joined us for lunch as well as a brief part of the walking tour. Rima is an ESL teacher so she and Angela hit it off immediately. When it came time for us to reboard our bus we said our goodbyes to Rima and were on our way for a tour of the historic open air village of Rumsiskes. This village dates to the 17th and 18th centuries and consists of a number of preserved houses and barns and at least one windmill. Several of the homes were open for us to tour. Leaving the village, we headed back to Vilnius where we were dropped off in front of City Hall.  

We had a little over an hour to find dinner or do whatever else we wished to do before the performance started at the theater that we were to attend. Angela and I just walked around and were in our seats for the performance which started just after 8pm. Everything was said, sung, or printed in Lithuanian. Angela volunteered to me, "Just think you are a Russian soldier during the occupation. They didn't understand either." The performance consisted a many acts involving over several hundred people and progressed smoothly and had interesting transitions. The groups were in sizes from 4 to 20 people. Some played instruments, some sang to the accompaniment of their instruments, and some were accompanied by a small band. One group's rendition in Lithuanian of Shenandoah was emotionally very chilling (in a very good sense). For the last 3 or 4 numbers, all of the groups sang in unison and filled the stage and the side aisles. Those anthems were very powerful and evoked strong audience participation.

After the performance, we walked back to our hotel in a driving rainstorm. Rain seems to be a continuing theme of this year's trip. Fortunately we did have our umbrellas so the only parts that really go wet were our pants legs. That would be fixed by an overnight drying session. And so by 11:30pm we were ready for bed and some needed rest. Tomorrow is planned to have another tour in the morning and the choir does its first practice for 5 1/2 hours from 3pm to 8:30pm.

Day 17 - 02 July 2018 - Warsaw, PL to Vilnius, Lithuania

Sometimes the best laid plans of mice and men go astray. And so went our day today. The plan was to ride from Warsaw, Poland to Vilnius, Lithuania in a ride that was projected to be about 6 hours via a direct route there. It wasn't far out of Warsaw the the first challenge occurred. There was a major set of construction delays with long traffic lines for almost 25 miles with no exit opportunities. Once we inched our way through that, our planned road was totally closed due to construction, so I had to plan a detour route as the locals don't provide one. The only detour I could work out was about 40 miles out of our way to the west and then back east. And by now, the rain had started and persisted off and on throughout the day (mostly on). We encountered periodic construction zones and probably the high point of the day was seeing lots of storks throughout the ride.

Then came error and delay number two. The GPS routed us up Route 19 direct to Vilnius. However, I didn't note that the route passed through Belarus. When we got to the border, there was a huge backup that wasn't going anywhere. I lane split to near the start of the line and a helpful Belarussian fellow advised us that the correct way to get to Vilnius without passing through Belarus was to backtrack and take the #8 road towards Kaunus. So we turned around and headed back into Poland to find the other road. At least we can say, "We've now seen Belarus!". More rain accompanied us as we rode the 20 miles back south to the Road #8 junction and then turned back north. At Augustow, we were directed onto the 16 Road and it turned out to be a wonderful road pretty much free of the large trucks we had spent much of the earlier part of day with. The rain let up for much of this segment of the ride and we motored our way into Vilnius and found our hotel, Comfort Inn II which has secure underground parking. We parked and checked in and found our group just finishing dinner. Fortunately there was food left for us, so we joined the group for a little dinner and chatted with another couple (Shirley & Dan) about our travels as they are visiting some of the same places we have visited.

After dinner we unpacked the bike and hung up all of our wet clothes and washed a load of laundry and caught the last of the Belgium-Japan World Cup Soccer game (Belgium won 3-2) For today, it was a 11 hour, 550 plus mile day of challenging riding in the forms of road construction, rain, GPS routing difficulties. But I guess that's why we both have Iron Butt Association ride certifications. And now to kick back for a week in Vilnius.  

Day 16 - 01 July 2018 - Warsaw, PL

Today we did something different than we have ever done on one of our previous motorcycle trips. We hailed an Uber ride from the hotel to the Central Railway Station so that we wouldn't have to hassle with parking (it's a real issue in Warsaw). while waiting for our UBER ride, we noted 2 Gold Wing motorcycles in our hotel's parking lot with Russian plates. And one of them was a 2018 model. The UBER worked really slick and only cost about $8US. At the Railway station we looked for the Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) bus location and a tourist information lady assisted us and pointed out where it was located. With that settled, we enjoyed a quick and inexpensive breakfast at McDonald's in the train station. We caught the 10:30am RED line bus and enjoyed a brief chat with a Colombian couple who had just returned from Russia after watching two Colombian World Cup Soccer games. They were on an extended layover before continuing on their journey back to the US where they live.

Riding the Red Line HOHO gave us a good initial understanding of the city layout. We hoped to ride the blue line, but in the end that didn't work out because of what we chose to do after riding the Red Line bus. BTW, this HOHO bus was the cheapest of any we've taken in the world. After doing the loop, we got off in the Old Town and hopped on a little train for a more intimate ride. Then we walked the OLD City and enjoyed a Polish lunch before deciding to walk over to the Jewish Museum to take a 2 hour guided tour of the history of the Polish Jews. It was about a mile walk there but the tour was so worth it. After the tour we walked another mile and a half to the Chopin Museum and it was free because it was Sunday. The Chopin music playing in the various exhibits was wonderful. We then hailed another Uber for a ride back to our hotel. There we ate a nice Polish meal for dinner and watched the Croatia-Denmark World Cup soccer game.

Tomorrow we head for Vilnius, Lithuania and it's expected to be at least a 6 hour ride to cover 440 kilometers or some 270 miles. Some of Angela's choir members have already arrived there, but we don't need to be there until 8pm for a group dinner.