Day 9

Day 9

It was a smooth ride back to Przemyśl (I must learn how to pronounce that).  Somehow, we were sold three non adjoining bunks in sleepers cars, but rolled with the punch and made due.  We all somewhat dozed in and out between officials coming in and out, beautiful women toting enough contraptions around their neck to be a ATM machine or something.  The lowest tech item they had was the stamper.  I didn't ask if the gun was loaded.  The best part was the Polish Customs official who asked, "do you have any cigarettes?  Do you have any vodka?"  One should make sure one's children know not to be a smart ass with border officials.

Przemyśl was a lot more lively at 12:30 in the morning than at 3 in the morning.  Brushed teeth, showered, and fell into bed, feeling like I might sleep 3 days.  Well, it wasn't exactly a bed.  Each of us had a couch that slides into a bed, so that center seam made it a bit rough to find a comfortable spot.  Every time one of us made an adjustment, it sounded a bit like an old wooden house settling.  So it was really only about 7 hours of sleep.  

And the day dawned SUNNY!  Talk about bright!!!  No afternoon rain storm at all.  Next destination punched into Carmen San Diego, her ubiquitous "re-calculating" and we were off.  

In 2012, the Ukraine and Poland co-hosted the European Cup, so some infrastructure was developed for that.  We benefitted from that by getting on an amazingly empty stretch of interstate highway.  S2 said, "this is less traffic than on I-90 between Gillette and Sheridan."  (See, we tend to relate what we see back to something we already know)

Before leaving Poland we stopped to get gas and use up our zloty.  It didn't work, there was still money left over.  Slovakia was the next county, they use Euros, so we converted what we could to Hungarian florins, and bought junk food, I mean, snack food with the rest.

It seemed like a quick dash through eastern Slovakia, but really it was still lovely winding roads through fields of grain and corn, and a load of semi- trucks, thankfully, heading in the other direction.  There was an occasional tank monument, and something S2 recognized as a Maletov fortification.

Hungary is also benefitting from the economic assistance of the European Union, as we drove on well maintained roads, saw several recently completed shopping malls, brand new houses with elaborate well-maintained gardens and roadside fresh fruit and garden stalls.  S2 continues to talk about stopping to buy a whole watermelon, but NS claims it wouldn't feel right without KO.  I feel water logged just thinking about the three of us trying to eat a whole watermelon in one setting.

We passed a BIG U.S. Steel plant, some kind of BIG Ford plant, and some factory called "HELL".  NS wanted us to drive around the round about until we could get a photo of the sign that pointed to the road to HELL.  (She doesn't get EVERYTHING she wants).

Big excitement today when NS added a Macedonia license plate to her growing collection of identified license plates.  Just like our road trips in the U.S., she keeps a record of each country, as we did with states and provinces.  At this location, seeing a car from Great Britain is a bit like seeing a car from Alaska or Hawaii.

Also, we stopped counting sightings of live storks when we drove by a field that had more than 20 of them stalking around looking for something on the ground. NS reckoned they were digging for babies. It is pretty spectacular to see 3 of the gawky looking birds all settled in the same nest.

After some adventurous searching (sometimes we use Carmen to locate lodging...sometimes she is wrong), we settled on a lovely motel/restaurant where one waitress spoke enough English to get us checked in, and then waited on us as well.  Hungarian Goulash is so much better when it is authentic.

And amazing, isn't it ... So many places have WIFI.  Next up...Day 10 in Romania! 

I'd like to point out that I have proof someone beside my younger brother is actually reading this blog!  Thanks for joining in Susan!  John, my younger brother, and long time friend, Deb, are my inspirations for giving this blog more than the old college try!  AND Deb showed me how to check my blog statistics so I can see who is reading, well, I can tell what country you access the blog from.  but there is nothing like the public proof of being here once you post a comment!

She may be 16, but she still likes her Jammie starts!