After two weeks in Nemčičky, it was definitely time to hit the road again, but it was a little bit tough to say goodbye to the Stáveks after having such a wonderful time there.
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10/23/2013 – 111 days/11594 miles
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10/20/2013 – 108 days/11472 miles
At a glance, an address from another country can sometimes be a little bit confusing, but it’s really been interesting to see how different the addresses in small villages can be. For example, in Nemčičky, where I’m staying now, street names apparently are not necessary. It’s a small enough place that everything just has a number. And on top of that, the numbers don’t seem to line up in any way that would make it possible for an outsider to predict where a given house is.
An example of the order of house numbers I saw while walking down the main street…all these are from the same side of the road:
206, 92, 180, 159, 162, 179
10/16/2013 – 104 days/11433 miles
Good news! I just got word last night that my passport with an Indian visa arrived at my parents house. So they’re shipping it to me today…should be here in two days!
I’ll probably still stick around here for a few more days before moving on.
10/13/2013 – 101 days/11433 miles
We met up on Sunday morning (5 bikes) to head up to Brno. Being that it’s an opportunity for people to ride on a race track, there were obviously mostly sport bikes up there, so I (wearing cordura/goretex riding gear) looked a little bit out of place on an Enduro wearing panniers. And the Colorado license plate didn’t lessen the surprised/confused looks that I seemed to get.
10/11/2013 – 99 days/11333 miles
The village I’m in is called Nemčičky, which is in the Moravia region of the Czech Republic. This area has a really strong wine culture (To put into perspective how important wine is in this region…in Nemčičky, they produce 2000 liters of wine per resident annually), and the majority of the houses here (and in the nearby villages) have wine cellars in their backyards. Although they are used a little less often today, it is still very common for the families in the area to make enough wine for their own consumption.
And if having a small wine cellar in your backyard isn’t enough, there’s a place in the nearby town of Vrbice where you can buy or rent a wine cellar. These are built into the hillside, and there are 12 different levels of them as you go up or down the hill.
10/10/2013 – 98 days/11132 miles
My plans have changed slightly…I’m waiting to get a visa for India, and this involves sending my passport to the office of a 3rd party company in Houston that doesn’t seem nearly as organized as they should be. I was hoping I could just have stopped at an Indian embassy somewhere in Europe and have it taken care of there, but this seems to be the only option. So I sent my passport to my parents, and they sent it in to the company that will supply the visa, and once they get it back, they will ship it back to wherever I am at the time.
With my passport in Texas, I can’t leave the Schengen zone, so while I wait out the visa process, I’ve decided to go back to the Czech Republic and work at a farm/vineyard/winery.
10/05/2013 – 93 days/11132 miles
From Zakopane, I continued north to Gdynia to stay with a friend of a friend.
While there, my friends/hosts/tourguides Krzyzstof and Bart showed me around Gdynia, Sopot, and Gdańsk…tricities on the sea. I had a couple days there to get shown around the area with good food, good beer, and great riding through the city, which makes riding around a city in the US feel like kindergarden.
09/28/2013 – 86 days/10118 miles
I’m in Zakopane, Poland, in the Tatra Mountains, near the border with Slovakia. I love it here, but unfortunately, it’s still raining quite a bit.
It’s absolutely beautiful, and pretty cheap too. Sure it’s offseason, but even in the offseason in a similar town back home (say, Breckenridge), a hotel room hasn’t been had for $13 since 1947. And then there’s the meals…amazingly delicious, and huge meals, all at TGI Friday’s prices…and good beer for cheap too!
And after a day of hiking in the cold rain, nothing beats a nice porter, with a garnish that’ll make you feel like you’re on the beach.
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09/22/2013 – 80 days/9909 miles
In the last two weeks, the weather has consisted mostly of rain…maybe a few hours of sun here and there, but mostly cloudy and rainy. Riding isn’t as enjoyable; checking out a new city isn’t as enjoyable.
But thats the extent of my complaining…Back home (around Denver), they’ve gotten about 2.5 shit tons of rain, so overall, I’m fine with the weather I’ve had here.
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09/20/2013 – 78 Days/9909 miles
Auschwitz…as expected, it was spooky and depressing in a way that words can’t describe. I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere that weighed so heavily on my mind, and it continues to after leaving.
Visiting the Dachau concentration camp a few years ago was rough, but Auschwitz was on a whole different level of scary.
a pat on a motorcycle 