from Suwalki to Gryfino

The information material in the room consists mostly of strongly worded conditions how to use the hotel and what they do with the processed data. In the restaurant is a sign on the coffee machine saying how many minutes and seconds it takes to prepare one cup.

I don’t know if it is the initiative of the GPS or is it necessary to drive to Gdansk through villages. In the mild morning light the surroundings are picturesque and slightly wavy. Not many clear-cut areas but when there’s one then it’s completely empty. No seed trees or reserves. Not many other road users which is good for looking around. When a car appears in the rear mirror then it is unexpected every time. The average fuel usage drops to four liters per 100 km because a lot of the way can be driven without using fuel at all.

I came to Poland with my car because ‘it’s just next door’. On the last moment I found out that studded tires are forbidden in Poland and had to buy un-studded ones for these three weeks. Actually I did not have a special interest towards Poland  as such but just wanted to see a few places that happen to be in Poland.

I change Ukrainian pop for local radio. Not much difference because Polish is actually Ukrainian written in Latin alphabet (a joke!). Although my vocabulary consists mainly of sentences like ‘Big boys have a new dog’ I still understand that some ladies are discussing fridges that have 20% discount and that the Minister of Health said that there’s no corona. At the same time Polish government sends me an SMS with a link where to read more about the virus. I also can read the signs along the road: smaczne ryby (tasty fish), wolne pokoje (free rooms).

After a few hours the Polish wake up and start to race. Luckily they don’t overtake as dangerously as Latvians and Lithuanians. They also stop for pedestrians to cross the road and the bus to get out of the bus stop. Motorway begins.

A stop in Gdansk because it somehow felt logical. For stretching my feet and eating lunch. In Gdansk began WWI and Solidarity (Solidarność, the trade union that helped to end communism in Poland). Here are also colorful facades and the biggest port crane in the world but I’m more interested in Fahrenheit thermometer. It’s opposite the big fountain that everybody is photographing. Daniel Fahrenheit grew up here. A lot of German spoken on the streets, probably came to have a look at what’s left of Danzig. From a small street I find lovely vegetable pancakes with a lot of caviar. On the table smell real daffodils.

On next part of the route a traffic light showing red has been installed after every 100 meters. All Polish people have gathered around the traffic lights. It continues for about 50 kilometers. Then I reach the motorway. When signs start pointing towards Berlin it gets dark. Darkness is suitable for road construction. Structures in the middle of the road, flashing lights and rushing Polish is a confusing mixture.

This time only Polish is spoken in the hotel (dwa noc; tak, tak, tylko śniadanie, nie obiad). The first target is now here close by.