The way home

Sun. 08/20/2023

We didn't spend that much time in Poland either. On the first day we drove over 4 hours north to Sztutowo (Stutthof) and visited the Stutthof concentration camp there. It was a very special experience that cannot be described well if you have not experienced it yourself. The exhibition and all the information you got there is very interesting, but always sends a chill down your spine. Especially the pictures of the stacked corpses, emaciated to the bone, the gas chamber and the crematorium. For us today it is simply unimaginable what a horror that must have been back then.

To get a good mood again, we drove to Gdansk (Danzig), found a free parking space near the old town, ate a really good dinner in an Indian restaurant and then went to a shisha bar right next door drink a cocktail.

Mon 08/21/2023

This day was dedicated to Gdańsk. We were in town at 9:30 a.m. and were surprised at how many tourists were out and about at that time. We booked a 2.5 hour free walking tour for 10:30am. All the information we received about the city would be too much to write down here. But the history is long and full of changes, good rich times as well as dark chapters in modern times, it was here in this city that World War II finally began. What we found interesting, among other things, was that the "new town" looks like it was the old town, and the actual old town today looks like a completely normal neighborhood with concrete apartments and shops. The reason for this is that the new town was completely rebuilt after the war in the 17th and 18th century style, while the old town was used for new housing developments.

To keep this short: We really recommend you to visit the city yourself, it is really great.

Tuesday 08/22/2023

As we mentioned in the last blog entry, we didn't have that much time left for our trip. And now that we felt so close, we decided to be home on Friday. That's why we made a lot of kilometers that day. Here, too, we were able to take a shower for free at a gas station. We compared that with the prices for showers at Swiss rest stops. In Switzerland, for example, you pay CHF 8.00 for a shower at the Grauholz service area. Usury.

With showers, breaks, lunch, etc., it was early evening before we arrived in Sorau, just before the German border. We stopped in the first parking lot, pulled out our phones to google where we wanted to stay for the night. We couldn't even open the app, a vehicle stopped next to us and a man asked us in German if we were looking for a place to sleep, because there was a free parking space for campers just 5 minutes away. Of course we looked at it, and indeed: with the help of EU funds, the village built a parking space with toilets, showers and supply and disposal and all of it for free. They want to make the western Poland region more attractive for tourists. We still think that Switzerland could learn a lot from other countries in many respects.

Wed. 08/23/2023

Today we crossed the border to Germany. It was somehow as if we were definitely at the end of the journey. But first we wanted to visit Saxon Switzerland. As soon as we arrived we felt a bit at home, after all the landscape became hilly and with the high sandstone mountains anyway. That's probably why the area was also called Saxon Switzerland. In the National Park Center we wanted to find out more about the various hiking trails. However, the gentleman in charge clearly didn't want to do it and gave us two brochures with the statement "we have to put the hikes together ourselves". Okay, so we took a seat in the Café Elbflorenz restaurant and while we ate a very delicious dessert, we used the internet, among other things, to choose a good hiking tour for the next day.

After that we visited the famous Bastei bridge and the ruins of the Felsenburg Neurathen, a medieval fortress settlement with a really wonderful view over the Elbe valley. We were also able to watch two climbers climbing one of the high sandstone towers.

When it was night time, we drove to the village of Ostrau, where we parked the bus in a parking space and walked to the Turmeck restaurant. Since there was only one table left there, we were seated at a table with Steffen, a German cyclist. We quickly got into conversation and exchanged ideas about our trips, but also about current climate and war policy. The landlord also quickly noticed that we were Swiss, because the first thing he said was "The Swiss have an average of 640,000 francs in their accounts". Well, especially after the trip we unfortunately don't have this chunk anymore. But even after Steffen left the table, we talked to the valuer for a while about the current situation in Ukraine and how our countries are reacting to it.

Back at the bus we could enjoy a wonderful evening. We were in a meadow next to an agricultural field, the night was clear and there was little light pollution. Two foxes ran past us, the crickets were chirping and we could see the stars and even the Milky Way very well.

Thursday 08/24/2023

When the weather was perfect, we started our hiking tour that we had put together ourselves. This first led us through half-dead forest, then up to the various sandstone towers. Over ladders and stairs and back to normal forest floor, our path led from one beautiful vantage point to the next. We really enjoyed doing a hike like this again and it wasn't too crowded either. After about 5 hours we were back at the bus, had a quick wash, went to Café Elbflorenz again and treated ourselves to another fine ice cream.

Now it was definitely time to say goodbye to everything, because we still had 10 hours to drive home. So we got going later in the afternoon and drove long enough to see all the flashes from the powerful thunderstorm in the dark. At 10:30 p.m. we called it a day.

Fri 08/25/2023

After another 5 hours drive we were in Switzerland. And in traffic jams 😊. We drove straight to Lauterbrunnen and spent the rest of the day with Sarah's parents.

Well, dear readers, that's it. Our journey is over. Thanks to everyone who read all the blog entries during the 4 months, we really enjoyed it.

We are putting together a separate entry with our travel summary, some dates and other fun facts.

Thank you!

Sun 08/20/2023

We didn't spend that much time in Poland either. On the first day we drove more than 4 hours north to Sztutowo (Stutthof) and visited the Stutthof concentration camp. It was a very special experience that you can't describe very well if you haven't experienced it yourself. The exhibition and all the information you received there are very interesting, but you always get a cold shiver. Especially the pictures of the stacked corpses, emaciated to the bones, the gas chamber and the crematorium. For us today, it's just unimaginable what a horror it must have been at that time.

In order to get a good mood again, we drove to Gdansk after the visit, found a free parking space near the old town, ate a really good dinner in an Indian restaurant and went right next door to have a cocktail in a hookah bar.

Mon 08/21/2023

This day was dedicated to Gdansk. We were already in the city at 9:30 am and got surprised by how many tourists already roamed the streets at that time. We booked a 2.5-hour free-walking tour for 10:30 am. All the information we received about the city would be too much to write down here. But the history is long and full of changes, good times and dark chapters in modern times, especially as the Second World War began here in this city. One of the things we found interesting was that the “new town” looks like it was the old town, and the old town itself looks like a normal neighborhood with concrete flats and shops. The reason for this is that the new town was completely rebuilt after the war in the style of the 17th and 18th centuries, while the old town was used for new housing developments.

To keep the whole thing short: We really recommend you to visit the city yourself, it's really great.

Do 08/22/2023

As we mentioned in the last blog post, we didn't have that much time left for our journey. And now that we felt so close, we decided to be home on Friday. That's why we drove a lot of miles that day. Again, we had a free shower at a gas station. We compared this with the prices for showers at Swiss service stations. In Switzerland, for example, at the service station Grauholz you pay Fr. 8.00 for a shower. usury

With showers, breaks, lunch etc. it was early evening, until we arrived in the village of Sorau just before the border to Germany. On the first parking lot we stopped and took out our mobile phones to google where we wanted to stay the night. We couldn't even open the app as a car pulled up next to us and a man asked us in German if we are looking for a place to sleep, because only five minutes away there was a free campsite for campers. We wanted to look at that of course, and indeed: with the help of EU funds, the village has built a parking space with toilets, showers, fresh water supplies and disposal, all free of charge. They want to make the region of Western Poland more attractive to tourists.

Wed 08/23/2023

Today we crossed the border to Germany. It was as if we were definitely at the end of the journey. But first we wanted to visit Saxon Switzerland. When we arrived, we felt a little at home, finally the landscape became hilly again and there were high sandstone mountains. This is probably why the area was also called Saxon Switzerland. In the National Park Centre, we wanted to find out about the different hiking trails. However, the gentleman in charge was noticeably unwilling to do so and handed us two brochures saying "we have to put together the hiking trails ourselves". Good, that's why we took a seat in the restaurant Café Elbflorenz and while we ate a delicious dessert, we chose a good hiking tour for the next day with the help of the internet.

Afterwards we visited the famous Bastion Bridge and the ruins of the Neurathen Rock Castle, a medieval fortress settlement with a truly wonderful view over the Elbe Valley. We could also watch two climbers climbing one of the tall sandstone towers.

Before night time, we drove to the village of Ostrava, where we parked the van on a campers parking and walked to the Turmeck restaurant. Since there was only one table available, we were seated together with Steffen, a German cyclist. We quickly got into conversation and exchanged views about our travels, but also about the current climate and war policy. The landlord also quickly realized that we were Swiss, because the first thing he said was "The Swiss have an average of 640,000 Swiss francs in their bank accounts". Well, especially after the trip, we don't have that amount anymore…. But even when Steffen left the table, we talked with the landlord for a while about the current situation in Ukraine and how our countries are reacting to it.

Back at the van we could enjoy a beautiful evening. We were in a meadow right next to an agricultural field, the night was clear and there was hardly any light pollution. Two foxes were running past us, the crickets were chirping and we could see the stars and even the Milky Way very clearly.

Thu 08/24/2023

In perfect weather we started our self-assembled hiking tour. It led us first through half-dead forest, then up to the different sandstone towers. Over ladders and stairs and again to the normal forest ground the trail led us from one beautiful viewpoint to the next. We enjoyed doing such a hike again and there weren't too many people on the way. After about 5 hours we were back at the bus, washed briefly, went to the Café Elbflorenz again and treated ourselves to a nice ice cream.

Now it was definitely time to say goodbye to everything, because now it was time to drive home for 10 hours. So, we set off late in the afternoon and drove so long that we could see all the lightning from the strong thunderstorm in the dark. At 10:30 pm, we stopped for the day.

Fri 08/25/2023

After another 5 hours driving we arrived in Switzerland. And in traffic jams 😊. We drove straight to Lauterbrunnen and spent the rest of the day with Sarah's parents.

Well, dear readers, that's it. Our journey is over. Thank you to everyone who's read all the blog posts during the four months, we really appreciated it!

We will put together a separate entry with our travel summary, some dates and other funny facts.

Thank you very much.