My Summer Holidays, Part Two

I do not remember exactly when we crossed the border of Poland. Poland was a RELIEF! The first country where I could understand the language without any problem – I was completely lost in Germany, Austria, and Slovakia, even in Belgium they do not really speak French. I love Polish language even the “bad words”. So poetic it is! I will never forget July 29th 2009, as I thought we would die! Dad was driving half asleep through Poland. And to crown it all, you will understand what I’m talking about, if you have already travelled in Poland, 3 words : Drivers, Roads and trucks! This is a complete nightmare, Everyone in Poland think he is the best driver in the world, but all of them are car freaks ! The roads are crumbling. When you see a toll motorway, you are ready to pay a hundred Euros and to give a kiss to the toll collector! Toll motorways are quite rare, but so beautiful. Actually, you have to pay 11pln (2.70€) and unfortunately, only to last a moment. When we were on public highways or national highways, I saw several carcasses of dogs, cats and birds and also Catholic crosses in memory of those car freaks that killed themselves and killed the people who were walking on the roads. We almost killed a guy who was walking on crutches on the national highway at night! And my father was not driving fast at all. It was pitch dark!

My Summer Holidays, Part One

On July 28th 2009, Dad, my sister, and I took the car to go to Lublin (Poland). A strange journey, this year. Dad drove for 2 days, unfortunately we could not find a motel to take a nap, so we were quite dead when we arrived. Why ? The motels were too expensive in Austria and Slovakia. I forgot to mention that this year, we decided to go across Austria and Slovakia to see the capitals (Vienna and Bratislava). Actually, it was really beautiful, as we arrived in the capitals at night, the places were deserted. To my great surprise, you can find at 3AM in the streets of Vienna, a bar filled with people who are drinking beers. The Cathedral is amazing at night, mysterious as in gothic tales! And of course, in the streets, cathedral-like silence! I was so tired, I could not feel my body – it went to “bed” before my head – but even so, we took the car to go to Bratislava, as we could not find any cheap hotels. The old town of Bratislava is amazing but at that moment I was only thinking of finding a bed – or a coffin – in the streets of Bratislava. Even at 5AM the price of a room in a basic hotel does not fall. Imagine how we looked like at 7PM, like walking skeletons.