Monthly Archives: June 2015

Nida — Palanga

A pink night was perfect. We’ve played Giant-Dwarf-Sorcerer to find out who picks the best spot and who ends up on a sofa. I lost.


But it was great anyway. We had a healthy sleep and left Nida exactly at 8:04. I remember it because it was me who ruined an opportunity to become the first biking group in the world to leave exactly as scheduled.

We had 80 kilometers ahead of us. The plan was to have a quick start and then enjoy a breakfast at a hamlet of Preila about 15 km away.

There should be coffee places, we thought. We were wrong. Every single venue was in the arms of Morpheus till 10:00. We had to turn to energy bars and drink all the water we had to flush them down.

The spectre of hunger, thirst and caffeine withdrawal was rising.

Fortunately, bike lane number 10 we’ve started at Nida turned out to be so nice the ride was taking almost no effort.

Not a single branch on the pavement. I wonder if they vacuum-clean it.

 

We claimed several dunes along the Hunger Road. Because that’s what we do.
  

Milestones were being passed one by one, and finally we stopped at some food and drinks place not too far from Juodkrantė. They didn’t have wi-fi so I didn’t check in to Swarm, so I can’t remember its name now.

Note to venue owners: always fix your place with a steady wi-fi connection or you go unnamed in travellers’ notes. 

 

A Lithuanian cold borscht. Goes as a hangover meal, bikers’ smoothie and Pantone color.

 

We’ve been riding on an empty stomach for more than two hours by this time, so no surprise we’ve ordered too much and got bloated.

Luckily, the perfect bike lane continued up to the very ferry to Klaipeda. It went more up and down for the last 20 kilometers so we even managed to sweat off some extra calories.

That’s one small ferry for 3 men and one giant leap for their journey

 

In Klaipeda we decided not to have a coffee break but to enjoy local beer instead. With coffee. Wise decision was to top it up with one plate of some traditional peasant food.

 

Unfortunately they don’t highlight good beer places on those

 

They say, ancient Lithuanian builders were protecting their cities from vicious biker tribes with this kind of boulder pavements

 

Had quite a fight for the fourth of these

I’ve used an after-lunch time hole to gear up and equipped myself with new biking sunglasses and padded gloves. (And, as it turns out a bit later, have immediately lost one glove from my older, not-so-good pair).

After that we’ve continued riding on the almost annoyingly perfect lane 10 and have never stopped till Palanga.

Quick test: if you can see tiny fans of our team on my head, your eyes are ok

 

Biking for love!

 

Lane 10, as smooth as a mother’s kiss, led us through parks and forests to a resort city of Palanga. We’ve quickly booked a nice place literally from a street, thanks to a public wi-fi. It was a steal — 25% last minute discount and another 50% for low season. (Don’t ask about a low season in late June on a seaside; we were quite okay with the offer.) We were so impressed we decided to use this last-minute tactics in the future.

Note from the future: so far it works like a charm.

A discount hotel might have a tree in it, but who cares?

We had our stretches (Johan hooked me up on it) and rolled into the town.

It was… kinda boring. A lot of ice-cream carts; that’s the most distinctive thing about it.

 

A beach full of people who have stayed home

 

 

A dedicated tagging board at the pier. Smart!

 

URGENT! While I was writing this post, Sweden has won Under 21 Euro Cup!! 

 

More on it in the upcoming post

 

Back to Palanga. We roamed back and forth, drinking coffee here and there and trying to find out if they have craft beer anywhere in Lithuania except the capital city of Vilnius. No they don’t.

We amused ourselves with a game of Russian billiard (didn’t go well) and kicker (never hurts!), had a couple more beers and eventually got back to a nicer place we’ve noticed from the beginning. We called it ‘The Library’. Because it had books on shelves.

There we had four great things at once:

  1. A broadband connection that made my previous post available
  2. An awesome terrace
  3. A plate of fine cheeses and olives
  4. And a bottle of decent Italian wine. Yes, we are that sophisticated.

And that was it for the night. Next day we planned to leave Lithuania early and head to Liepaja.

Kaliningrad — Lesnoye — Nida

Next day! Saturday.

We started up super early and still drunk. Something elevenish? I’ve spent a night at Lusya’s place and guys had their sleep at Kaiserhof hotel. I’ve picked them up (their room smelled like teen spirit — sweat, farts and booze odors) and we rode through busy streets of Kaliningrad back to Lusya’s.

Lusya has a great garden and a spectacular barbecue oven, so we naturally came up with a plan of having a nice protein lunch before we head to Curonian Spit.

Our beatiful host Lusya

 

Her dog Luk. At least what I was able to capture

 

Us with Pasha. Gathering our strength after quite a few diet restrictions have been crossed at once

 

Pasha looks like a cool local and we look like lame tourists. Oh shi…

 

We managed to leave as early as 16:00. Pasha was guiding us perfectly, riding a killer road bike from 1950’s. Unfortunately we had to part with him at Lesnoye, the first village on Spit. Pasha was going to ride 40 kilometers more to the very end of Russia — a huge difference after the party night we have had together (and the lunch!).

Meanwhile, we had ourselves landed at Dom Rybaka (‘A fisherman’s house’) and immediately headed up to a beach.

Finally, the sea!

 

Johan is training his selfie face

 

A cover to an unknown album

 

 

A new friend of ours

 

It’s always good to have a backyard with silver Lenin

 

We’ve had a dinner at a sea side restaurant and kind of wrapped it up for the night. The plan was to wake up not too late — we had to visit a lot of spectacular spots on Spit next day.

 

Hurrying up to leave

 

We still read paper books in Russia

 

Ready! Steady! Groupie!

 

Johan and his famous stretches

 

Never parts with his lipstick

We have stopped at Muller’s height and claimed it ours (no photo though); had an enormous fish lunch at Rybachye and left to visit two other must-sees — the Dancing Forest and Efa’s height.

Fish art

 

Fish stand

 

Fish line

In Rybachye Johan’s bags started to behave funny. While he was fixing it, I’ve found an another local art piece.

Dancing Forest was supposed to impress guys. It didn’t.

But Efa’s height did it all right. The climb was totally worth it.

  

After that nothing could stop us from reaching Nida. Except border police, of course. Luckily, we’ve crossed the border without any problems and found ourselves in Lithuania.

Johan have made a great job of picking the place with the right vibe.

 

Pink was the new black for us in Nida

 

A perfect chaining technique

 

Finally! The sea!

We had to have a welcome beer somewhere. We’ve quickly found a terrace with a nice view and enjoyed some well-deserved lagers while discussing comparative linguistics and Kantian philosophy.

Jonas tries himself as a retiring political figure


Unfortunately, they didn’t serve food at a terrace. So we headed out to find a more rewarding venue.

After some wandering around and a bit of social engineering skills we’ve landed at the best place in town, I guess. The duck confit I’ve had was goooooood. Guys didn’t complain either.

But it’s time to go. Heads up: we are leaving Lithuania today.

Stay tuned!

A night in Kaliningrad

Friday was a big day for us. For starters, we were supposed to meet in Kaliningrad. Kind of a thing we had to do to continue. Second, we were going to drink local craft beer. Third, we had an ambition to party. 

One part of the plan didn’t work. But first things first. 

I’ve left cosy town of Svetly (population: 21 849) and headed to Kaliningrad on a road that turned out to be the scariest ride I’ve taken in my whole life. 

FYI, Kaliningrad is one of the cities of the upcoming World Cup. They are building a new stadium to host several games here. To build a stadium you need a lot of sand and rocks and other stuff. And you need trucks to move this stuff around. Big ass heavy duty trucks that are wider than the single lane the road had (and remember, I was on it).

I survived. Got some gray hair, sure, but it went okay — I’ve anticipated the problem and worked out the solution: 10 kilometers longer but much safer road. 

It was perfect! No cars at all. 

 

Meanwhile, Jonas & Johan managed to get to Kaliningrad ahead of schedule, so I had to hurry up. 

That’s why I’ve stopped and spent 15 minutes taking photos of this fascinating fence. 

  

Jonas texted me the name of the hotel they had checked in and I headed there. To look good in front of Swedes I’ve changed my biking clothes in a hotel’s disabled’s toilet and washed my armpits. You can’t make a second first impression. 

We’ve finally met at a street bar close to the hotel. We had to celebrate! And we did it all right with the best beer they served: Amstel. 
  
Yep, no craft beer revolution in Kaliningrad for us. 🙁

Fortunately, the sun came out. Suddenly everything seemed possible. Life felt good. Sunscreen in our bags wasn’t a dead weight anymore. 

Here goes our first groupie. Look at us. What a team!
  
After some Amstel injection we tried to get to one of the local must see spots, Kant’s grave. Suddenly we have found ourselves in the middle of an invite-only party celebrating 70 years anniversary of Yantar’Energo, which is the region energy supplier. The celebration took over the whole Kneiphof island, Kant’s grave included, and featured mimes, clowns and balalaikas. 

  
We strolled through the party, heading to the city center, had more beer and some belyashi (meat and onion fried cakes) and then met with Lusya. Lusya is my wife’s schoolmate, I know her for ages. She took the responsibility to guide us through Kaliningrad’s night life. And what a life it turned out to be!

We’ve been partying at three distinct places till 5 a.m.:

  1. Bravo Italia frontyard, overlooking the city port (they allowed to bring your own booze, so we called in the cavalry — a bottle of Captain Morgan rum)
  2. bar Kiberda, packed with people like hell with sinners (where did this sentence came from?) 
  3. at Pasha’s place (Pasha is the best). 
If you would be able to turn 180 from here, you would see a crazy party
In Kiberda

Also in Kiberda, but under a different lighting
 
Waiting for a cab
 

kicker never hurts
neither of us remembers it

Johan’s dancing face

Locals keep saying it was the best party night of the year. Well, we agree — it was us who made the difference, obviously. 

Gdansk – Braniewo

As usual: English below Swedish

Välkommen till bloggen Ilia! Coolt att vi är på samma resa fast vi ännu inte har setts.

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Glammigt!

Vi började dagen med en sagolik brunch på hotellet. Brunch eftersom det inte var så tidigt på morgonen. Annars var det mest som en vanlig frukostbuffé.

Sen var det dags att ge sig ut på vägarna. Vi hade satt målet högt med 10 mil och sen lunch i Elblag (för det såg ut att ligga rätt på kartan).

Vi cyklade på i godan ro, och efter cirka tre mil fram till floden Vistula. Här krävdes andra medel än cykel, för det fanns nämligen ingen bro.

Vi kan inte gå över den, vi kan inte gå under den... Något konfunderade förstärkt med ett filter i min Lumia så att bekymmersvecken syns ännu mer.
Vi kan inte gå över den, vi kan inte gå under den… Något konfunderade förstärkt med ett filter i min Lumia så att bekymmersvecken syns ännu mer.

Efter att ha funderat ett litet tag fann vi lösningen. En pråm driven av två båtar och en vajer! Denna fina anordning tog oss över vattnet (ca 300 meter).

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En man och hans pråm

Vädret har varit blandat, och med vätan kommer även andra sorts veck. Här bjuder jag på något bekymrade fingeravtryck:

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I alla fall… Det blev ingen lunch i Elblag, men väl i Nowy Dwór två mil kortare i på dagsetappen. Detta visade sig vara ett taktiskt drag, då vi efter en långsam start plötsligt susade fram över nejderna och endast ett kortare kaffestopp sinkade vår framfart.

I Nowy Dwór hann vi även med resans mest förvirrade samtal, då Jonas kastade solkrämen i min kaffemugg och välte den. Jonas trodde trodde dock att det var solkrämen som runnit ut, och där har ni förvecklingen.

Vi fortsatte flyga fram och 7,5 timme efter vår sagolika brunch och ca 10 mil på cyklarna befinner vi oss nu på spa-hotellet och har badat bubbelpool och bastat. Nu äter vi och sen är det dags för massage.

Uppdaterat: Här är en bild på massagen

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Uuu va gött!

And now in English

Welcome to the blog Ilia! Cool that we are on the same journey though we have not met yet.

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Glam in it’s purest version!

We started the day with a fabulous brunch at the hotel. Brunch because it was so late in the morning. Otherwise, it was mostly like a normal breakfast .

Then it was time to venture out on the roads. We had set the goal high by 100 kilometers and a stop for late lunch in Elblag (which looked to be located nicely on the map) .

We biked on calmly, and after about 30 kilometers we came to the Vistula River. This called for other resources than bicycles, because there was no bridge.

Somewhat confused enhanced with a filter in my Lumia to increase our aura of worried even more.
Somewhat confused enhanced with a filter in my Lumia to increase our aura of worried even more.

After thinking for a while we found the solution. A flatboat driven by two regular boats and a wire! This fine arrangement took us across the water (about 300 meters) .

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A man and his flatboat

The weather has been mixed, and the rain has provided us with new features. Here, I offer some worried fingerprints:

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In any case… We didn’t have lunch in Elblag, but well in Nowy Dwor 20 kilometers before. This proved to be a wise tactical move, since it gave us enormous amounts of energy. After a slow start suddenly we understood the need for speed and only a short coffee break was in the way of our progress.

In Nowy Dwor we experienced the journey’s most confused conversation, when Jonas threw the sunscreen tube in my coffee mug and overturned it. Jonas thought, however, thought that it was the sunscreen that had been spilled out, and there you have what was confusing.

We continued in high speed and 7.5 hours after our fabulous brunch and about 100 kilometers on the bikes, we are now at a spa hotel and are having a whirlpool bath and a sauna bath. It’s time to eat and then it’s time for a massage.

Update: Here’s a photo of the massage!

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Nice!

A train to Kaliningrad

While my fellow pals were enjoying their well-deserved black IPAs and white borscht in Gdansk, I was sleeping my head off on the train to Kaliningrad. I’ve walked good 150 steps during the whole 24 hours journey, thanks to strategic choice of bed number 6 — really close to the car authorities and the loo. 

Ready to go

The journey was, well, uneventful. Cellular networks boasted with steady signal from one bar to nothing, so no interweb amusements. 

I had a social drama unveiling itself just in front of me though. 

A family of three — a hyperactive girl about 5 years old, her mom in her twenty (not twenties, she looked 20-21 tops) and a humble grandma with Asian vibe. Mom hasn’t been giving a shit about her daughter the whole trip, daughter has been making her best to piss off the whole car, and grandma has been trying to minimize the damage. Am I right to use past perfect continuous here? 

So, the girl was a devil. She was possessed, jumping around, attacking neighbors and even her mom. At some point, when she called her mom a dumb pussy, I was like: “Is it really happening?”. End of story in English, but you can read it in gruesome detail in Russian.     

The devilgirl handstanding in the car passage

(Just scroll down if you are not into underaged mothers and unguided kids)

— Аня тупая. Писька!

Девочка лет пяти едет в боковом плацкарте с мамой и бабушкой. Зовут Нелли. Маме на вид лет двадцать. Мама читает женский роман, слушает старый айфон на боку спиной к проходу и в гробу всех видала. На маме короткий топик; из-под выреза на спине выглядывает кружевной лифчик. Бабушка — тихая татарка в халате — едет в соседнем боковом. 

С мамой девочка не разговаривает, только приказывает: — Уйди! Уйди! Уйди с моей кровати! (В два часа ночи в плацкарте.) Мама отвечает симметрично: одергивает, запрещает, шикает; кроме этого ничто не говорит, что они как-то знакомы. С бабушкой контакт явно лучше, ей Нелли задает вопросы и проявляет неплохие навыки речи, но не слушается так же ни на грамм. 

Нелли ловкая, смелая, дикая; перемещается по вертикальным конструкциям плацкарта без видимых усилий, с гимнастической легкостью висит на руках, сидит на жердочках, нападает на прохожих из засады сверху. 

Нарвала бумажек в клочья, накидала на пол. Собирать отказалась. Значит, выкину, отвлекается от книжки мама. Наклоняется собирать; Нелли размашисто бьет маму по спине несколько раз. Мама молча встает, уходит выбрасывать. Нелли орет вдогонку. Громко, короткими орами. 

— Скажи ей! Ааааар! Скажи! Аааа!

Не получив ничего в ответ, бурчит под нос, но громко, чтобы все слышали. 

— Аня тупая. Писька!

Заметив, что на нее смотрят соседи, Нелли открыто смотрит в ответ, довольно улыбается, затем скалится и шипит, как кошка.


An evening in Svetly, province of Kaliningrad (as my iPhone puts it)

What can I say, it went well. Have to shake off about two extra kilos now. 

Homemade goodies

Also got a present from local family friends that couldn’t make it to our wedding last year. We have only heard of it; now we have it. 

A golden trout!

Well, this is it. Tomorrow (technically, tonight) we will team up in Kaliningrad, have fun at a certain hip night party and take off the day after. Or… not. 

We’ll see!

En kväll i Gdansk / An evening in Gdansk

You’ll find an English version of this post below the Swedish one

Påminnelse: Vi bor ju på hotell, hostel eller hemma hos folk. Inga tält på Cykelsällskapets resor. I Gdansk hade vi bokat Hotell Mercure. Det var en hög byggnad som här får illustreras med en bild från grodperspektiv (undrar om det ordet går att direktöversätta till engelska?) där Jonas bystar upp sig inför kvällsvarden.

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Jonas framför Mercure. Lika allvarlig man som byggnad.
I jakt på piroger, vildsvin och mjöd gick vi förbi en intetsägande byggnad packad med folk. En restaurang inredd som ett äldre slott, vurmande för det nationalromantiska 30-talet, kryddad med ett helt koppel av kypare men ändå med humana priser. Vi gick in. Mjöden, pirogerna och vildsvinen lyste dock med sin frånvaro. Det gick bra ändå. Jonas vita borsjtj (soppa) fick full pott (5/5) och omdömet “överraskande god!” Gammelgdansken a.k.a. pepparvodkan gav mig hicka och Jonas muttrade “bara peppar, ingen vodkasmak”. En tvåa i betyg således. Köttklumpen till huvudrätt mättade, men gav oss inga nya preferenser. En trea. Efterrätten “Tort Gdansk” avslutade middagen och hade inte behövts, men “when in Gdansk…”. En fyra.

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Var är vildsvinet? Nä, vi fick fokusera på vildvinet.
En göteborgare som flyttat till Gdansk för ett år sen försökte hjälpa oss med beställningen, men utan lycka. Man har ju varit med förr. Däremot tipsade han om ett ölhak med massa lokala microöl. Vi gick dit! Smoltski (mitt [Johans] untappd-alter ego) var uppspelt. Så uppspelt att jag väl framme snabbt beställde en Cydr för den ölen lät cool. Jepp, det var cider. Efter ett nytt försök och en svart ipa (hopus pokus) var det dags att vandra hem. Torsdagen bjuder nämligen på 10 mil cykling mot Braniweo längs kusten, eftersom båten “genvägsbåten” inte gick som det stod när vi kollade innan. Vi siktar på att luncha i Elblag för att sedan ta in på vårt spa-hotell runt 18-tiden. Massage är beställt.

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Hopus pokus filijokus… Tada: en svart ipa!
Dagens ritt på järnhästarna går mellan Gdansk och Braniweo. Lite oklart hur just nu men lunch i Elblag låter kanske gott?

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And here comes the same story in English

Reminder: We stay in hotels, hostels or in friends’ homes during our cycling trips. No tents allowed on Cykelsällskapet’s trips. In Gdansk we had booked a room at Hotel Mercure . It was a tall building which we choose to illustrate with a photo taken in frog perspective (yes, it is possible to direct translate the Swedish word “grodperspektiv”) where Jonas is muscling up before supper.

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Jonas in front of Mercure. Equally serious man as building.
In search of pierogi, wild boar steak and mead we passed a bland building packed with people. It was a restaurant decorated like an old castle, which obviously cared for and protected the national romantic 30th century spirit, filled with waiters but still with reasonable prices. We went in. Mead, pierogi and wild pigs were no where to be seen. It went well anyway. Jonas’ white borscht (soup) got full ratings ( 5/5) and the review “surprisingly good!” The pepper vodka shot gave me the hiccups and Jonas muttered, “just pepper, no vodka taste” . Rating: 2/5. The main course: a lump of meat, gave us no new preferences. Rating 3/5. The beer “Tort Gdansk” was the grand finale of the and had not been necessary, but “when in Gdansk…”. Rating: 4/5.

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Where’s the boar? We had to focus on the beer instead.
A Gothenburger (man from Gothenburg) who had moved to Gdansk a year ago tried to help us with the ordering, but without luck. However, he gave us the tip to visit a hangout with lots of local microbrew. We went there! Smoltski (my [Johan] Untappd-alter ego) was excited. So excited that I quickly ordered a Cydr as soon as we got to the bar – that beer sounded cool. Yep, it was a cider. After another attempt and a black IPA (hopus pocus), it was time to go home. This is because Thursday has 100 kilometers of cycling in it’s hands. We will ride against Braniweo along the coast, because the boat that we called “the shortcut boat” was not going anymore. We aim to have lunch in Elblag then check in to our spa hotel around 18 o’clock . Massage has been pre-ordered.

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Hopus pokus… I give you: a black ipa!
Today’s ride on our iron horses goes between Gdańsk and Braniweo . A bit unclear exactly how at the moment, but lunch in Elblag sounds good.

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G’day Gdansk

For English version, see below

Gårdagskvällens färja mellan Nynäshamn-Gdansk var lika tragisk som vi räknat med. Men vi är ju också ute efter vardagsmisär bland allt skoj (annars hade vi kanske åkt på solsemester) så egentligen gjorde det ju inget. De flesta är färjor är ju inte så himla high-life direkt.

I alla fall. Idag vid lunchtid kom vi äntligen fram till Gdansk (eller om man ska vara polsk: Gdańsk). Vi beslutade oss för att kolla vad denna lilla godbit vid Wisłas mynning hade att bjuda på. Gdansks gamla stad var trivsamt och turistigt. Vi hittade en liten bodega på en bakgata där en varsin 25-zloty bolognese förtärdes med lokal öl slash (inte lika lokal) juice. Vi valde att spara vildsvinsupplevelsen och mjödet till kvällen (separat rapport kommer).

Vi strosade vidare runt och såg denna fina Lejonet och Lejonet-statyett (nästan rätt alltså):

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Gdansk (eller om du pratar andra språk även Danzig, Gyddanyzc, Kdansk, Gdanzc, Dantzk, Dantzig, Dantzigk, Dantiscum eller Gedanum) har en befolkning ungefär som Göteborg, och har precis som Göteborg en bakgrund som fiskarby (även om Göteborg fortarande är något av en fiskarby). Antagligen skulle mina mobilbatterier ta slut om jag försökte klargöra för alla historiska vändningar i denna stads historia, den har typ tillhört alla länder du gissar. Istället så bjuder vi på ännu en skägg-selfie. Eller kanske en skägg-groupie? Det lär bli många i all fall.

Efter mat och turistande bar det av på gear-jakt. Då njurfickan på cykeltröjan sinkar telefonkollandet ville vi ha en framme-hela-tiden-lösning á la Gearik 2013. Denna hittades på Intersport ett stenkast från vårt fyrstjärniga hotell, och Johan passade på att köpa nya handskar [så kallade Gdhanskar], då de klassiska Yosemitehandskarna från 2009 (som varit med på samtliga resor sedan dess och därmed är ungefär lika gamla som Joels originalcykelbyxor från 2006 som enligt uppgift fortfarande används) både blivit slitna och gör att fingrarna domnar.

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Gamla klassiska Yosemite-handskar som nu pensionerats efter 6 år i trogen tjänst.
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Helt nya Gdhandskar som förhoppningsvis gör jobbet

——–
And here comes the English version

Yesterday evening’s ferry from Nynäshamn to Gdansk was as tragic as we had expected. But since we are aiming for “everyday misery” to mix up with all all the fun (otherwise we could have gone to the beach) it didn’t really matter. Most of the ferries we’ve travelled on before have not been the representatives of high-life them either.

In any case. Today at noon we finally arrived to Gdansk. We decided to check out what this little jewel of a city by the Wisła had to offer . Gdansk’s old town was pleasant and touristy at the same time. We found a small bodega in a back street where we both hade a 25 zloty Spaghetti Bolognese with local beer slash (not just local) juice. We chose to save the wild boar experience and mead feast for the evening (separate report later) .

We strolled on around and saw this nice Lion & Lion figurine (almost right!) :

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Gdansk (or if you speak other languages ​​Danzig, Gyddanyzc, Kdansk, Gdanzc, Dantzk, Dantzig, Dantzigk, Dantiscum or Gedanum) has a population similar to Gothenburg, and has just as Gothenburg a background as a fishing village (though Gothenburg sometimes still feels like a fishing village) . My phone battery would run out I tried to write about all the interesting events in this city’s history. Gdansk has been a part of any country you might guess . Instead we offer another “beard selfie”. Or maybe it’s a “beard groupie”? In any case, there will be more of those.

After food and touristing we went Gear Hunting. The kidney pocket on the bike shirt complicates map tracking (it takes a long time to open) so we decided to get at similar solution to the one Gearik bought in 2013. This was found at Intersport steps away from our four-star hotel , and Johan took the opportunity to buy new gloves since his classic Yosemite-gloves from 2009 (which has been included on all trips since then) both has become worn out and makes his fingers go numb .

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Old classic Yosemite gloves now retired after six years of loyal service .
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Brand new gloves hopefully do the job

 

The journey begins…

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So, this afternoon it was time again. This time for Jonas Lundqvist and me, and our new Lion & Griffin company member Ilia Slonski (who will join us in Kaliningrad) to conduct yet another amazing bicycle journey through the wilderness of Europe’s least and most visited places.

This time we will blog in English, some Swedish and maybe some Russian. Since the company is now multi-lingual and have followers from many nations.

We started off in our back alley, more precisely outside the shopping mall Ringen in south of Stockholm, and we biked to Nynäshamn (54,7 km) where we will take the ferry to Gdansk, Poland where we will drink “Gammelgdansk” and some local Gdansk beer.

We still have some time before the ferry leaves for Gdansk so we have made sure to drop by one of Sweden’s best breweries Nynäshamns Ångbryggeri for a few drinks, making sure to set the level of this trip right from the start.

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