We awoke early this day! Xavier used the bathroom first while I stayed in bed! As a result Xavier was ready earlier than me.
Since it was Sunday we could not find an open restaurant for breakfast. We decided to go to gas station which has a 24-hour open bar. We also needed to release some oil from the engine, which was causing too much engine pressure. At this bar we met some funny and interesting people.
One of these people was gas station attendant (he just finished his
night shift). His name was Todeusz. He told us he had worked as a cleaner,
illegally, in NY at the World Trade Center some years ago. He mentioned
he had a friend who is still working there, but for a long time he has
not heard from him. And now, after 9-11 he don’t have any information if
he alive or not. The other man was a musician. His name was Andrzey. He
invites us to his house, which was not far from the gas station. What a
nice time we had there!
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Everybody drank something and told stories. The musician had a video camera and even films us! We made a short movie about how we drove from his house and then he presents us with this tape. He also gave us a can of special Polish food and a book that I read from my childhood. The book was about the Second World War and a team of four tank men and a dog.
After party we proceed onto Warsaw. Near Warsaw we pulled into a gas
station and decided to change the oil.
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A ring is missing from one of the valves. I hope this is not serious. Anyway, I decided to phone a friend in Warsaw and unfortunately it was not convenient for him to meet with me today.
Continuing our journey Xavier saw an advertisement for a Castorama shop, which we decided to visit. Unfortunately, on Sundays, Castorama is open until 6pm. Sadly, we were too late so we proceeded to the Polish city. Several times on the trip Xavier stopped to check the brakes. Proceeding down the road we met a Mercedes with a Ukraine license and the people waved to us. We also met a truck with a Byelorussian license. When we passed this truck the driver shouted that a motorcycle like ours would sell in Germany for 7000 DM! We drove for about 20km and Xavier suddenly turns into a gas station. I thought we were stopping to go to a hotel near the station, but then I noticed our back wheel was smoking. It was the brake drum. The Mercedes with the Ukraine license was there too! As we waited for the brakes to cool, we asked around if there was a hotel nearby with secure parking.
We found the hotel about 74 km away. Parking and covering the motorcycle we then checked into room (we paid 96Zl for it). I fell asleep.
