First week : Poland-Lithuania-Latvia-Russia

First day, first surprise : after leaving Fred in Brzeszcze who helped us with the stickers for the sponsors, we meet our friends from France travelling with four kids, they had just arrived in Auschwitz. Some hours of driving and we go sleeping in a forest, then drive again to Spioch’s house, a family farm North-East of Varsaw (Ostrow Mazowiecka). 

Third day, we wanted to have a look at the nature of Mazury and see the village of Jedwabne where Jews were burnt in a barn during the war. Bad luck for us too, we jumped on some holes and the rear beam got completely deformed, it has turned into the frame, we cannot change the gear and have to weld in emergency. Filip finds with no delay a garage that can take us, Augusta and Elios have to stay outside, it’s so hot, and then comes the rain and a violent storm. We find refuge in the small shop nearby, and at 9, Elios begins to be sleepy and the works on the bus are finished (see technical part).

Next day, we join our friends Andrzej, Kasia, Zosia and Lila in Mazury, then leave together, in 2 VW buses, towards Lithuania, it rains again, Filip repairs the sweepers in two seconds, I twist my ankle violently but it gets better quickly. We get to the coast, a third VW bus joins us, that of Marcin, Ewa and Marianna, and we rest one day in a farm-camping in Pape national parc in Latvia.

On sunday, the weather gets better but we need to drive all day, we take a hitch-hicker who tells us a little about the country, stop in Riga, nice city with a chill out atmosphere, and then drive by night to get to the border early morning.

No problem at this border, paper work and waiting take us take us 2.5 hr, we find cheaper fuel before running out of fuel, not as cheap as it was 6 years ago though, now it’s about 0,60 euro/liter. So, we are in Russia ! Now we’ve got thirty days to cross it.

Pskov is a big town, very old (more than a thousand years), it’s the craddle of Russian chritianism. Its gigantic icons and different churches, along a nice river, are worth seing. A couple of Couchsurfers, Alex and Alesya, take us for a little walk and visit. Today, we have to hit the road again, direction St Petersbourg.
Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/filipfromPL/PlLvLtEst?authkey=Gv1sRgCPev06_spPaBdQ