Day 5, 6, and 7: Krakow, Warsaw, and Kaunas.

 The next two days were busy ones.  First stop was Katawice.  Here we stopped at a Lego store to get my passport stamped and pick up a few toys.  I love some of the large display models and am putting photos up here for my daughter who got me started on Lego.  I hope I will not bore you with the photos. 

Ready for Halloween

We didn't manage any puzzle shops as they were all closed for the day by the time we arrived.  Who shuts their doors at 3 pm on a Saturday when they should be open for me to shop? 😂

Can you spot our car in this sea of campers.  I guess we are the poor folk now.  Slumming it I think.  But enjoying every minute of it.

In Italy we get a few Lego magazines, but not many.  Whenever I see them when traveling, I pick up a few.  This is what I purchased in Krakow and Katawice. Of course I can't read polish so you know it's only for the mini figures. 

The next morning we headed to Warsaw. Now we have been in both of these cities before so sightseeing was not high on our list.  When we got to the campsite I put in a load of laundry and then we headed to a DHL shop to send out the puzzles and Lego that I had purchased.  While downtown, we did do a bit of walking around.  The lights on this building were amazing.  

We got our package sent out, and returned to the campground to retire for the evening.  The next morning we awoke around 9 and headed out.  First stop, A lego store in Warsaw. More stamps.  More magazines.  More minifigures.  

The puzzle shop we thought about going to was again closed until much later, and as we had to do some major detouring to charge the car we opted out of that stop.  

This is the only time we did not have a direct route with a supercharger.  We had to make a detour through Białystok Poland before heading to Kaunas Lithuania.  When we arrived, we discovered that we had gone through a time zone change and gained an hour!  I forgot to look into that.  Not a problem, but as it turned out, for €101 we had rented out the entire hotel this morning and the owner had to wait around for us.  If you are in the neighborhood, we highly recommend this hotel.  We didn't camp that night because the campgrounds are not local.  They are a 45% battery drop away so I opted to check into a hotel near a supercharger instead. The room is comfortable, and we were very pleased to sleep in a full sized bed and have a bathroom for the middle of the night instead of the pipes.  

Before we got to the room though, we stopped by a puzzle shop.  Pay dirt!  I found loads that we did not have, and we picked up a Hessburger for dinner.  

The shopping mall was pretty cool in that it was built around a couple of old buildings which were left in place.  

On the way, we realized we were at the closest a few hundred km from Ukraine and an equally short distance from Russia.  Years ago, we'd have thought nothing of that but given the current situation, it gave us pause for thought. 

The countryside is beautiful along the way and we are enjoying our time alone together.  When we return, there will be very little of that.  

Days 3 & 4: Vin&co

Our first stop was a puzzle shop in Brno.  After all, this trip is all about puzzles and Lego.  I found a few puzzles that I didn't have.  Off to Vinco's!

We arrived around 6:30! This was a horrible shock to us because we had planned on being at Vinco's town around 3:00 at the latest. Sadly, there was construction and even worse, accidents.  But other than that, it was a very smooth ride.  Dagmar had gone to the campgrounds before we arrived and we learned that we could charge the car overnight.  Good thing because the nearest charger was over 1/2 hour away. 

Right after we parked for the night, they came and got us.  We left for a very nice dinner in a local place.  I forget the name, but the food was amazing!  We had these incredible potato pancakes with sausage and stinky cheese and onions.  I would eat that again.  The sour cream sauce on top was delicious. They took us back to our campground and we called it a night. 

The next morning we had a funny thing happen.  We wanted to take a shower so we headed to the bathrooms. We had two tokens for hot water but didn't know what to do with them. A cleaning lady sent us to the handicapped bathroom and told us to use that.  After 5 minutes of standing there naked, the water suddenly came on. For 3 seconds!  Yes, you read that right. 3 second pulses.  It was on a motion sensor.  Funniest thing I have ever seen.  But it worked.  Saves water too I guess. 

The rain was incredible. Sadly, what started out as a nice level place to park turned into a mud pit.  But we are learning as we go.  I bought us a couple of carpets to lay out when this happens and at least we can get in without getting the car too dirty. 

After our funny shower, we headed. over to Vinco's.  Dagmar had a beautiful breakfast set out and the most amazing local cheese!  I loved it so much, it was hard not to eat the entire bowl.  Of course I had to take photos of all the puzzles he has on display.  

George and Vinco did a bit of puzzling and designing. 

These aren't actually puzzles, but creative ideas that lead to puzzles.  This has given me an idea...

After a bite to eat we headed over to their workshops. Yes, you read that right.  Plural.  Vinco has 2 workshops. 1 dirty, and one for assembly.  George of course was in heaven.  I'll just load this page with photos for now.

We next headed to his 'clean workshop' to see where Dagmar (the real puzzler ;) ) assembles all the puzzles.  

Yes, it is in an apartment building!  

Vinco shows George how he rounds off puzzles.

Some caged puzzles

A very simple sanding station

I love the coatrack and the door!

Parts for puzzles

Vinco said he cuts for a month or so, then assembles for the rest of the year.  he has an amazing system set up.  As we were chatting, my comment (as usual) was that the puzzles are underpriced for the amount of work that goes into them.  I felt truly honored to be able to visit with them and see this.

After the workshop visit, we headed out to do some sight seeing. They took us to a lookout on top of a mountain.  You should have seen the look on my face when I realized we were going to take a ski lift up!  I'm afraid of heights and this was my first time on one.  Yes, I screamed a little, then when I finally calmed down it was lovely. 

The buildings were insane there.  They had so much painted detail. 

After a bite to eat we headed back down the mountain with loads more beauty to see.

We then headed over to a ski jump to see what Vinco did in his wild youth!  Not me.  I'm too much of a coward, but I learned a lot about this sport.  

We then returned to their home for an amazing dinner, too much wine, and great conversation.  George and I both loved our visit with Dagmar and Vinco and wish we had more time.  Next trip!

When we returned to the campsite, we crawled into the back and fell asleep to yet another beautiful view of the sky around us.

The battery was at 92% start of night. expected low was 7 degrees.  We are continually using between 10~12% of the battery overnight.  This is working out just fine.