The long road...

After my night in " Bois de Vincennes", I started to walk because it seems too complicated to get out of Paris suburbs by hitchhiking.

I tought I was in good shape, but the weight of my bag on my shoulders all day long, is an effort that tires me more than i thought... I struggle step by step...I have to train by body and soul to this weight, because it will be my daily load. As I am walking, I keep turning in my head all the things I have in my bag and I have to eliminate all the things that are not essential. Though everything seemed essentiel before the departure!

I walked to Bussy St Georges (little town near Marne la Vallée) with a bad weather. Surprised by a shower rain more violent then the other, I found shelter in a local hostel, which proposed coffee, wifi, and electricty : "Mc Donald"!!

I benefit to finish the first report on my blog, and reload my batteries. Very bad idea since 10 seconds of inattention were enough for them to disappear.... AAAARRRRGGGGH!!!!!!!

I left in such a rage! I was mad at MacDO, at the parisian, at the youth, at the eldest, at Mickey, at the world... But after all, I was mad at myself...

It was a warning...

Wake up teddy bear!!!

You have to be alert, suspicious, vigilant, sharp!

This can't happen again!!

My bag has to be a part of my boby, I have to know each part of it, its place so I can tidy everything in a second, and take out something without getting everything out… I can’t spread my thing, I have to be discreet, and in top of all I must never loose my passport !...

So was very angry when I installed my camp in a little wood, just outside the town.

The next morning,  I was  pulled out of bed by a mon dear and its baby who were eating leaves about 10 meters from my tent. A bit later, another one came toward me without seeing me, it stopped 3 meters from  my camp, surprised to see me, but not frighted, he stayed there freezed for seconds and then left, it made a turn by a tree and came back.  Not agressive, just curious… Magic moments, gifts of nature, a good signe for today !!...

Indeed, the day was nice, by noon a businessman not very tchaty droped me in Reims, where I waited an hour, before another guy less tchaty left me in Metz, where I camped in a little wood in the suburb.

The next day, as I was leaving Metz, I was trying to estimate the times it will take me to cross Germany, and a Euroline bus passed in front of me. Idea !! research on the web : for less than 50 euros, I  could be in Berlin the next morning…. It’s a more expansive than two or three days of hitchhiking but it gives me more time to visit further europe that I don’t know yet. And also it creates distance between me and France, because inside of me I still have the tentation of stopping seeing family in Strasbourg and friends in Switsland….

So after some thinking, I decided to go for it !!

I was wandering in the city, waiting 16h15 the departure of the bus.

An observation : in Metz, people say hello !!! everyone, young and oldest people, in the city, the guetto, even one who was on the phone, he left his conversation to say hello !!!.... Special dedication to an old woman who insist paying me a coffee. I couldn’t refuse because « you can’t say no to a lady who is, by the way , a Bob Marley’s fan ! »

On the bus, paper control from the bad tempered and bitter authorities . Off to Germany ! The weather is nice and the sunset is wonderful on the gigantic forest of Germany.

I arrived in Berlin very soon in the morning, after 15h of travel. I didn’t sleep because of the stops every 2 hours. I was happy to finally arrive.

I  will take advantage of my time in Berlin to review the stuff in my backpack, and unload some things and ship it back home. But it’s Sunday !.... I’ve already left track of time ! Nervermind, i’ll take time to do some sightseeing.

I have already visited Berlin one but it was for new year, the city was under the snow. I discover it now with a bright sunshine and a nice temparature of 29°c.

Berlin is filled with history, it is a melting pot of different culture and very much counterculture.

Berlin, city of graffitis.

Fifteen years ago, when I past my degree to get in architecture school, I destroyed all my chances of getting a good evaluation in history because I didn’t have a clue of what was the Cold War !!...

I remind me this shaming story passing by the wall of Berlin….

I’m really bad in history and it’s a shame. So I take advantage of my last days of internet on my phone to learn more on Wikipedia…

I prefer walking than take public transports, in order to train myself. I like to lost myself  in the city. Berlin is really fanatastic, different than other cities, people are really respectfull, no matter there style snob, punks, hippies, gays, and other communities…. I’m writting this laying on the lawn of Görlitzer Park, it is the end of the afternoon, hundred of people around me, famillies, students, drunken people, homeless, children,  dealers, more kids, hippies, different colored people from everywhere just playing or sleeping, smoking, playing football, frisbee… the world is here !!! It’s Woodstock !!

I’ve just taking off my shoes and I realised a had a special guest stuck in my sock since Metz ! It took me a while to recognize a big slug !! It is my second warning  it could have been a poisonous spider !

It’s time to finish this report  beacause the day  and my batteries are fadind !

Many thanks for thoses who left comments on the blog, it is so touching,  encouraging and full of love.

See you at the next report !!

Aloha friends !

Before joining the site of the festival, I had to look for a "wi-fi spot" to post the report but I never found it in town, so I returned to my steps towards ... the Mcdo !. .. and in 5 minutes on the parking, connection, sending ...

It's gone, Woodstock here I am !!! ...

I take my place in the compact crowd to cover the few kilometers that separate us from the site ... and I am limping as I arrive on the spot .... bastard tendon !!!! ....

Before describing what awaits me, let us recall what was the original Woodstock festival:

This gathering, held from August 15 to 18, 1969, was to gather about 50,000 people. It was an idea of the young hippie Michaël Lang who took advantage of a large sum he had just inherited.

Obligated to change the site at the last moment due to problems with the local population, the festival will finally take place in the White Lake community, some 100 km southwest of Woodstock, New York.

But this change of last minute disturbs everything and a few days before the launch you have to go to the obvious and choose between the stage or the fence grates ... we do not do a festival without scene, so we drop the grids ... the festival will be free !!! ....

The news is spreading rapidly across the continent and 500,000 people are trying to get there, creating the biggest bottleneck in the history of the United States.

From the second day, the Governor of the State declares the area affected, helicopters are requisitioned from the US Army to bring water to the crowd, but also to get the artists blocked in traffic jam !!

And the rain is of the part ...

The Horg Farm hippy community will be the only restoration, animation, relief and security ... a great lesson in self-management ...

32 groups and soloists will perform on stage including many great stars and future big stars.

Despite organizational concerns and their consequences, very few real problems were to be deplored. (3 deaths: 1overdose, 1 tractor accident and 1 untreated appendicitis - 2 births !!)

This event will become a legend in the history of music and counter-culture.

The Woodstock Festival Poland was founded in 1995 by journalist and radio host Jerzy Owsiak, president of the association "The Big Orchestra of Charity of Christmas", the Polish equivalent of our "Restos du Coeur".

This character is detested by Polish politicians of all stripes, as a protester and greatly supported by the people. And every year, it's a new struggle to hold the festival …

And yet ...

The Woodstock Festival Poland is 3 main stages and 4 smaller stages ...

These are hundreds of artists who perform for free for 4 days.

This is the "Krishna Village" with yoga classes, Indian dance, meditation, vegan food, conferences ...

These are giant games, soccer games and contests of all kinds ...

A village for children ...

Free Hugs  and "Give me five" everywhere ...

Mud baths ...

Showers and toilets by hundreds ...

Wi-Fi spots with free access and electrical outlets ...

This is the big wheel and bungee jumping 24 / 24h ...

It is a Lidl, in tent, open 24 / 24h ...

It is the "Jesus Camp" with Mass under the tent in the morning and lectures in the afternoon ...

And there are dozens of other places of discussion, political conferences, exchange and sharing ...

The Woodstock Festival Poland is between 500 000 and 800 000 people !!! (Hellfest: ~ 200,000 / « vieilles charrues »: ~ 300,000). The artists come all volunteer, Prodigy, Manu Chao…

The Woodstock Festival Poland is also a lot of alcohol and very few drugs ...

4 days of love, respect, sharing, smiles and celebration.

And it was really that !!!

One thing still disturbed me very much: here we do not know Ecocups (= reusable and consigned glasses) but above all, there were only two garbage cans for the whole site !!! The trash was on the ground !!! ... I was assured by the volunteers who were numerous and that every year everything was cleaned ... ok, but they saved time and effort in Putting enough skips available ... and above all we would "educate" the crowd ... but good ....re

The first day, I went around the site (limping) and looked for a place to put my tent. I found a small spot in the middle of the woods and other festival goers. I felt very small, all alone in the immense crowd, not too much in my place ... the rain began to fall, my foot was hurting, I was afraid to leave my bag, the evening was falling and I did not know None of the bands that were going to play that night ... so I went to bed early.

The next day I finally dared to leave my backpack and I wandered a long time in the many hectares of the site, dozens of people took me in their arms, big, lean, small, large, sweating or not, Alcoholic or not, even a religious  sister! It was not always very rasping but it was really cool to feel so much love and joy to be together. The concerts were sequenced from scenes to scenes and very often very very good sound.In the end Of each concert, the whole crowd sings the Polish "Happy Birthday" to thank the group, these are great moments of public communion / artists as I had never experienced before. In the afternoon, House of Pain The night before, it was Archive that put the public in a trance ... same, a fantastic concert !! That night I went to bed full of stars in The head but a little unfortunate to be so alone among half a milion of my fellows ... fuck my timidity( shyness) !!! The next day, collective shower on waking, morning mass, shoping at Lidl and wandering waiting Dub Inc. who Played for late afternoon. For those who do not know, Dub Incorporation is a group of Reggae of St Etienne, very dynamic. They've been touring internationally for a few years. A concert like I've never seen before, these guys are public ignites. Great sound, an atmosphere of fire !!! During the concert, a huge European flag goes from hand to hand above the audience ... for the last song, they make us sit the whole crowd then make us re-dance more beautiful !!! HUGE !!! From the beginning I notice a small group with French flags in the first row ... colleagues !! ... I play elbows to try to join them, I will not miss this opportunity to break my Loneliness ... shyness break down ... But I will never join them ... I am stopped in my momentum ... I just met Michal, super rastaman bodybuilder of ten years my younger and his buddy David. We sympathize immediately and dance together all the rest of the concert. He is from Krakow, came with his "crew", as he says, to whom he hastens to introduce me. All speak English. I am invited to plant my tent in "their camp", I am offered to drink, eat, talk and dream about my trip, we will see other concerts, we talk again and again ... until 'In the morning ... It is already the end of the Festival ... The day is up and everyone starts to pack up ... the atmosphere is very nostalgic, it is already finished, appointement is taken of the year Next ... in the distance a guy howls his despair ... and little by little he is followed by others ... and it is a cry of hundreds of thousands of people that is launched for long minutes! Magic !!!!!

Michal and his crew have to go back to Krakow in the south of the country and this is also the direction I hope to follow, unfortunately they have no place. We exchange our coordinates, great hugs and we separate, hoping to cross over there.

I wait a little more than an hour at the entrance to the highway before a truck stops. Iwan returns from Germany and returns to his depot. But Ywan does not speak English and it is difficult to communicate, he nevertheless freezes the idea of my journey ... Again he proposes me to drink, to eat ... As in the truck of Piotr (Killer II) Who had taken me to Woodstock, I have in front of me an automatic deodorizer and, every half hour, I take a "Psshhiittt" freshness puppy in the face ...

The miles pass and I take advantage of the landscape, but I doze a little, the nights have been short from Woodstock ... we stop at a gas station, Iwan makes me understand that he leaves me there because his journey ends at Next exchanger. Farewell warm,  souvenir picture  and he leaves.

I put myself in the station, little coffee before I leave, look at the GPS .... Sh.t !!! We passed Krakow for over 100 kilometers !! .... What happened,  he did not dare to wake me up? He thought he was doing well by taking me farther. "

Third warning, we do not sleep in stop, even in confidence ...

Especially now that it's not going to be easy, on the highway in the middle of nowhere, next 20 km from the interchange and towards the east is Ukraine!

I rage my bullshit ...

Either I skip Krakow and I head north and will not see Michal again ...

Either I turn back ...

The road network in this region is very poor and going back to Warsaw from here seems very difficult ...

... U turn ...

The afternoon already well advanced, mood down, I re-install in the station, re-coffee ', charge the batteries and type my report ...

20h00 : I go back but there are 15 km to hit the next bridge ...

6 hours of walking, many of them across the fields ... dead dead ... I jump the portal that separates me from the new gas station ... re-coffee  and I ask the attendant if I can make a nap on the spot. .., He accepts by looking at me with a funny way ...

He woke me up 3 hours later because the boss will arrive ... Ouch !! ... short night! ... he offers me a sandwich and a coffee !!! ...

6am I leave, a little hour of waiting, a car stops and they are two guys in a building company, not very talkers, who finally drop me in Cracow.

I walk 2 hours in the outskirts of Krakow to reach the address of Michal but it is still early, I warn him of my arrival by SMS and leave to take a tour ...

Michal lives right next to what was the Kraków-Plaszów camp …

A little history :

Kraków-Plaszów was created by the SS in 1942. It was built on two Jewish cemeteries near the Krakus Tumulus dating from 500 BC. There were a stone-pit and a factory of weapons

This camp was led by Amon Göth, nicknamed "the butcher of Krakow". It is he in "Schindler's list" who randomly shoots from the balcony of his room on the Jews who work at the camp ...

In this camp, the "royal path", the road that led the Jews to the working areas, is paved with the tombstones of the former cemeteries desecrated to build the camp ...

Today there are very few traces of this death camp, it is a large park little maintained where the last vestiges of this time are gradually covered by vegetation. Only a memorial to the memory of the victims was erected.

I walk a good part of the day in the 80 hectares of the site and I find the last traces of the camp.

Small parenthesis:

I did not want to make the detour by the Auschwitz camp, located 60km south-west of Krakow. The idea of following a crowd of tourists in it bothers me ...

I am shocked to discover the "Grey Villa" (house of the Gestapo where the Jews were tortured) and "Red Villa" (residence of Amon Göth). These two buildings are now inhabited, and the "Red Villa" is in the phase of becoming a luxurious house ...

How can we live in places where so many people have suffered ...

I do not know what to think after that, should we preserve these places and make them tourists strolls or should we instead forget ..

15:30, Michal's reply. We spend the day at home and in the evening it is pizzas-houses and Polish specialty, the Pierogi Ruskie, large ravioli stuffed with potatoes, onions and bacon.

He is careful, he had to join his parents on holiday in the south and shifted his departure of 3 days ...

Thanks bro !!

9am, a quiet morning at home, he prepares the program of the day: his mother works in the management of the budget of the museums of Cracow, she contacted her colleagues on the museum.

In the museums of the city they expect a French rasta with a big backpack ... Michal tells me the buses I have to take, the stops where I have to go down and we separate.

The afternoon is very hot (daily + 30 ° C), the city beautiful. Krakow is the former capital of Poland and was a great crossroads of trading routes in the Middle Ages. I pass by the castle of Wawel and many Catholic or Orthodox churches.

I cross the ancient Jewish watchtower of Kazimierz. In 1941, the SS evacuated this neighborhood to house its victims (3,000 evacuated non-Jewish Poles, replaced by 17,000 Jews).

And I join Rynek Glówny w Krakowie, the largest medieval marketplace in Europe. The place is fantastic. I shoot pictures and follow Michal's directions to find the entrance to Pdziemi Rynku, the Museum of Krakow's history.

As expected, I am expected, they welcome me very nicely by handing me my ticket and the plan of the visit.

This museum is located under the market square: when the archaeological excavations of the site were carried out, hundreds of objects have been updated but also all the evolution of the foundations of what this place has been through time . The modern, interactive and multilingual museum houses a very fine collection of antique objects from everyday life and teaches a lot about the evolution of Krakow and life from the 12th century to the present day.

When I leave, the afternoon is well advanced.

I speed for the second museum on the program: Fabryka Schindlera Emalia, the factory of enamelled objects of Oskar Schindler. He saved the 1500 Jews who worked in the factory.

But when I arrive, it is 6:30 pm past and no more tickets ... I try to enter nevertheless ... they are a little less happy to see me here so late ... but they finally open the doors asking me to go fast !!

Museum exciting, although much more tragic. It tells the history of the factory, the creation of the guettho, that of the camp of Plazsów and the inhuman living conditions of the 50,000 Jewish victims of Cracow ...

Night falls now and it's time for me to prepare for tomorrow, I head northeast and find the exit of the city in order to be ready for hitchhiking tomorrow morning, direction Warsaw.

I find a gas station at the exit of the city and plant my tent around midnight.

August 11, 2017 ~ Poland ~ Augustow

I leave the city and hitchhike again, a small hour of waiting and it is Filip who stops. He goes on a weekend to work with his father in his holiday home, his wife has traveled a long time and has made him promise to take every hitchhikers he crosses on the way. He makes a detour to drop me in an ideal corner and asks me a photo for proof, yeah man! I do the same and we separate.

Dziękuję bardzo Filip !!!!

I re-stretch the thumb and a half an hour later a new car stops.

It is Joana and Bogdan, an excellent couple with whom I sympathize very quickly. They inform me that the direction I intended to follow is not the best and I had better go to Bialystok, their destination.

We drive a few hours and get to know each other. At the end of the trip they propose to me to eat with them in a canteen of the Soviet era. Bogdan is a native of Bialystok and they show me the city.

They are really very nice, this time with them is a magical moment and they too will make a detour to drop me in the right direction ...

Dziękuję bardzo Viktoria, dziękuję bardzo Bogdan !!!!

An hour and a half pass and a new car stops, this time it is Maciek, surgeon, who goes up to Augustow to see his mother, our discussions are interesting. When we separate with great hugs ...

Dziękuję Maciek !!

This region of Poland is the most beautiful that I have crossed, everywhere there are great lakes and forests.

I have to reload the batteries and do my laundry, so I take a camping site for the night.

I wake up at 7am the next day. The parking lot, emptied the day before, was filled with  vehicles at night. When they see me, two Polish drivers, Jarek and Mirek, invite me to drink a Turkish coffee and, without my request, Mirek prepares sausages and buttered bread !!! They are really cool but they leave for Poland, then at 8am, after the photos memories, each one leaves on its way.

I pass the old border post, change my last zlottis (the Polish currency) against € uros and  left again for the hitchhiking.

But the hours pass ... the looks are not the same at all ... I change of spot several times, but the further i go, the faster they roll by, and the less chance I have that someone stopes...

At noon, still nothing ...

12:30 pm, at the station I left a little earlier a big heavyweight 4x4 stops. I turn back, not much to lose ...

They are French !!!!!

I meet Maëlle, Adrien and their dog Tcharlie.

Unfortunately they only have 2 places but still offer me to take me a little further to leave this area where the hitchhiking  does not really work.

Maëlle leaves me its place and sits between the 2 seats with Tcharlie.

I love trucks, but they have THE truck !! I swim in full happiness !!! And in addition they are so great!

They left Alsace a week ago and they also made their way to Mongolia. After they think to return by Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Turkey ... but nothing is planned yet ...

For my part, I have no time to make a detour by Vilnius, my visa for Russia begins in 36 hours, I have to speed up.

They should ride me further, but it's so good that we go through Lithuania and Latvia together, and during these two days we get to know each other, we share information about the preparation of the trip,and what it is going to happen for us, on the passage of the Russian border ...

On many points their journey is similar to mine, but one especially: we do everything with no prepation. Only they have to go on the Russian side with a truck, a motorcycle and a dog and it promises to be complicated. We read everything and everything on the internet but one thing always comes back: the Russian border is a calvary, it takes at least 8 hours, the Russian customs are very bitchy, unpleasant and cold ...

The scenery is fantastic, it looks like the last part of Poland, lakes, forests, storks, rotten roads and even many trails ... their truck is ideal.

We stopped several times to pick up chestnuts in the woods and I eat for the first time, mushroom, cream ... Maëlle is a real blue cordon, it is downright good !!!

I learn a lot with them, they amaze me.

A few months ago I dreamed of a life in heavy weight, but I quickly dropped, it seemed to me inaccessible ... they prove me that I was wrong.

They have no more goal than me, even less,  they set less barriers, they dare more, they let themselves be less locked in false fears ...

With them, more than ever, I learn that the only barriers that prevent us from realizing our dreams are too often in our heads ...

Nothing is impossible if you really want it ...

To meditate...

The first evening we go deep into the forest where only a vehicle like this can take us.

On the second day we pass Latvia along the Belarusian border and in the evening we stop a few hundred meters from Russia in Zilupe.

In this country, as in all those crossed from Poland, people are really cold, they stare at us and there is no way to tear a smile out of them ... and all the warnings about the Russians  since I left. I feel a little farther  to let them go, so when Adrien proposes me to take me to Moscow, I take time to reflect ...

I have 600km from Moscow, it's going great with them, they can save me a few days which can be valuable because I might have a delay to find a place in the Transiberian and to tell the truth, I fear of what I'm going to find on the other side of this border ...

I continue with them.

Waking up early, we leave this green hell as quickly as possible.

First stop in a small town that you cross to have coffee, try to find mosquito net, buy Russian SIM cards and drinking water.

Since Poland, it is not advisable to drink tap water, it is the same in Russia.

Apart from the mosquito net, we find what we are looking for and we take the road again.

Often, on the resting-places, relics of tanks of the Red Army are exposed ...

On several occasions we serve the buttocks, the Russians drive any way, cars and trucks double at the last moment, without visibility and sometimes several at the same time, we find ourselves then three or four on 2 routes ...

It stops a little later in another corn, it is very hot (every day> 30 ° from Poland), everyone is dead ... Moscow will wait.

Out of question of relive the same evening as the day before, we all agree on this point, we must prepare for a second invasion.

But we can not make ourselves understood ... in the absence of a mosquito net, we find sunshades that will do very well, we land early in the countryside less than 100 km from Moscow and we take the Time to tinker ... but that night, no mosquito ...

Maëlle is an artist, she has a bad stroke of pencil and starts in tattoo, I want to keep track of this moment, this journey a little more extraordinary every day ...

So the next day, before going to Moscow, it's a tattoo workshop in the heart of the Russian countryside. She tattooed Adrien first of one of her drawings which I find very beautiful then comes my turn ... and I leave this place, marked for life of a sign which means a lot for me and which I know , Will bring me luck for the continuation of The Long Road ...