Day 57: Kaliningrad to Gdansk, Poland

Number of tie wraps: 49 (holding steady)

Countdown: 7527 miles down, 1058 to go

We obliterated our previous border crossing record of four hours today with a new time of one hour and five minutes. I think that will be tough to beat, especially since we will be in European Union countries from now on and have no more borders to cross.

Right before we hit the border, some traffic police pulled us over, but it turned out they just wanted to take some pictures with the Roadster. They let us take some pictures of their car as well!

John checks out a Russian traffic police car

John checks out a Russian traffic police car (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

Hamming it up with the traffic police

Hamming it up with the traffic police (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

We arrived at our hotel in Gdansk at about 2:45, but with a one hour time change, it was 1:45. We plan to spend this afternoon relaxing and exploring a bit, and then Leo, who is of Polish descent, is treating everyone to a traditional Polish dinner tonight, complete with Polka music.

Tomorrow, we head to Poznan, a drive of about 300 km. I hope all of you have a safe Fourth of July!

Day 56: Kaliningrad

Number of tie wraps: 49 (holding steady)

Countdown: 7426 miles down, 1159 to go

To start the day, we had a photo op this morning at the request of the Moscow (Moskva) Hotel where we are staying.

 

Photo op at the Moskva Hotel

Photo op at the Moskva Hotel (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

After the photos, we took a tour of Kaliningrad where we saw many beautiful restored houses such as this row house in the old working section of the city,

 

Restored row house in the old working section of Kaliningrad

Restored row house in the old working section of Kaliningrad (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

a kitten that wanted to come home with us,

 

Kaliningrad kitten

Kaliningrad kitten (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

and an old Russian car called a Chaika that was being used at part of a cowboys-and-Indians-themed wedding (don’t ask me why — I’m just reporting what I saw).

 

Russian car

Russian car (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

Kaliningrad, known as Koenigsberg until 1946 because it was part of Germany, is surrounded by water and had seven bridges in the 18th century. Some people wondered if it would be possible to make a complete route through the city without crossing a bridge more than once. It turns out that the answer is “nyet,” or “no” and the mathematician Leonhard Euler proved this in 1736, giving birth to a new branch of mathematics called graph theory. Who knew?

 

Depiction of the seven bridges of Koenigsberg (Kaliningrad)

Depiction of the seven bridges of Koenigsberg (Kaliningrad) (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

Down by the river, we also saw a research ship named for cosmonaut Viktor Patsayev, who was one of three cosmonauts killed during the re-entry of the Soyuz 11 mission on June 30, 1971. Click here for more information about the tragic mission.

 

Ship named for Cosmonaut Viktor Patsayev

Research ship named for Cosmonaut Viktor Patsayev (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

We also checked out the restoration-in-progress of the Kaliningrad Cathedral that included stained glass, a gargantuan organ, and an interesting process for making souvenir coins. The structure of this cathedral survived bombings of Koenigsberg by the Royal Air Force during World War II, but the interior was obliterated by fires that spread from nearby buildings destroyed by bombs.

 

The outside of the restored cathedral

The outside of the restored cathedral (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

Stained glass window restoration

Stained glass window restoration (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

 

Organ in the balcony of the cathedral

Organ in the balcony of the cathedral (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

The old-fashioned way of making souvenir coins

The old-fashioned way of making souvenir coins (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

Our last stop on the tour was the Amber Museum, which is housed in one of the defensive towers of the old fortress that used to surround Kaliningrad.

 

Exterior of the Amber Museum

Exterior of the Amber Museum (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

Insects in amber

Insects in amber (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

Amber tiger portrait

Amber tiger portrait (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

After the tour, Cathy, Karen and I did some shopping, including picking up some snacks and fish at the open-air market for lunch during our border crossing tomorrow.

 

Farmer's market about 1km from our hotel

Farmer’s market about 1km from our hotel (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

Getting smoked fish for lunch at the border tomorrow

Getting smoked fish for lunch at the border tomorrow (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

Tomorrow we drive about 30 km to the border with Poland and then proceed to Gdansk. Total driving distance is about 163 km. This is the last border crossing for the first leg of the World Auto Tour!

Day 55: Kaunus, Lithuania to Kaliningrad, Russia

Number of tie wraps: 49 (holding steady)

Countdown: 7426 miles down, 1159 to go

I’m happy to report that we had an easy border crossing today. No drama. No angst over paperwork. No customs officials tracking down obscure regulations that we had no chance of complying with.

We reached the border about 10 a.m. and finished crossing into Russia about 2 p.m. for a record-setting (for us anyway) four hours. Four hours may seem like a long time to clear customs, but a long line of cars in front of us caused most of the delay, not the customs process itself.

We really didn’t want to leave Lithuania after all the fun we had there, but we are happy to be back in Russia. I’m starting to actually feel a little Russian and it’s nice to see Cyrillic signs again. The bumpy Russian roads gave John and Luke a chance to try out the new rear shock absorbers on the Roadster, and Luke told me at a fuel stop that the shocks are working “very well.”

The roadside scenery changed to mostly small villages, large fields of corn, and riotous displays of wildflowers from every color in the rainbow.

Wildflowers by the roadside on the trip to Kaliningrad

Roadside wildflowers on the trip to Kaliningrad (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

We arrived in Kaliningrad about 5 p.m. and, as we drove to our hotel we saw a statue commemorating the four cosmonauts that hail from Kaliningrad. The statue made a nice preview for what we’ll see on our city tour tomorrow morning.

Statue commemorating cosmonauts from Kaliningrad

Statue commemorating cosmonauts from Kaliningrad (Eileen Bjorkman photo)

Friday we drive back across the Russian border into Poland, our last Russian border crossing for this trip. Just when we are finally getting good at this!