Off to Sweden July 4 - 8, 2002

On Monday we finally said goodbye to my family and started our trek north. We started off by crossing to Poland. The combination of a Swiss and US passport was received with some bedazzlement by the border people, as we were inspected a total of three times. Twice was I asked whose car it was, something I knew to appreciate, but if the same question was asked two years ago and was actually verified equally thoroughly, then the thief had no problems getting out of the country.


After a short while on a small country road we were soon welcomed by a so called freeway. Now I keep telling people that the roads in Europe are so much better than in the US, but I now must add that the Polish freeway shows no superiority to any road in America. After two hours of having our bones shaken, not stirred, we arrived in Germany. The border crossing here was much smoother and quicker and hardly sufficient for us to count our bones. Off we were heading towards Rostock, where we intended to take the ferry to Sweden. The trip across Germany was quick, especially since Essan wanted to (and did) establish herself as a fast driver, too.
 

The 19:30 ferry from Rostock to Gedser was full, so we booked on the 23:00 one, which in a way was the better deal anyway since it allowed us to visit Rostock and then sleep on the boat overnight. Our cabin was small yet nice, and the trip across the East Sea was smooth and too quick, at least the 5:00 wake-up broadcast was harsh.

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