Travel
these days is relatively easy in Poland. There were absolutely no problems
at the German border going in either direction. Passports were glanced
at without leaving the car and we were waved on our way. The roads are
for the most part narrow, one lane in each direction, with beautiful large
trees lined up like sentinels along each side, just a few feet from the
pavement. No road-widening will be possible without destruction of thousands
of them. The paved surfaces appeared to be pretty well maintained, but
were gullied and uneven from side-to-side from constant heavy traffic which
included everything from field tractors to huge transport trucks, busses
and autos. Many autos looked as though they had come off second-best
in passing encounters along the way. In fact, passing is nearly impossible
since passing lanes are almost never provided, even on longer grades, except
on a few major arteries near large cities.
We found comfortable
hotels near most of the larger towns, and fuel is available everywhere.
There were even McDonald's restaurants in a few places, but we took most
of our meals at the hotels for convenience. The food is good and plentiful,
including meat, potatoes and lots of veggies. We loved being there during
the spargel (asparagus) season. I don't recall seeing much seafood though
the many lakes in the north must produce lots of fish. Our meals, lodging
and auto fuel all together averaged less than $80 per day for the two of
us. Had we known, we might have spent less time in Germany this year! We
expected communication to be a problem since neither of us could speak
a word of Polish, but we found that our English and fractured German worked
pretty well. Eventually we at least learned the word for "thank you".
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