When we were planning this leg we were not sure if the Toyota would be prepared in time. In spite of all the technology at hand and Google Translate, we were just not getting any proper answers to our questions from the Panel-Beater.
We would ask him if the repaid would be finished by September and he would answer by asking us what break-fluid he must use. So we decided to abandon our general direction of traveling East and rather return to Kiev, collect our bikes, see the progress at the Panel-Beater, leave the Toyota with him until the following leg and then head for Copenhagen (as one of us had a Nephew there and it would be fun to go and surprise him.) So we returned to Kiev and then we got a surprise as old Brutes was fixed and the KTM’s were all as good as new.
Our first stop was Chernobyl so we headed North. We did the tour and got to a stone throw from the infamous reactor number four. The highlight to me was the Amusement Park and I still get shivers down my spine just looking at my photos. From there we turned West and rode through the Bread-basket of old Russia to the town of Lviv which is one of the few towns where the old buildings can still be seen as this town was not bombed during the 2nd world war.
The next day we crossed into Poland to the town of Krakow, another beautiful town with old buildings and large open squares and historic buildings. The next day we rode to the death-camps of Auschwitz and Burkenhau where we were reminded of the brutality of humankind.
We meandered North through Poland, then spent a night in Hamburg where another Paraglide-connection, Carolina, took us on a tour of her city. The next day we were on the Western Island of Denmark’s three islands and headed for the Northern parts. I loved the wind-swept coastal towns and the inland parts that reminded me of the Lake District in England. But then we arrived in Copenhagen and I was blown away by this city of canals, bicycles and modern and old architecture. My only “disappointment” was the size of the Little Mermaid statue, she was literary a “little” Mermaid.
The second day in Copenhagen was a Saturday and the Springboks (RSA Rugby Team) was playing against Australia, so off we were taken by our friends nephew to The South African Pub where we discovered how many ex-South Africans there were in the City who all showed up in the “Green & Gold” and ordered their Castle Larger and Boerewors Rolls (which were braaied on the street corner.)
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