After having another great Polish breakfast it was time to make some plans about what we should do about our bike problems. Unfortunately, we discovered that after a night of charging both batteries that one of the batteries was not charging and had in fact been drained flat. A few more phone calls and emails to Akkurad and it was determined that the battery was most likely defective. Now our bike problems can't be solved by going to a bike shop in Poland or the Czech Republic. To complicate things further, Akkurad has been waiting for a shipment of these batteries and they are backordered - until at least August 14th. In the end we decided that we would return to Bonn, Germany and have the fellows at Akkurad have a serious look at our bike to determine what is going on. Returning to Bonn however, involves about 350 km. of very hilly riding through the mountains of southern Poland and Czech Republic. Then we would have to take a number of trains from Dresden across Germany to get back to Bonn. Well, this really sucks. We realize that these problems will prevent us from proceeding on the route that we have been planning for and dreaming about all winter. It is most likely that there will be no Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia or Italy in our riding this year. On a positive note, we have thoroughly enjoyed our time in Poland and will definitely return, perhaps next year, to finish what we have started. The main priority at this point is to get the bike and motor functionning and then we'll regroup and figure out what to do with the time we have left. We know that we will start our tour from Bonn. Stay tuned as we figure this out. Meanwhile our friend Cora is trying to help us figure out reasonable train connections across Germany. We are a bit undecided about what we should do as we would like to extend our experience in Poland and ride to Dresden, but is it worth the time and energy, when we really just want to get this problem sorted. So, we went back to Hotel Piast and checked back in for another night.
We decided to enjoy the day in Nysa and went exploring, starting with lunch in a Milk Bar. Any visitor to Poland, especially a hungry cyclist, would be well advised to experience a Milk Bar, which is a holdover from 1945-89 Soviet Era when the Iron Curtain was in place. It was created by the Communist State as a means of encouraging milk consumption as there was an abundance of supply. Post war, most of the restaurants were nationalized and then closed down by the Soviet authorities. Milk Bars became an inexpensive cafeteria style place to find good, home baked Polish food at a very cheap price. To this day, they still exist (not as common now though) and they are worth seeking out as the food is still very good and very cheap. The primary challenge is the culture shock of an indecipherable menu (in Polish) and the lack of tourists or English speaking people. We went armed with Mary Ellen's phone and used Google Translate to figure out the menu. We had a great meal. After the fall of the Communist system in 1989, most Milk Bars went bankrupt, but in 2010 they have started to make a comeback. Nonetheless, mmost Bars we have visited remain in locations, relativelyunchanged from the 1950's. We are encouraged to learn that many Poles still prefer a Milk Bar over Fast Food places as a good 2-3 course meal costs approx. 2 euros.
If you want to find one, this is what you look for: Bar Mleczny
Mary Ellen had Golabki miesno-ryzowe w sosie pomdorowym (cabbage rolls with tomato sauce) with beet and cabbage/pickle salad. Barry had the special: Pieczen wieprzowa w sosie (cutlet with sauce and potatoes) and red cabbage salad and coleslaw.
I took this picture to show the lovely lace curtains that are in most Polish homes - love them. But what first caught our eye was this dog who has mastered the art of people watching, learning from his masters. Cleverly, the drapes have been made a little short to facilitate the process.
We have ended up staying in Nysa for 3 nights. We like it here but if we hadn't had bike problems and needed to sort out a solution, we would not have stayed so long. However, we have come up with a plan. We will take the train to Brzeg tomorrow and test out what a Polish train's access and space are like for our tandem. We will stay overnight on Brzeg. ride on to Wroclaw, stay there a few days and then take a train from Wroclaw to Dresden (Germany). Then we will take a series of trains across Germany to Bonn and return to Akkurad for help with our motor and battery. It has been a long process to figure out the logistics, trains, where to stay, but I think we are set.
