So we arose the next morning to our continental breakfast, deciding to stock up on pain au chocolat and a worrying array of jams and nutellas that Lee insisted would come in handy. However the goon did very well in nabbing an entire bottle of orange juice from under the buffet table which we then made off with into the bright, brisk morning.
Getting out of Brussels was, once again, a fucking nightmare. That city has not one, but TWO ring roads and all we knew was that we were stuck on at least one of them. So after about an hour of driving randomly in a circle, during which time we got some hasty shots of pretty buildings just to show that we had seen more things than in reality we had during our time there, we managed to make it onto the motorway or freeway or autobahn or whatever the cock they call it, and we were away.
We left Belgium behind pretty quickly and crossed into Germany. No, there is no difference apart from the road signs become much, much more amusing. 'Ausfhart', which means 'Exit', for example, cropped up many times along the way. Look, we were in that car for five fucking hours. There wasn't much to do and I could only read my book for certain lengths of time before I felt like I was going absolutely bananas. But anyway, we made it to our destination: Wolfsburg. I had no idea why we were stopping there, and as we approached this strange little town, my heart sank a little.
The main aim of this part of the trip, you see, was to get across Europe as quick as possible so we could get to Auschwitz, which is in Poland. That's quite far, so would involve at least one night's stop somewhere along the way. Now, rather than stick a pin in a map, Adam did some research and found that if we had to stop in any old place it might as well be Wolfsburg because they have a Volkswagen plant and museum we could visit (Adam had a mark II Golf GTI for a number of years and we have a lot of fond memories), so at least we could give some purpose and structure to the rest stop. So, let's read that sentence again: all Wolfsburg has in it is a Volkswagen plant and museum. It's basically like you came to England and were driving from London to Manchester and had to stay in Milton Keynes or Swindon for a night. Yes, this town was pretty grim. Our hotel looked like a working men's club and was run by a couple of middle aged lezzers. Not what I had in mind for a grand European adventure. But one should never judge a book by it's cover. We went out for dinner at a charming place, which was cheap and damned good, the beer was pretty cheap too and in the morning we had the best damn breakfast ever. Seriously, the lezzers had laid on quite a spread. There must have been 20 different types of sausage available to us. That was just what we needed after a night of Adam's dreadful, demonic snoring. It's like he has Zuul or Gozer or a fucking pencil eraser stuck in the middle of his face struggling to get out. Rest assured, I will be lobbing shoes at him if he carries on this evening. So all in all, Wolfsburg was kinda grim but not half bad!
So today was a colossal 8-hour drive to Auschwitz. It wasn't particularly painful: Lee and Adam took it in turns to drive, I plowed through my books and slept a bit. Although once we actually got over the border into Poland, the roads became really shit and the atmosphere somewhat depressing. I mean, sorry, but Poland is pretty dumpy. And seeing as our final destination was Auschwitz, my thoughts turned to exactly who's idea this whole depressing leg of the journey was. Then I remembered that when the European road trip idea was presented, I was the one who demanded to come to Auschwitz. So I shut up.
Anyhoo, so we arrived in Auschwitz, which is really rather a quaint town, thank FUCK. It was then that Adam decided to announce that he didn't know which hotel he'd booked and, in fact, whether he'd booked it at all. So we headed for one that looked quite, ya know, leafy, and barreled up in the hope we had a reservation. The moody Polack bird on the desk was a bit rude at first when she found we hadn't booked, but as soon as we handed over the cash for a couple of night's stay she was the soul of politeness. Bloody Poles. They never change. So anyway, the gaff we're staying in is pretty nice, and just down the road from the whole DEATH CAMP thing, though we can't actually see the gates from our balcony so that's good I suppose.
So all that reading I did today was pretty exhausting so I think it's dinner, beers and bed. Tomorrow we are doing the DEATH CAMP thing, which I'm looking forward to but it is going to be fucking excruciating. Then I have a pizza place that Alicia recommended to find, if I haven't shot myself in the face. After that, it's Salzburg the next day ('Sound of Music' museum, here I come), followed by Munich and Oktoberfest! Yey!
Now you know, don't be scared.
Peace xx
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