August 5 - Changing Country, Money, and Language

Wednesday - Letschin, Germany to Sulecin, Poland
The thunder rolled overnight several times. It looks dark but it is done raining. It was a little unusual to see windmills this close to town.

First place we've had a couch!

Our host didn't speak much English but he let us know how much he enjoyed visiting the US in the past. There was a picture of President Kennedy prominently displayed on this wall and he made sure we saw it.

His wife was getting stuff done while he talked. She walked by Donna one time muttering in Polish but Donna is pretty sure she said "MEN!"

Frederick the Great (nickname Fritz as far as we could tell) who stopped Napoleon somewhere near here.

Getting sandwiches at the Netto market and thought you would be interested in their cart system. You have to put a coin in the slot so you can unlatch the cart.

All sorts of routes out of this town.

Our route took us to a levee along the Oder River floodplain.

Sometimes we stayed down....

.....and sometimes we went up.

We were checking our map when this young guy confirmed that we were headed in the right direction. Gerhart is 90 so he doesn't do loaded touring anymore. He is staying in Letschin for a week and doing day trips from there. He is from Berlin. He was in the Army in WWII but was injured, so was in Berlin at the end. He was very happy that he ended up in the American sector and has been to the US 3 times.

Now it is official

The Oder River is the border between Germany and Poland through here.

Another abandoned border station. We have to admit that we stopped at the McDonald's on the other side to use their free WiFi and bathrooms and to get a chocolate shake. Took us a bit to figure out where an ATM was located so we could get some Zloty. It was across the road and behind a door that wasn't a bank.

The route out of Kostrzyn follows a nature preserve. Nice shade!

Looked like a good place for lunch and it was.

Just the first in hundreds of crucifixes we will see while we are traveling through Poland.

We have seen Anna and Susanna several times and finally had a chance to chat. They are following Route 1 to St. Petersburg having started in Berlin which is where our paths first crossed.

Looked like they were planning or doing some restoration since hard hats and clipboards were in action.

St. Jacob's in Osno Lubuskie

And then she stood up!

in Grabno

Already harvesting grain here.

Our home for our first night in Poland.

The view from our room.

We thought this place looked good for dinner since there were a couple of policeman already eating there.

As soon as we said something in English they jumped up, came over and interpreted the menu for us. Then they let Doug take their picture when they were leaving.

We could use these maps of Poland for sheets.The heat wave is starting.