11th August. Innsbruck - Verona

In the morning it took long time to get out of the city. Rout was going up to the mountains as overpass, we didn’t find any good points to hitch, roads were very narrow – no place to stop. At the end we got an advice to take a bus and so we did. Were going by deep green canyons, near bridges running between the tops of the mountains. Then road went down. Were going by the local road, the highway was going on the mountains hundred meters above our heads. At last – Italy! Driver drop us in the border town Brenner. Walked and looked around a bit, then walk back to Austria and get the highway at last.

Again we had to split, nobody was stopping. Agreed to meet in Verona and call if something. The problem was, we both had low batteries in mobiles and there was no place to charge them. Moha’s mobile was working only like a phone book, he couldn’t call from it, and he didn’t take the charger. I had couple of hours of work in my battery so decided to turn it on in the evening. I got to the place quite fast. Italians don’t speak English, even know it. Was communicating with drivers on mix of German, French and deaf-and-dumb language. Saw castles on the rocks and vineyards by the way. Last driver started to touch my hand and to say im nice-looking. Almost had to get out of the car.

Verona. Stunning heat. Only two conditioned places in the station – waiting room (for those having tickets) and McDonalds. Waited for Moha (he came by train), put our bags and went to see the city. Was walking and chatting in Finnish – nobody understands, cool. In the night took a uncomfortable train to France.

12-14th August. Italy - Nice.

But we had tickets only for the half of the way. We quietly slept over our stop, opened eyes for a second and blinked to each other. In the morning we got caught by the ticket-collector. Played fools but had to pay a bit anyway. From the window saw the Mediterranean sea for the first time – road was going along the coast. Sea-side houses, palms.. went till the border of France and took a bus till Nice. I was against it, but for nothing, as found out later – road was going on overpasses, without touching the ground at all, would be impossible to hitch.

From one side we saw the sea in sunny morning fog, from another – soft outlines of the mountains with houses on them. Somewhere far down near the sea Monaco is situated – I saw the roofs of its houses. And, at last, Nice. Found a map, went straight to the sea, threw stuff on the beach and run to swim… and swim…. and swim more….. Clean, very salty water, even burning the eyes. So dense, that u can lie on the water like in hammock, with hands behind ur head. Water, which is aquamarine near the coast, becoming on a depth a saturated blue transparence, where I wanted to dive deep until I have air in the lungs.

Two days were lying on the beach, swimming, walking in city. Palms, palaces, flowers, sun of course. A bit strange that in the evening city is quiet, no music nor discos near the sea. People are walking back and forth along the embankment. Cafes are also rare. I needed a cup of coffee to get rid of headache, and it took a while to find. We were sleeping right on the beach. First time used our camp (tent from it), built a weird construction from rocks, camp strings and one of my sandals to hide from the sun.

On the first morning woke up early from some hissing sounds. Opened eyes and almost jumped: a big motorboat was going along the coast and watering the beach with huge jet about 20 meters long. Already 10 meters from us. Pushed Moha, but where can we move, rolled in sleeping bags? Well, motorboat didn’t water us, turned jet down and passed by.

14th August. Nice – Marceille.

Last long walk through the city to the exit. Split, again nobody would stop. Met in Marceille station (I came half an hour before), went to search for a beach. City is big and noisy, sightseeing is similar to Paris – there are also Arc de Triumph, a Notre-Dam, but no Eiffel. Embankment is high above the water, small paid beaches made between the rocks on plots of sand. For 5 euro u could stay there till 7pm. Ok, it’s not for us. After walking here and there took a bus to another part of the city, where found a normal beach. Spend a day there and slept on the lawn nearby.

In the night woke up from suspicious hissing… Lawn watering* system was working! We jumped and run. From the neighbor bushes some tourists were also jumping out, carrying sleeping bags and stuff. Moved to the beach.

15th August. Marceille - Avignon

In the morning we found out that were sleeping on an ant-hill. Shook all our things, threw out small red ants. Walked on hilly small streets of the Old town and went to exit. Hardly found a way to the rout in a labyrinth of the narrow streets with dead-ends. Had to hitch right in the city. But did it quite fast and got till Avignon. Moha had some pal living there. Drop our bags at the station and went walking around. High ancient castles, small gardens, souvenir shops. Prices in the supermarkets are ridiculous, especially on wine and beer. Nice and quiet town, but without the sea. There’s a river, a bit silty, in which were nicely sized fishes. And so much fish, that it immediately reminds a soup. Nobody was swimming in the river for some reason, neither did we. Were unsuccessfully trying to call Moha’s pal. In the evening went till the junction road going to the rout and slept in a small park between the roads.

16th August. Avignon – Frankfurt-am-Main.

Shook the rest of ants out of the sleeping bags. Quickly caught a car, went till a gas station after Lyon and split. Aim – Frankfurt. I got an empty bus straight till Metz, then short distance drives through small towns Saarbruken, Kaiserlautern, Mannheim…Once got a red cabriolet, were going 180 km/h gliding while overtaking cars with wind*. Last part of the way was going in total darkness. Put on myself all reflectors. Last car whirl along till Frankfurt, were going 220. Lightened up sky-scrapers, lights, several airplanes constantly in the air. Business center of the Europe..

Came to the station. No Moha. Went to internet-café nearby, charged phone battery, checked missed calls. Sat in the bar with some live band. No Moha. Station got closed. Went to sleep in the park on the bank of Main. Hah, not so easy. Park turned out to be too crowded place. At the end slept couple of hours on the bench, rolled in sleeping bag, with the jabber of some Brazilian. He was protecting me against others interested.

17th August. Frankfurt - Rostock – ferry to Sweden

Said bye to Brazilian guy, returned to the station and slept there an hour more. Woke up cause Moha was touching my leg. He told he took a train again, and had to wait at some station for the next train until morning. Was hanging around with some local girls. After exchanging impressions went to see the city. Film in my camera had finished, and all the mirror sky-scrapers of Frankfurt will only stay in my short memory.

Moha’s train ticket (again for 5 persons) was still valid, and we went to Rostock. Again with lot of changes. On one of them i went to buy an IceTea, and when came back, train was gone.

Next one in 2 h, but Moha had the ticket. Bag was with me. Ok. Drank lemonade till the end and went to ask taxi drivers where is this town on the map and how to find exit form it. I had about 4 h to catch a ferry from Rostock. From middle of Germany, by the village roads, in the evening... I did it! Came to the port of Rostock. No Moha. And he doesn’t even call. Ferry is in 1 h. Went to search for the train station, which appeared to be in 500 m. And met Moha by the way! He came half an hour after me. Showed him a tong.

You, i said, u lost me and didn’t even call! His mobile was dead but at least he could ring me from telephone from anywhere. Appeared, that all this time he DIDNT HAS MY NUMBER. He just lost the paper.

Took a ferry to Sweden, Trelleborg. Ate the rest of food we had and went to sleep in the corridor, same as the most of other passengers, who took over all corners and arm-chairs. Everybody had sleeping bags also.

18th August. Trelleborg - Stockholm - ferry to Finland

Arrived. Stayed on the rout a bit. Moha decided to go by train, I stayed. With some efforts caught a track. Then another one, and few another cars. Then funny guys with full trunk of motorcycles. With them went till Stockholm, got stuck in a traffic jam near the city. I was at the place around 6 pm, ferry to Helsinki was gone at 5, so I wasn’t in hurry and start to think where to get some food. Decided at first to go to the port and put my bag, that I got tired of, into locker. And met there Moha, who already got the ticket on another ferry, which was leaving to Turku in half an hour. Run to the cash desk – there still were tickets.

On the ferry we decided to spend some money on buffet, to get filled up with food like (un)normal humans and celebrate the end of the journey. But there were no vacant places in the buffet. Had to eat in the restaurant. Then were hanging around the ship, meeting people, went to the disco. Slept on the floor. Half an hour.

19th August. Turku - Helsinki.

In turku was cold foggy morning, strange clouds, touching the ground. Moha straight went to the train station. I straight near the port got a track to Helsinki. Most part of the road was sleeping against all rules of hitch-hiking. Driver dropped me at the Vantaa airport, from where I had to get out by bus, paid 4.70 for it. Moha get to Helsinki for free, by the tourist bus, which he caught near the train station. That’s it! Shower, eat, sleep… The great journey is finished.

P.S. What i wanna say: a HUGE THANKS (DANKE, KIITOS, TACK, GRACIA, MERCI) to everybody giving us a lift!