Well after an early start to head to Belarus, mainly due the fact that we had no idea how long the border crossing would take, we shuffled through the many lorries and roadworks.
Chapter 7 - Crossing to Belarus (heading to Kopyl - in the region of Minsk)
At about mid-day we arrive at the border.
Arriving at the Border:
So we had our passports, visas and car documents and headed into the unknown. We got to the Polish border and went through rather quickly and we handed some Belarus entry and exit forms that we filled in on the drive through no-mans land. So surely we were all ready then...
Well we were waved through into a waiting booth area and I go out and handed an offical looking soldier the pasports and new little forms. So after some instructions in Belarussian that I couldn't understand and my completely blank expression and the instructions changed to english "Insurance...Insurance". now I had heard about this so wasnt too worried, so off I ran...contemplating if I should really be running...ahh. Got to the ínsurance place and handed over $25 and that was the insurance sorted. So we were good to go??
So I walked back to the soldier chappy and happy handed him my new insurance form...to which he just pointed to another booth and said something Control, I cleverly worked out it was vehicle control (Mainly because of the large sign on the side) and handed over all my forms to get another form back. So I headed back to the car with all my forms to a rather scared looking Luc (and by rather scared I mean terrified!!). So chuffed I was to have all my forms that I thought I would finish off with asking one last question of the border gaurd...
Charlie's top travel trip........Dont ask border gúards if you can have your photo taken with them............
A bit of shouting and gestering and all the forms had to come out and be inspected again (at this point Luc went to some form of scared beyond terified) but not to worried I cleverly diffused the situation by asking if there were some toilets......to which I got the response "Go!" so we didn't hang around. Lesson learnt!
So we entered Belarus and the first town we came to was a place called Brest, well this was an opportunity not to be missed, so still in sight of the border I decided to pull over so I could have a picture of myself under this sign, awesome, however Luc pointed out that this might not be the best idea ever, as we were discussing this point I became aware that another car had just pulled up behind us and the driver was walking to one side of the car and a passenger ambled behind the car. At which point with all the skill of a young James Bond I locked the doors and decided to keep the engine running. Luc was completely oblivious of this threat and was yacking away with the window open. My foot hovered over the accelerator and my hand went to the handbrake.....
At which point the man (in broken) English asked if we were heading to Minsk (we still ahd the run stickers + Minsk on the windows). I said we were for a friends wedding, he then made some gesters with his hands and repeated Minsk a few times. Directions to Minsk I assumed. But we had been on the same road we needed to stay on so we assumed we just went straight on. However we soon realised that the chap was being extramly helpful (and not a security threat
) as we 'realised that the directions we had been given were spot on and we needed to take the left he had mentioned. So perhaps I was letting my imagination get the better of me, he he. So off we set...
First sight:
We soon found out that the Belarussian roads were dual carriageway type roads, much better than the Polish road, and we made good progress.
On the nice Belarussian Roads:
Also at this point we had the realisation that the lovely large map that we had bought of Belarus didnt have russian spelling of all of the cities and towns only a few of them!!! We had a map that wasn't particularly useful, aghghg. Luckily the weekend before we were due to get away I had found a map on the internet of Belarus with russian wording. So with a combination of that map and our nice big one we worked out what Kopyl looked liked in Russian and planned the route. The route was mostly along the main motorway then an A road south to below Kopyl and another final A road up to the the town which was our destination.
So Luc was navigating and doing a sterling job but we hadn't counted on one thing....
Errrmmm we've run out of road!!!!!:
Now slipping and sliding in the gravel/dust was my idea of rally fun but one again that look of terror crossed Luc's face, so to save the car we took it nice and easy.
So I was telling Luc that Kopÿl would be just over the hill we were coming to (really hoping it was as I had no idea) and as we crested the hill, now back on tarmac, we saw the lovely sight of a small town and the even better sight of the town sign, Kopyl!
So we headed into town..
Local traffic:
We got into the centre and phoned my friend Thomas (whoes wedding it was the very next day) and they said they would meet us in the square in the centre of town, so we parked up infront of the main town hall?? and a I parked up and was contemplating whether it was an ok place to park a police office crossed the street directly towards us, agghh not even a day in the country and I'm already in trouble, at this point he got into the car parked infornt of us and drove off....phew......
So Thomas and his soon to be wife arrived and they crammed into the Polo and we drove through town to her parent's house. We were introduced to her family and also one of their friends we were staying with in her mothers house, lucky she spoke brilliant English and everyone was very welcoming.
So as there were still wedding preperations going on we got out the way and Thomas gave us a tour of Kopyl....
School:
Statue of Lenin:
Lake:
We then had a lovely meal and chatted to Thomas and Alana and then got an early night for the next days events. Just so you know for later it was at this point that Thomas advised me not to become involved in talks about Politics, as I'm not exactly an expert on the topic this should be no problem.
Chapter 8 - The Wedding
So this was the whole reason the trip was extended, to attend the wedding of a very old frined of mine who had met a Belarussian lady whilst studying Russian in Minsk (the capital of Belarus), just so you know.
Well it was a nice late (9am) start to the day, we slowly got ready with the family we were staying with then headed over to see Thomas and help out prepare for the wedding. After a while Thomas's family (His parents, Older Sister and her young daughter) arrived and they were introduced to their soon to be extended family. They seemed glad to see us and it was nice to speak some English!
Family and friends then began to arrive and I was introduced to one of Thomas's friend, a young gent called Sasha. His English was very good so we began chatting about how he knew Thomas etc, suddenly I realsied we had somehow started talking about politics!!! What the hell!? So after about 20 minutes of talking about that the conversation was finally diverted as more family members arrived.
At this point it was the start of the wedding precedings. This involved the bride and groom, all dressed up, and the main family members ..and bestman (me!) and the bridsmaid. There was food laid out and the weddding compare got on to some speeches. Then Thomas's Mum was given a picture of the Madonna, Thomas's dad given a tray with bread on. The brides Mum had a bowl of nuts and the brides Dad had a bottle of vodka. They then walked round the dining table 3 times with some accordian music playing.
Next were got into the 13 wedding cars and off we went to the registry office. The wedding itself was a standing ceromany that was in russian so completely foreign to us, so to speak. So my bestman duties involved standing with Thomas, sigining as a witness (by my name in russian that I could barely make out) and then at the end of the ceromany holding some of the huge amount of flowers they are given. After the ceromeny the Bride and Groom leave the registry office and walk beneath a tunnel of raised flowers. Thomas's mum and Sister threw confette, something completly new to them but they seemed to find it amusing. A photo of the whole wedding party was then taken.
So then it was off to the towns museaum for a traditional part of the wedding. Thomas carried his new wife over the threshold for a speech by a museum chappy. Then Thomas had to demonstrate his manly prowess by throwing darts at a photo of a hunting scene, he got 2 lions and a mammoth, apparently very good. So then a few more traditions and a bell was rung to signify they were married to the town. Then it was back in the cars and we were off the the wedding reception. This consisted of 3 laps of the town square with horns blazing then a half hour drive to the restaurant.
We arrived at the reception and went to the nearby lake to take some photos.
Myself, the bridsmaid and the newly married couple:
The reception was right next to a massive war memorial and I took the following photo as I found it an interesting contrast.
A contrast:
Memeorial, Russian style:
So when the photos were taken we returned to the restraunt where just outside the bride and groom had a shot of Vodka, smashed the glasses on the floor and we all proceeded inside. The bride and groom then stood infront of a table (with hankies over their right hands) and then poeople took turns to congratulate them and offer gifts. Luc and I went up and offered congratulations on behalf of all his friends in the UK and gave him 50,000 (I later realsied thie was like 12 pounds but its the thought that counts
).
Then we all sat down at for the meal and there was an enourmas amount of food layed out and the hosts were keen for us to try as much as possible, so I ate for Englaand (one of my special skills).
There was then dancing and games. One game involved picking a ticket with a number on and being called forward for certain tasks. My number was called and my task was to stand on one leg and sing a song in Russian, this caused a slight problem so they relented and i just had to stand on one leg and recite some Russina that I had learnt, well that didnt last long so they tried teaching me some. I was suppost to say ''I love my girlfriend" I managed "I love my small cow" which they of course found hilarious, pretty close I thought
.
Then another ceromony took place which involved the bride removing her veil and Thomas's mum putting a head scalf on her to signify she was now married.
It was then cake time!! An enormous cake appeared and a huge slice was cut, mmm. All the food was washed down with coke and some lovely Belarusian Vodka.
A small! part of the wedding cake:
Another game was played which involved paying for a lottery ticked and a raffle was held, the bridsmaid and I were both very luck at the and one a roll of toilet roll each........right
Then once last game saw a pair of paper pants being brought out and the idea was the gents in the group modelled the pants and then tore of a tab of paper on the back that signified their......manlyness. Thomas got Donkey which of course got a huge cheer. I got 5.30 much to my confusion, the rather pretty girl we were staying with then had to explain to me that "It is a strong man that is "up" at 5.30" most embarassing.
It was a great night and we finally headed back at 12.30. Squeezing into the back of a car all four of us had a comfy ride back to kopyl.
Chapter 9 - The aftermath and a near miss
It was up early to head part of the way back with Thomas his new wife and Thomas's family as Thomas's family were heading back to the airort and the UK. So we followed them to the main motorway we needed and started the long journey home.
A pretty bridge:
It was at this point I had a rather funny feeling in my innards so I thought it best to stop for a comfort break. I then began to realise that the previous eating was taking its toll. I pulled over at a service station that hadn't come a moment too soon. I ran to the toilet that appeared to be a wooden outhouse but there wasn't much choice. So in I went, only to realise very quickly that there was no paper!! Panic set in then I remember something, something that very quickly became the best raffle prize ever! My toilet roll. So I quickly ran back to the car rummaged round for it. Then quickly returned to the outhouse. Now I am not experienced at the art of crouching (yes it was just a hole in the ground) so used the technique of holding onto the handle. What a relief. With that sorted it was on the road again.
Well my relief did't last too long and after a couple of hours I felt the urge again so headed for the nearest "Service Station", this turned out to have a toilet that resembled a curved brick wall, painted in a lovely yellow colour. But with my lucky toilet roll and guessing that I, as a man, would be using the upward pointing triangle off I went. This was slightly more difficult as there was no handle so it was hanging onto the curved wall. Nice. So after I was sure everything was good I headed back to the comfort of the Polo. I sat in the car and after a few seconds Luc had a wierd look of disgust on her face and began to gag, I in my relief hadn't realised that due to dangling above an open...pit, putting the icing on the cake as it were I had picked up a certain odour. So Luc grabbed the closest thing to sort out this issue and sprayed me with dry hair shampoo. This did two things, made me smell better and left massive white spots all over my trousers....nice.
Right so after all that we were getting near the border, so I thought is best to make sure I went before we had to wait however long at the border. now there was an actual service station here so off I went, again with my lucky roll (just in case). These were proper toilets, hurrah, but it mean I had to pay for the privilage, so I did, went in got comfortable and then realisedthat I could still hear the ladies that collected the money talking outside and the clink of the money, so I'm pretty sure they could hear me...but I did get change as I came out.
So the border went really smooth and we knew what to expect, it still took a good hour to get through but we made it.
We were attempting to get further than Warsaw but we were rather tired so we decided to head back to the same hotel we had stayed in before. So this involved driving straight through the centre of the city. Time for another Charlie's Tip....
When drving round a roundabout pay more attentions to the traffic lights....oh and the large trams that go straight across the roundabout.
I was heading round a roundabout and I thought I saw a tiny red traffic light then saw another red light ahead so thougth maybe I was wrong, as I drove up to this light I suddenly looked to my left and a huge tram completely filled my window, I'd just driven straight infront of it, realising that the red light I saw was for me, the tram must have been 3 metres from me, well Luc, ops! So as you can imagine we were rather happy to get into the hotel and safety.
Chapter 10 - Been to Berlin, lets try Potsdam
The next day was up early again and back to Germany.
Nearly back in Germany:
This time we were heading to Potsdam just west of Berlin for something different to see. We got to the town, with me narrowly missing going down a cycle road, ops. We found what looked like a tiny hotel which turned out to be much bigger than I thought and was rather modern.
Fancy Hotel:
Fancy bathroom:
So off we went for some sightseeing and a trip to an icecream factory.
Potsdam square:
Smaller Brandenburge gate:
Another gate thing:
Old castle gate and restaurants in the streets:
It was a lovely town and I'm so glad we visited it.
Chapter 11 - We could make the ferry in 1 day....could't we?
The next morning it was a fairly early start and as we were planning the route we realised that we could make the 6 oclock ferry! So a quick call to Tom (PurpleTom) and he swapped the booking to 6. So off we set off and only stopped once for fuel. The route back took us through Holland so that was another country to add to the list. We were doing really well for time until we got into france and got stuck in roadworks whcih went almost all the way to the ferry port! We passed what made the jam worse and found that it was two crashed lorries.
We then realised we only had half an hour to get to the ferry. This meant that I was overtaking the lorries on the roads heading to the lorry, fun. We got to the ticket booth and got our tickets, we had just made it and got on the ferry with the last of the lorries and caravans!
We got some overpriced food on the ferry, got back onto the UK at 8 and made it back to Bristol by 11 on one of the longest days driving I've done.
Here endeth the novel, cheers for reading.
Charlie (Explorer/writer
)
