Being in Pole position (23.06.09 - 09.07.09)
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After a hearty helping of the hotel's breakfast buffet on Friday morning (that included cereals, breads, cheeses, pate, salami, omelette, fruits and yoghurt), I hit the service park. I was passed by several drivers on their way to the day's first stages:
That's Sordo, P Solberg, Ogier, Rautenbach and Østberg, in that order.
I stayed in the service park to listen to the radio updates, which were my only source of information. The biggest news of the morning was that Loeb had crashed out for the second consecutive rally. He got a lift back to the Citroen tent before the other cars returned. As he walked in he raised his arms and gave a big helpless shrug.
Most of the co-pilots (also called navigators) followed the drivers back on scooters and not in the passenger seat. Miikka Anttila (who is Jari-Matti Latvala's co-driver) is probably the most exciting to listen to - it's the aggression with which he reads from the pacenotes (notes on the types of turns, obstacles and other instructions).
It's not uncommon for the drivers to return with all sorts of damaged or lost bodywork.
After getting Dani Sordo's autograph, I followed some of the Citroen people to the place where Loeb's car had been towed to. The front right suspension was destroyed in the process of running over a half-buried tree stump. The damage however, was minor, and Loeb was allowed to restart on Saturday with a 20-minute time penalty. Of course, before long I was asked to leave.
Later on, after the drivers were done with the afternoon's stages with few incidents, I found myself at the wrong end of the Ford area as I waited for Mikko Hirvonen. The marshals had to push the fence back as hundreds of fans were leaning on it to get his autograph. It was the same story with Sordo in the morning, Petter Solberg and almost every WRC driver from Friday onwards.
At the end of the day, I went back to the hotel and ordered quail from the extensive menu. I'll never suffer so much for dinner again - there were so many small bones, and there were two birds on my plate! They got cold before I could start eating.
That's Friday's report for you. On Saturday I headed to another town to watch the action at a special stage, keep tabs on this thread for the next post!
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I'll probably get slapped with an NPNT for this
but on Friday I met two very pretty schoolgirls (they didn't look older than 17) who helped me translate stuff that was printed on the bus stop in Mikolajki. When it was time to go we broked into big giggles when we said and waved goodbye. 
Also on Friday evening, when I got back to my room after dinner, I found an invitation to dinner from the Ford rally team on my desk. I felt like an idiot for having dinner, and hurriedly joined in. It turned out to be a dinner/briefing for VIPs, and it was placed in my room by mistake. Still, I had a pint of Zywiec before I returned to my room bemused.
Saturday morning - another big serving of breakfast, and it was time to get some live action at the rally stages. The bus ride to Gizycko took about 30 minutes. It's a much bigger town, with a train station running through it and even a few apartment and factory blocks, but it also looked sleepier as the skies were still grey.
The water tower is a few blocks north of the train/bus station, and from the top, you can get a good view of the town and Lake Niegocin. Not that it was going to be a beautiful one today and I was in a hurry, so I did not go to the top.
From here, I walked eastwards, following a road that leads out of the town. The rally stage is 6km from here. Along the way I spotted an Orthodox church:
I had to trust my instincts and avoid the road that leads to another town, and I knew I was on the right track when I saw a policewoman re-directing traffic (and enduring some verbal abuse) and the signs to the spectator points. In all, the walk took 1 hour and 15 minutes...the last 15 minutes were spent walking through chest-high grass.
A sea of fans was already lining the route here. Banners and flags had already been put up and the plastic air horns blared occasionally. There are three crests here, with the first and last one being jumps, and they cut through grain fields.
After about half an hour, the helicopter had made its check and the safety car passed through the stage. Which means rally leader Hirvonen is coming up!
Depending on how quick the drivers are, a car arrives every 2 to 4 minutes. It's not uncommon for them to catch up to one another because of mechanical problems or performance differences.
Latvala, Sordo, Petter and Henning Solberg, Ogier, Wilson, Rautenbach, Loeb, Novikov and Holowczyc are next, and I moved further up the route.
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This was Holowczyc's jump before the last photo. I was too slow to snap Novikov's but you can see the gap in the dust behind him. The boy is spectacular to watch but he's probably never seen the list of repair jobs he creates.
There's a massive no-go zone between the route and the spectators, and it exists for a reason. Shit happens sometimes, although the last time spectators were killed was at the 2001 Wales Rally. Behind me, a scuffle broke out between a bunch of people who had crossed the line to take photos, and the lads behind them who were blocked and unable to get photos of the cars leaving.
I wanted to cross the route to get to the otherside, so after Holowczyc passed, I made the dash. To the amusement of the other fans I ran about in front of the small trees you see in the earlier photos, trying to look for an opening. With moments to spare I decided to fark it and walk right through them - and I got stung on the legs by nettles.
More photos from the other side once I got out of the foliage:
Kevin Abbring's open tailgate was an unwelcome distraction and source of drag:
And a close shave for Janusz Szafraniec - and the marshal:
The cars will pass through the stage again in the afternoon, but I decided not to stay. Walking away from the stage, the Fiestas and a few other small hatches were the only ones left.
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After another 75-minute trek back to Gizycko, I was left with another 30 minutes to catch some of the sights before I caught the bus back to Ryn. Thankfully most of them were around the canal that's a 15-minute walk to the west (I slashed that time by jogging for the first time during my trip). After passing a funfair, the yacht dock and some unremarkable late-20th-century buildings, it's not difficult to see:
I thought this was part of the Boyen Fortress but it's not - it's one of the wings of a post-Teutonic castle (we're in the former East Prussia). It served as the admin building for the said fortress though:
And Poland's only revolving bridge opens for about an hour to 90 minutes each time for the canal traffic. Amazingly, it can be operated manually by one person.
I dashed back to the bus terminal and made it just in time...just as remarkably, I fell asleep and woke up just as we reached Ryn. I had the most awkward time trying to get a bottle of vinegar for my stings without knowing what the Polish word for it was.
Things were much smoother when I went to the hotel to look the word up on the Internet and returned to the grocery store. It's a nice place actually and it stocks massive and sweet apples.After my very late lunch, I waited outside the hotel for the rally cars to return, as the road that passes through the town is part of the route that takes them back to the service park. It was a long (and disturbing - some male stranger touched my crotch) but worthwhile wait:
At least Latvala had the bits hanging on: Petter Solberg was missing his rear bumper:
Henning Solberg also bore some battle scars:
Novikov had missing parts at both ends of the car:
It was a bit of a shame that none of the drivers stopped in this town for a break as they sometimes do on the way back, as the time limit is quite generous for this part of the rally. No autographs today, and the top three on the leaderboard remained the same.
This being my last day in the hotel, I decided to unwind for the rest of the evening. The small swimming pool had a resistance jet to swim against (I had to compete with a tubby kid to use it) and a hydromassage built into it. And when I found myself ogling for far too long at two ladies frolicking intimately, I punished myself in the sauna.
Mushrooms in this part of the world are absolutely delicious, and I was surprised that only half of my arrows missed the target board.
That's all for Saturday.
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It's Sunday! It was raining when I woke up at 4am (again!) but after I went back to bed and got up for a second time, we had glorious sustained sunshine for the first time since I arrived. On my way to breakfast, I took a photo of the courtyard of the castle, which had been converted into a banquet hall:
I got to the service park in time for the service break before the last 3 stages. News filtered through that Mads Ostberg and Michal Kosciuszko crashed out in the morning...and Andreas Mikkelsen's Skoda tent had already disappeared. What a shame for all 3 drivers.
From here, it doesn't seem that crowded, but it look much more packed on TV!
Henning Solberg and Krzysztof Holowczyc:
After all the cars left for the afternoon loop, it was time for the teams to pack up:
And then, I too had to leave because the service park was closed. But not before I heard on the radio that Sebastien Ogier had an engine failure, and took a photo with the Citroen models. I couldn't get away with not showing one of the flags that they gave out however.
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I walked back to Mikolajki to have my lunch...which was just a scoop of ice-cream. The flavour is called 'Malaga' which is just raisins. Scoop sizes are small but they are cheap, anywhere from 2-3 zlotys for a single scoop ($1-$1.50). Pork chops with mushroom sauce, a mountain of fries and salad at a restaurant cost 25zl.
Some pictures of the lakeside, which was far more crowded today with the clear skies.
That last picture is a photo of the aftermentioned pork chops, complete with cabbage beetroot and radish salads.
The bus ride back to Warsaw was uneventful, with the same roads getting ripped up and resurfaced. I befriended a lad named Tom over a drink of water. As it turned out, he's a student and had gone sailing in the lakes with friends for the last week. Like a lot of the people who weren't from the area, he didn't know about the rally until it was well underway and on the news.
I realised after a while that our bus driver was hardcore, because he didn't stop for a single toilet break at all. We still reached Warsaw about 20 minutes behind schedule because of the insane traffic on the outskirts of the city. And the sun hadn't set over the Vistula River yet.
A ladybird that I found at the Warsaw West Terminal (Dworzec Zachodnia).
I met up with my friend, who'd also just returned from her hometown, and after we dumped our bags in the flat, we went out for supper. We ate at a kebab chain called Sphinx. She wanted fries but the serving was far too much for her, and I was hungry.
Oh, and how could I forget about the bread and the garlic sauce...I have photos of that from another restaurant for another time. We decided to walk back instead of waiting 25 minutes for the bus. It was quiet but safe, and filled with interesting sights - like graffiti.
(Kurwa is an expletive that means 'whore' but it's used just as flexibly as 'fuck').
The line traces the wartime Jewish ghetto wall.
The menu was just as unappetising as the name, and expensive to boot.
It was only later in the evening, when we returned to the apartment, that I learnt about Jari-Matti Latvala's embarrassing crash on the last stage, denying the Ford team a 1-2 finish. You had to feel sorry for the lad, he was in tears and anticipating a sacking, but the team confirmed that he'll drive for them at Rally Finland.
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Now I'm hungry.
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nice
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This is the second Warsaw leg, and it begins with a plate of steaming pierogi (stuffed dumplings) in butter and under bacon bits.
Plus a giant apple pie and "Grandma's broth" aka chicken soup. All this at Zapiecek... all of it was mine.
St Anne's Church is a short walk south of the Old Town. John-Paul II's portrait dominates the entrance, but the interior is stunning Baroque. Just look at the pipe organ! All of this is original, as the Church survived the WWII razing.
For 7zl, you can climb the nearby bell tower to get a bird's eye view of the Old Town, Mariensztat district and the Vistula river. It's a long but worthwhile climb up the narrow winding staircase.
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The iconic Sigismund III Vasa column in the castle square was erected in 1644 by his son/successor to his throne. It was destroyed twice (in the November Uprising and WWII) and the old columns are displayed next to the Royal Castle.
We went into the castle, which was rebuilt from scratch after the Nazis reduced it to rubble. Old paintings, plans, historical accounts and donations of period furniture were relied on to recreate the building, its interiors and its frescoes. And what a job they did, you wouldn't believe that it was completed less than 40 years ago.
The King was read to as he was dressed in the dressing room. The present-day books were donated by the French after the originals were destroyed.
The floor in the prayer room is a tapestry of different types of wood, including black-coloured oak which took 50 years to stain.
The castle houses several works of art, including paintings by Matejko and Rembrandt. This is the latter's The Jewish Bride, also known as Girl in a Picture Frame.
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After we were done, we went into the heart of the city, back to the Palace of Science and Culture. Once again, this was a "gift of friendship" from the Soviet Union. It's still the tallest building in the capital, but the debate still rages on about whether to leave it as it is or obscure it with new skyscrapers.
You can ride a fast elevator up to the top (just under the clock) for 15zl. The view is spectacular, save for the wire mesh that keeps you from falling off. Thankfully the holes are big enough for small cameras to pass through. From here the Old Town looks minuscule in the distance.
