Italy

2024 Moto Trip to Italy #

Track and POIs on Google My Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1ApmCR55ZP78ueXRnY-rPW6TI-RqS9Vo&usp=sharing

Introduction #

After visiting major automotive museums of Germany in 2023, i was looking for a way to visit Italy and France - the other countries that contributed to automotive industry in a major way. For many reasons, including rich motorcycling history, i decided to visit Italy first.

Route around Italy was planned around museums i found on these two websites:

Routes to and from Italy were ballparked. I had a list of locations that would be cool to visit, major of which were:

Before riding through major cities i researched Tripadvisor to see if there were any interesting automotive or technical museums.

Timeframe of the adventure was set by a convention in April, and a corporate event in June. I had 6 weeks. Not much for a trip that is not just about setting a high score on the odometer.

Knowing i will drive by quite a few spots I’d like to share later, I was looking for a way to record the track of my adventure. After considering expensive and/or inconvenient solutions, i discovered Waze keeps record of every trip from the last 3 months, and there’s a way to takeout the data in proprietary format. Since i was about to use Waze for navigation anyway, i decided to develop a converter for that data after the trip. Spoiler: waze2gpx: Waze trip history to GPX converter is now available for everyone to use.

The bike choice was obvious - i liked my Suzuki Burgman 650 and the luggage setup was proven in my trip to Sweden, so after a fluid change it was ready for duty.

I used Google My Maps and Obsidian for planning. I found that i would benefit from better tools, but it was too late to build them. It took notes though. Lots of notes on issues with existing software, and how i would like the planning workflow to be. Often it felt like trip planning was not something intended to be DIY, or even D at all. I also didn’t find consensus with most motorcyclists i discussed this with. Maybe I’m just not good at explaining unfinished (and unstarted) projects.

Setup #

2024.04.20-21 #

I was helping with J-Zone organization, as usual, representing RetroMultiplayer and helping osu!Latvia with rhythm-game setups. It’s not my job, but retro PC LAN gaming is one of my major hobbies and sometimes it feels like I’m one of the titans holding it in Baltic states. It’s also just a good time with friends.

Everything was prepared to depart on Monday.

2024.04.22 - Monday #

It’s the first day of my vacation. It’s snowing. Fuck!

Well, at least i double and triple checked i packed everything i thought i needed for this trip.

2024.04.25 #

As soon as weather changed from snow to rain, i turned on seat and handlebar heating and departed. First checkpoint - Kaunas, Lithuania. It’s less than 300km from Riga, but even in good weather it’s a boring trip on mostly two-lane road with lots of trucks and not many opportunities for safe overtakes.

It’s a city i visited many times, so i didn’t look for POIs, instead i met Silicio Palėpė founder, we played some old PC games and i booped his cats.

Kaunas to Warsaw is ~410km, but i knew i could ride faster with fewer stops after i cross the border into Poland. I was confident i could reach the next milestone the next day.

2024.04.26 #

I filled a full tank and invaded Poland around noon.

Stopped in Suwalki for some pasta in Rozmarino Przystanek ze Smakiem i Klimatem. Fought and won a battle with mPay to pay for parking.

Rode some more miles with a fuel stop at Szczuczyn, where barbecue supplies are on the same shelf as grave candles.

Reached Warsaw at 7pm. Checked into Victory Home Rooms hotel and went for a lunch to Pizzeria Włoskie Klimaty Warszawa where i discovered Birra Moretti. I didn’t know yet, but it’s now my favorite beer, and a flavor that marks the end of a day well wasted.

The plan was to stay in Warsaw for a couple days and visit a couple museums i didn’t have time for on my last visit here.

2024.04.27 #

First on the list after very average morning coffee and sandwich, was National Museum of Technology in Warsaw. Automotive section is very solid, and computer section has lots of interesting exhibits as well.

Afterwards, i visited Warszawskie Muzeum Komputerow i Gier. It’s a small videogame museum, but lots of playable exhibits. Quite a few multiplayer opportunities, so having Player 2 is recommended.

I woke up early, didn’t feel like wasting any time, but after just 2 museums it’s already 5pm and i need to be looking for venues that are open after usual working hours. Went to United Axe Throwers. Good luck to anyone considering “special military operation” in Poland. In every large city there’s at least one venue where people drink alcohol and throw axes. This is just how poles spend saturday evenings.

I was almost knocked out at 7pm, so i had beer and snacks at the same pizzeria as the day before and went to sleep earlier than usual.

2024.04.28 - Sunday #

Visited Museum of Evolution and spider exhibition. It was fine.

Then, visited Centrum Pieniądza NBP im. Sławomira S. Skrzypka. Excellent money museum. Not just coins and banknotes, but history of trading, investment, loans and stock market. Entrance was free, so i had to queue for a very long time.

Pasta with chicken was disappointing so i needed more bird. Went to Papugarnia Warsaw Carmen and it was much more fun than i expected. These kinds of parrot petting zoos are in most big cities of Poland, just look up “Papugarnia” on Google Maps.

On my 3rd day of riding in Poland i noticed polish motorcyclists don’t salute. There’s just too many of them. Parking a car in the center of Warsaw seems to be very challenging, so 2-wheeled vehicles are just a way to reach the destination.

Had another pizza and Birra Moretti in the same pizzeria. Decided to ride to the next city in the morning, since most museums are closed on mondays.

Considered skipping Krakow because half of Tripadvisor were tours to Auschwitz. Took me a while to find reasons to visit it, besides abstract suggestions it’s a “nice” city.

2024.04.29 - Monday #

Woke up without alarm at 5:30, well rested and ready to ride 400km.

Packed my bike and went 165km/h to Częstochowa. Bought an underwhelming slice of pizza in a local bakery, realized Museum of the Production of Matches is open by appointment only, and opening hours on Google Maps were bullshit, and proceeded towards Krakow.

Checked into Major Hotel and realized i should get an HDMI cable to use TV as a second monitor for my laptop. Previous hotel in Warsaw also had a small TV on the desk.

Rode to the center of Krakow and realized my Burgman is too wide for this city. Don’t get me wrong, this was on purpose. Much like Riga, streets were narrow historically, and it’s very hard to convince normies that sidewalks and bike lanes are a good use of space, but most streets here were very well organized and usable on 2 wheels. That is, if you accept the vibe. The vibe of Krakow is 30km/h. Sure, technically the speed limit can be 50km/h, but there will be bushes, flower pots and what not that block visibility, and if you know polish driving culture, make sure to notice even locals drive 30km/h here. In many ways, traffic organization is similar to Tallinn, which is very unusual for Poland.

Visited Kraków Pinball Museum. It’s focused on pinball machines, with enough inventory to display evolution of the genre from purely mechanical games to significantly computerized modern machines. There were also a couple arcade cabinets with fighting games, but it’s clearly a side quest of this venue.

The next stop was Krakow Arcade Museum. I genuinely consider this venue a reason to visit Krakow. Lots of real arcade machines, including rhythm games imported from Japan. Lots of fighting games and co-op beat ’em ups as well. Some pinball machines for good measure. Player 2 highly recommended for best experience.

2024.04.30 #

Bought an HDMI cable.

Stopped at the Ford dealership to check out new Courier Tourneo. It has holes in the top shelf above sun visors to make sure you don’t forget the crap you put there.

Visited Muzeum Inżynierii i Techniki. One of the best technology museums I’ve seen. Hours of content - lots of exhibits, well written articles explaining significance of a particular technology. First, i ran out of battery in my phone. Then, i ran out of time. In ~4 hours i managed to see half of the museum.

I had to overcome some mobile internet issues. The issue was i didn’t want to pay 5€ for extra data, so i found a Jewish history museum and managed to connect to its free Wi-Fi from the outside so i don’t have to pay entry fee.

Then i visited Bricks & Figs - a very large collection of LEGO minifigures, but also quite a few LEGO vehicles, castles etc. sets. I started realizing quite a few expensive hobbies can be set up as a tax write-off.

Knew about this restaurant for a while, finally got a chance to visit (after an hour in queue). Tawerna Wilczy Dół is a Witcher-themed restaurant. Staff is in cosplay, there’s an option to pay with “in-game currency”, an axe throwing booth on site. But i suggest booking a table in advance. Queue most days is hours long.

2024.05.01 #

Visited Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego. A very large airplane museum. Lots of exhibits representing various ages of aviation technology - from leather-over-wood planes to modern fighter jets. Highly recommend visiting “engine room”. Lots of engines in chronological order, from early car-like inline engines, to radial aviation-specific motors, to jet engines. It was very interesting to see evolution of ICE, how it started with layouts that might as well power a car, and ended with highly specific layouts that prioritize visibility in fighter planes.

Another stop at Muzeum Inżynierii i Techniki to see what i didn’t have time for the day before. Saw iPad as a “historical milestone”. Felt old. Learned scooters were considered “ideologically hostile” by commies. Don’t be a commie, scooters are cool.

Spent half an hour in a 24/7 laundromat and went to sleep. This was my last night in Poland before departing to Czechia.

2024.05.02 #

Did you know poles can make tasty waffles, they just don’t export them? Goplana Grześki Toffi is in every Biedronka here. Not available in Baltic states. Motherfuckers.

Visited Central Museum of Firefighting. Not what i expected, but a museum dedicated to the idea of water pumps and ladders on wheels. Not a bad museum and it was along the route anyway, but i cannot recommend to detour just to visit it.

Stopped at the legendary Kebab u Alika 2. Absolutely worth a detour. Excellent kebab.

Stopped at Indian Motorcycle Katowice that is also a Peugeot Scooter dealership. Checked out their top of the line 3-wheel scooter. Staff was super friendly and i almost took a scooter for a test-drive, but didn’t feel adventurous enough to take someone else’s bike for a ride in unfamiliar city.

Bought a couple extra t-shirts in Decathlon and rode to Kopřivnice.

Checked into Vila Machů hotel, went to a nearby bar that had horse parking, then had a good sleep.

2024.05.03 #

Went straight to Tatra truck museum - Muzeum nákladních automobilů Tatra v Kopřivnici. A must-visit museum for every vehicle enthusiast. Tatra trucks had quite a few weird engineering solutions, and the museum is excellent and highlighting them. Lots of exhibits, most information panels are translated to English, and there’s a mobile app available with extra content, including Augmented Reality overlays.

Then i visited Tatra passenger car museum - Muzeum osobních automobilů Tatra v Kopřivnici. Much like the truck museum of the same brand - has lots of interesting exhibits. Tatra cars were always weird and ahead of its time. Museum itself is not as sophisticated as truck museum, but there are lots of unique exhibits and information tablets are available for most of them

Third museum - MOTO AUTO MUSEUM - OLDTIMER. Small collection of old cars and motorcycles. Most exhibits don’t have any information besides make/model/year, so i was looking up info on Wikipedia etc.

That was basically it for this small city. Before i spent the last night in Kopřivnice, i went through Tripadvisor looking for reasons to stay in Brno, and found a Jet Fighter Flight Service. At 1000€/15min, this was a very low priority POI for me. I marked one technical museum on my map and estimated i could reach Austria the same day if i depart early and don’t spend an entire day in one museum.

2024.05.04 #

Checked out early and reached Technické muzeum v Brně. A very average technical museum. Variety of topics, lots of interesting exhibits, but very lackluster descriptions for most exhibits and many items lacked context that would explain significance of a particular invention. Computer history area was very good. Lots of exhibits of mainframe era, as well as DOS and early Windows PC hardware. Some exhibits were interactive. Music and cinematography areas were also pretty cool.

On the way out i visited Campus Square to have lunch and book a hotel. The shopping mall had a dedicated parking area for motorcycles that was pretty cool but i struggled to maneuver my thicc Burgman in and out.

I was about to ride into Austria. To be honest, I’m not a big fan of German ways of doing things. I don’t like being in Germany, but i hoped Austria would be better. Trying to find POIs in Vienna was a struggle. Artsy-fartsy museums and art collections mostly. And hotels were expensive. And they want me to buy a vignette for a motorcycle. It looked like the vibe is deteriorating rapidly since i left Krakow, but i was not prepared for how bad my day in Vienna would be.

Trying to save money on accommodation, i booked a hotel in a nearby city of Gablitz. While riding to Gablitz through Tulln, i noticed a suspicious amount of vintage cars on the roads, and billboards advertising Oldtimer Messe Tulln being open the next day. Plans i made were immediately postponed one day to visit the car show.

And then i noticed i didn’t estimate how long it would take to get to the hotel. The mountains were on the horizon since Kopřivnice, but now in Austria they were actually impacting curvature of roads and the amount of bicyclists on them. Oh yeah, it was fun to ride curvy roads on a motorcycle, but time estimates did not line up with the flat countries i usually traveled. I had to be more cautious planning my schedule from now on and check duration of trips, not just distance.

I reached the Hotel Austria Bei Wien i booked. Did you notice the name? It’s a Chinese hotel. All personnel is Chinese, all furniture and appliances are Chinese. Service menu is in German… and Chinese. It was good value and i didn’t have any issues with the room or service, but it was weird, it felt like i ordered a German hotel on Wish.com.

I hopped into Pizzeria Casa Giovanni, they had dinosaur-shaped pizza, but Wi-Fi is so bad i couldn’t watch YouTube in 144p (i did not skip a “0” in that statement). I added Museum of Contraception and Abortion and Funeral Museum to my list of POIs in Vienna. I was still clueless and optimistic.

2024.05.05 #

Oldtimer Messe Tulln was great. Lots of vintage cars, motorcycles, tractors and cheese. I guess it’s because cheese comes as wheels.

Then i rode 40km to Museum für Verhütung und Schwangerschaftsabbruch and it was closed, even though opening hours indicated it should be open that date/time. There was a phone number on the door, i called it, and no one answered.

Besides usual German not willing to work, i had my first experience of urban infrastructure in Vienna. It’s absolutely horrible. Food delivery guys ride electric scooters on sidewalks, because motorcycles are not allowed to be parked anywhere but designated parking spots. Lane splitting on narrow lanes with my Burgman is pretty much impossible, so i was stuck in traffic with all the cars. But unlike cars, i didn’t have air conditioning on my bike. In my opinion, it’s a legendary clusterfuck of city planning if I’d rather rot in a cage than ride a bike.

The next day was Monday, and most museums are closed on Mondays. I was still in Austria. The future looked grim.

2024.05.06 - Monday #

Rode to Vienna again. Since it’s Monday, i needed to pay for parking. The parking app is German only, and throws error when trying to create a new account. Fucking excellent German engineering. Museum staff suggested hotel parking nearby with a contactless card terminal. I should have suspected it’s not cheap by the lack of cheap beater cars inside, but ok, parking tickets are likely more expensive anyway.

Visited Vienna Museum of Science & Technology. Infuriatingly bad museum with epic amounts of wasted potential. Considering just as bad parking situation, i suggest skipping this museum altogether, unless you’re into research of failed alt-science leftist virtue-signaling and inclusivity of unworthy individuals. It has interesting exhibits, but the way they’re presented overweight any good intent. It has maker lab on site though. That’s cool i guess.

Walked out disappointed, discovered parking costs 32€. Together with museum ticket that’s 48€ and i did not have a good time.

I had the hotel booked for one more night, and spent the evening plotting my escape plan. I wanted to spend the next night in Italy, and confident it’s possible, despite autobahn pavement conditions.

2024.05.07 #

Woke up early to go to Italy, and rode 30km in the opposite direction to visit Fiat Museum Ambros. It’s a vast collection of interesting and historically significant Italian vehicles, but almost no information on them. Unless you know something about italian car history it might be a disappointing experience, but i enjoyed this museum a lot. If you have a co-pilot that can be your guide - definitely worth a visit.

Then i had a 100km detour to Gaming to take a selfie with a city name sign. First thing i see when i arrive is a woman in “Fortnite” shirt walking a dog. Also had a pizza in Pizzeria Ötscherland.

After many more hours of riding i managed to enter Italy, and i wish weather would be better that day, because change of scenery and architecture was really enjoyable on that route. While in Austria, it seemed like Germans built roads through the beautiful mountains and called it a day, while Italians tried build cities on the same kind of landscape. It was also the first time where i could see verticality of the routes I’m taking - first i see a viaduct really high up in the mountains, and some 20 minutes later i realize I’m riding on that viaduct.

At 600+km through mountains, this was one of the longest days of riding on the trip, i arrived to my hotel around 10pm, exhausted. I was greeted by Italian grandpa that didn’t speak English at all, but through Google Translate i managed to buy a beer from him to finish the day in a good mood.

2024.05.08 #

Weather report was as reliable as everything else in Italy. I checked out of hotel and was immediately wet and miserable in what Apple Weather reported as “cloudy”.

Looked up a place to have a coffee. Breakfast i ordered in Bar Gardel was forgettable, but the vibe wasn’t. It was Wednesday morning, 10am, Italian grandpas were drinking wine, arguing and sometimes fighting. A friendly reminder that stereotypes are grounded in reality.

Even worse than the squat toilet was my plan for the day. Almost all POIs i planned for the route to Verona had opening hours like “by appointment only” or “open for two hours every other Tuesday unless it’s raining”. I rode to Buffalo Ranch (Fattoria Abarth) and was told to come back on Saturday, maybe they will be open.

I needed a place with snacks and Wi-Fi to come up with a Plan B, and such places are rare in Italy. It took me an hour to find a shop that sold Monster Energy and cookies. Everywhere else I’ve been, gas stations are 24/7 oasis for travelers, but not here. Most gas stations in Italy sell fuel and cigarettes only, and if you need a toilet your best bet is a bush outside.

So i went further down the road towards Milan and my expectations didn’t quite match the scenery. I expected Italy to look like cs_italy in Counter-Strike 1.6, but it was more like a mix of Trackmania and Serious Sam. Cities had narrow roads and intersections with the wildest geometry, with houses you cannot enter (because everything’s closed). Between cities there were vast patches of flat ground, mostly agricultural, but also some low-poly factory and warehouse buildings. Mountains on the horizon contrasted with flat agricultural land in close proximity, and maybe it’s due to my bad eyesight, but it looked like Unreal Engine 1 game with sharp landscape geometry and blurry skyboxes.

I stopped by a Honda dealership that had both Forza 750 and Forza 350, i wanted to compare these models side-by-side for a long time. With more things to be mad about i continued my journey towards a museum that seemed to have normal opening hours.

It took me a while to get anywhere, and by my estimates i would arrive to a museum 30 minutes before closing, so i booked a hotel with horses outside. Rode to the hotel, found no horses, no staff, everything’s closed. I wasn’t even surprised to be honest. Called a support phone number and they promised a staff would arrive later. Horses were misleading marketing, i was bamboozled.

I opened a bottle of Castello and a window of Obsidian, and spent an evening plotting a new, much more streamlined Plan B.

2024.05.09 #

I had my included breakfast and went to visit Museum of the Automobile “Bonfanti-VIMAR”. It was a small museum, but a very well maintained one, with interesting exhibits, and most of them had descriptions in English. It finally felt like i arrived to Italy.

Then i found an open grocery store and it finally felt like civilization has arrived to Italy together with me.

After riding some beautiful mountain roads behind shart-colored Fiat Multipla i arrived to museum that had no opening hours stated anywhere on the internet. Gate on the parking lot was closed, there was no signage, i didn’t feel like attempting to book an appointment.

Went further down the road towards yet another motorcycle museum, found a signage stating parking is closed between 12:00 and 15:30, and stopped at Ristorante pizzeria Jolly. They didn’t serve salads in bread crust on Saturdays, whatever that means. Water tap in the toilet was pedal-operated. Pizza was expensive and very average.

I booked a room in Albergo Ristorante La Rovere and received a message that check-in closes in at 19:00. Another day wasted, i had no chance of visiting any museums in just 4 hours.

Then i went back to the museum i was waiting to open, just to find that parking is indeed open now, but the museum itself is by appointment only.

Figured out i do indeed have something to do between early check-in and bedtime - my Plan B needed even more culling. Went to wash my clothes in a nearby laundromat and set my destination to the hotel i booked.

Noticed Italian Fiat Punto drivers are like Latvian Volvo drivers - avoid them as much as possible. Was chased by a Maserati hearse down the road - i was following the coachbuilder on social media for a while, but seeing one in person was unexpected. Most hearses in Latvia are just black vans, but for Italians style is a priority.

Checked into a hotel room with a view on a backyard full of scrap cars. Color scheme and the mirror on the wall made it look like I’m out of bounds in a Half-Life mod. There was a desk with a TV and i was nuking 3/4 of my initial wishlist of museums to visit. No private collections, no museums with vague opening hours, no private collections and “by appointment only” stuff. Big brands, and big museums only. I had plenty of time but was running out of patience - i did not want to waste time and money riding around land with barely any points of interest or services.

2024.05.10 #

Woke up and had my included breakfast accompanied by noises coming from the kitchen, that sounded like either juicer or mafia.

Had to delete even more museums from my shortlist. Stellantis museum was open 3 days a week and by appointment only, another Fiat museum was open 2 days per month.

Went to pack my bike and found a nice cock. He was busy with his chicken.

Visited Museo Nicolis. It was a refreshingly good automotive museum with 3 floors of very interesting vehicles and components. Italian engineering and design degeneracy was on full display. With my knowledge of American, German and British automotive culture of the same era there was so much to see about Italian ways of doing the same. Much enjoyed was the historical context of various decades represented - there were women’s fashion on mannequins and memorabilia of the era. One of the floors is almost entirely motorcycles and bicycles with lots of interesting exhibits. Not all exhibits had information tablets though. The toilet has a bowl, and is not just a hole in the floor.

With my mood on a high note i discovered the public transport museum is open until 16:00, it’s 14:00, and it takes an hour to reach it.

Went to see Museo Mille Miglia instead, and it was very good as well. It had racing cheese, racing cars and lots of stories in English for most exhibits.

Booked a cheap hotel in 100km on the way towards Milan and departed. Stopped for fuel at some point and discovered the gas station in the middle of fucking nowhere had a bar, and there were Italians drinking and arguing. Not sure how they got there, and what’s their plan to get back home, i decided not to question people who mount headlights to a spare tire.

As i was approaching Albergo Ristorante Costa, the road became curvy AF and gained elevation rapidly. The the road to the hotel was a proper mountain pass from both directions, and very enjoyable on a motorcycle. There were lots of bicyclists having fun as well. I didn’t take any good pictures because i’m not sure it’s possible with a phone. I didn’t notice when booking, but it was a fancy hotel on a mountain, and not cheap at all, i just got a good discount. The room was small, the view out the window was crap, and there was some large family gathering or something, with lots of noisy kids running around. The food however, was top notch. I had my overpriced ravioli and a good rest. All the toilets on the venue had proper bowls.

2024.05.11 #

I departed towards Milan, and that meant driving through the summit of the mountain at 1340m above sea level. There was a pit-stop point for bicyclists and motorcyclists with food trucks that served with some very average sandwiches. I met a local guy on a very tastefully modified Yamaha T-Max, but unfortunately he didn’t speak any English and i wasn’t looking to bother him with Google Translate app.

The next section looked like a challenging windy downhill touge. I switched Burgman’s CVT into Power Mode to avoid overheating brakes, and had to remember everything i was learning in a motorcycle school. It was a proper workout to get down to the sea level in less than 20km. One of the highlights of this trip for sure.

At the bottom of the mountain was the official Moto Guzzi Museum. It was small but enjoyable. Both historical and current models on exhibit, as well as various engines and limited production prototypes. One of the exhibited engines caught my eye by having a propeller attached to it, and no information listed whatsoever. Museum staff stated it’s because of military application. That makes sense, it does look like it could be good for a drone, and being a part of Piaggio group, Moto Guzzi is a defense subcontractor. Toilets were of the hole in the floor variety.

The next stop was Museo Agusta and it was disappointing for a motorcycle enthusiast. Agusta had the laziest and ugliest designs that would sell. It was pretty obvious they did not enjoy the bikes and were not looking to innovate, it was just a way for the company to stay afloat. Might be cool if you’re into aviation though. Lots of helicopter parts, has a sophisticated flight simulator setup on site.

I needed a lunch and Wi-Fi, so i stopped at Genc kebap that had both. Isn’t it weird that Turks make the best fast food anywhere in the world? This was a better meal than most pizza and pasta i had in Italy.

I booked a room in Hotel Motel Ovest. It was not great, but you don’t get a lot of choice looking for cheap accommodation around Milan. There’s lots of automotive/motorcycling museums in the area though.

2024.05.12 #

Went to a McDonalds and ordered “Ice Latte” with my breakfast. Got served a glass of cold milk. Turns out what i wanted is called “Latte Macchiato Freddo” here, and i should also try “Caffè shakerato”.

Got really tired of public Wi-Fi here, in Germany and Austria. Most of them require logging in with either a local phone number, or a social media account. The issue is all my social media has 2FA enabled, and switching to Authenticator app resets the login flow, requiring a different auth code every time. So unless you have two devices - it’s impossible to log in. I’m not pulling out a MacBook every time i hop in for a snack, and watching YouTube while I’m eating becomes an expensive habit. Carrying two phones or a phone and a small tablet might be a good idea for my next big adventure.

Noticed the bugs hit different in Italy, and I’m not talking about finding issues in code. While riding through more northern countries in Europe - insects splat on the windscreen, but here in Italy they knock and deflect like dropped AirPods.

So anyway, i reached the Alfa Romeo Museum. It’s a very good official museum, lots of exhibits telling stories of both eras of Alfa Romeo - as a racing team, and as a production vehicle manufacturer. Relation to Ferrari in early years explained thoroughly, and also the brand image throughout history. If you drink every time you see a car with rear view mirrors, you leave sober.

There was another museum nearby that i would definitely skip if i wasn’t lucky to be around in the exact time it’s open. Museo delle Industrie e del Lavoro Saronnese is a private collection of private collections, open for just a few hours every other day. Piles upon piles of old industrial machines and technology products. Railway equipment, vehicles, furniture, cookie and chocolate production machinery, automated sock knitting machines etc. Barely any information tablets. Most staff don’t speak English. One of the grandpas on entrance spoke some English so he volunteered to guide me through. I would not suggest taking a detour or spending extra on accommodation just to get in, but it’s not the worst way to spend an hour or two if you can visit it without jumping through hoops.

I had just enough time to visit one more museum in the same area - Museo della Motocicletta Frera. It’s a museum dedicated to a motorcycle brand i didn’t know existed. Frera built bikes in early XX century, and the museum keeps quite a few original and restored exhibits, and also competitors of the same era and well into late XX century Pre-WW2 bikes were especially interesting as that was the wild west of motorcycle engineering, there were seemingly no bad ideas, all kinds of weird engineering solutions were attempted to build what was basically a loud bicycle.

I found a pizzeria that serves pizza with fries on the pizza. In Italy. In Milan suburbs. It was not great.

Booked the Hotel Riviera, Segrate for two nights. I was told driving a personal vehicle into Milan is a nightmare in more than one way, and there was a train station in walking distance from that particular hotel.

While scrolling Google Maps, found the Garage Beer and walked there. It’s a biker bar, with lots of motorcycles parked on the terrace. I don’t know how they combine drinking and riding, and i wasn’t social enough to ask. Had a late night beer and left.

2024.05.13 #

It was Monday, and the weather was crap, but i was about to visit another major milestone of the trip.

Casa Lambretta is a museum dedicated to Lambretta scooters and their competitors. Spent 3+ hours here. Lots of exhibits and tablets with information about quirks and features of various historically significant models.

I went back to the hotel, left my bike here and took a train to the center of Milan to meet with a friend and try to have a good time in a bad city. The process of buying train tickets in ATM Milano app wasn’t straightforward and i wish i had documented it. Most of the Milan is dirty and not welcoming. There were thieves and tourist scammers of expected skin color “working” openly and unbothered by the police. The condition of vehicles brought to the center was worse than usual even by Italian standards - it was pretty clear locals don’t expect their property to be respected.

I had an achievement set for this trip - to take a picture of a statue near Italian Stock Exchange. It was probably meant to invoke some thoughts about socioeconomic issues of the society, but the entire city of Milan is such a dirty and welcoming place i couldn’t think rationally. I took a picture and escaped back to the hotel.

The idea to visit Milan for one more day and see some Leonardo da Vinci Museums (there were multiple) was abandoned, and i was looking to spend the remaining days of the trip in places i didn’t have to check my pockets every minute. I plotted a rough plan for tomorrow and walked to the bar again trying to chill. Found a knife on the street that had the opposite effect.

2024.05.14 #

Since i entered Italy, i set my Waze routing settings to avoid toll roads. Since i was riding around small villages and agricultural areas - paying for toll roads wouldn’t save me any time, and i was enjoying the scenery of rural Italy.

The route from Milan to Modena though, looked like it would make sense to pay for some straight well maintained pavement, that was usually in short supply in Italy. I entered the toll road through a wrong gate and had to pay ~50€ instead of 12€. The UI/UX of toll road system was very Italian.

There were two Ferrari museums to visit. I went to Enzo Ferrari Museum first, and it was basically a showroom with extra features. Engineering and features take a second place, this “museum” is all about buying into the brand, and if you can’t afford the whole car they have overpriced souvenirs of all kinds. There was a small area dedicated to engines and chassis, and information tablets there looked like AI-generated slop.

There is a second Ferrari museum in the area - Museum Ferrari Maranello. That one was much more traditional learning experience. It had areas explaining evolution of body materials and different shaping processes used in production and racing vehicles - from aluminum to modern composites. Exhibits presented really made me respect Toyota and Honda build quality. Every single car exhibited had mismatched panel gaps and blemishes. Structural welds weren’t anything to be proud of. Seemingly no thought whatsoever was spent making sure the cars are daily drivable. Work put into engine and suspension design was definitely respectable, and race results proved their craftsmanship as racecar builders, but i would definitely not want to own any of these vehicles. Not after seeing builds like HGK. By the way, to park a motorcycle here, you need to buy a ticket, and leave it on the windscreen. Can’t make this shit up.

Between these two Ferrari museums, i managed to visit a Maserati showroom. It’s a much more grounded brand and their cars do seem to be better daily drivers. I guess it makes sense to target a different audience, since both Ferrari and Maserati are owned by Fiat. There were a couple engines exhibited with significant engineering choices pointed out on description tablets. A 100% skippable POI though, unless you’re considering purchase of a vehicle from this brand.

The last museum that day was Old Racing Spare Parts. It’s actually a dealership of spare parts for vintage Ducati models, but they have a private museum that can be visited by appointment. I didn’t make an appointment, but managed to have a quick tour of their collection. The employee didn’t have a lot of time and exhibits didn’t have any information. It looked like a private club of sorts.

There were a couple restaurants in the area, but most of them were closed, and others didn’t have Wi-Fi. I needed food and Wi-Fi. In one of the smaller pizzerias staff offered to share a hotspot from his personal phone and i immediately ordered a pizza there. The pizza was ok.

Went to a familiar laundromat chain with a bag of stinky clothes. Instructions stated “Insert payment card”. The terminal accepted cash only. I did not have any cash. Went back to the hotel with my bag of stinky clothes. Made me think how consistency is a lifeblood of a brand. It’s not enough to make a good product once in a while to build a reputable brand. In fact, a brand that is never excellent, but never garbage either - has a better chance to have business with me.

I checked into a hotel with 3mbps Wi-Fi and researched 3-wheeled scooters. They’re very popular in Italy, and besides supposedly better traction, they exploit a legal loophole in EU driving license laws - having 3 wheels allow them to be ridden on a car license but with bigger than 125cc engines. Earlier that day on a Enzo Ferrari Museum parking lot a met a couple traveling on a Yamaha Tricity and asked why they chose Yamaha instead of Piaggio or Peugeot. They stated Yamaha is lighter and cheaper than competitors, and they previously had a Burgman. At exactly 22:00 hotel Wi-Fi was turned off, but luckily i already made plans for the next day and just went to sleep.

2024.05.15 #

Went to Horacio Pagani Museo first thing in the morning. Was lucky to be just in time to join a group for a factory tour. I knew about Pagani cars, but i was not prepared to learn about the production facility and culture. There is a fundamental difference between comparatively mass-produced “supercars” like Ferrari and Lamborghini, and the way Pagani craft a vehicle for a customer. What i saw just a day before in the official Ferrari museums is considered QA failure here. Every vehicle starts with two thick binders logging every step of production - who makes a part, what materials are used, what kind of customization is applied, and how many tries it took to make a final part installed on the vehicle. The entire parts warehouse is the size of a small grocery store, and most of that is wiring, connectors, hardware, and units produced by 3rd parties. Most of the car parts that are not off the shelf generic component are made just in time for a specific vehicle. The entire facility is spotless and it’s mostly workers responsibility to keep their workstation clean. Another surprise was the amount of women employed in manufacturing, but it actually makes sense if you remember carbon fiber is fabric, and it’s not just interior, but most of the chassis and body requires precisely cut patterns. There was a statue of a Mickey Mouse “borrowed” from Disneyland. After the factory tour i walked through the main museum section and learned the company was this way for decades at this point. I could not find a single Philips head fastener on any of the products, and most hardware on the current models is Pagani-branded.

Then i visited Lamborghini Automobile Museum. It had no visitor parking, and most Wi-Fi networks had “vw-” and “audi-” prefixes. Historically, Lamborghini started making cars after being disappointed with Ferrari, and Pagani started making cars after being disappointed with Lamborghini. And nowadays, i think this hierarchy still applies. Early vehicles look like a better version of Ferrari, and newer post-Audi vehicles look like Audi with a premium skin. What i did not enjoy, was the amount of cars with PPF badly applied. There was a significant vibe of cheap yellowed phone cases, or even TV remotes wrapped in a bag. It’s not fair to compare Lambo and Pagani because price difference is 5x to 10x, but i was questioning, can owners of these Lambos really afford them, or is it a financial mistake? The only exhibits that made me think “Fuck yeah!” were worn and torn cup cars. There was a rental service across the street from the museum, but i don’t see how driving a supercar on Italian roads could be enjoyable.

The roads towards my next destination were flash-flooded, i was looking for a detour and found a McWrap with Parmigiano Reggiano. I intended to try more local food on this trip, but most restaurants in Italy do not have Wi-Fi, so i end up in fast food chains.

Checked into the Hotel Al Flor. Smoking is prohibited, but rooms have ash trays.

Had another unlucky encounter with Italian laundromats. The first one i found had a weird coin-operated payment terminal with separate payments for laundry detergent and actual wash cycle. It didn’t trigger properly, so i wasted 7€ and half an hour to make my dry stinky clothes wet and stinky. Went looking for a different laundromat, and found one 2x cheaper down the road. I should have learned sooner not to waste money on automated services that look like DIY Arduino projects.

After wasting the rest of the day dealing with laundry, i desperately wanted to have a drink. Unfortunately, when Google Maps states the nearby bar is open, and there’s “APERTO” sign on the door, it doesn’t mean the bar is actually open. I ended up having a 5km walk around the area and couldn’t find a single open bar.

When all hope was lost, i encountered a hotel employee that answered by call for “una birra por favore” and got me a bottle of Birra Moretti.

I went back to my room and realized the Wi-Fi password is not written anywhere in the room or public spaces.

2024.05.16 #

Went to a Vespa museum to discover it’s closed due to flood. Nice way to start the day.

On my way towards the next museum, i stopped at the supermarket to kill some time and saw a Honda Helix in person. Sadly, it doesn’t make sense for me to own this kind of garage queen. Maybe someday, when i have my own house in the middle of nowhere.

While eating another mediocre slice of pizza i had a closer look at Museo Piaggio opening times. You need to schedule your visit at the specific time, and the visit duration is limited to 1 hour. While the entrance costs just 5€, my ballpark estimate was >200€ when i added fuel and accommodation cost.

Another blow to my honest attempt to enjoy Italy was Stelvio Pass webcam footage that showed generous amounts of snow.

I decided to cut my losses and speedrun towards Austria after the museum i was waiting to be opened.

National Motorcycle Museum had excellent variety of vintage motorcycles and what was considered a motorcycle in the early days of the industry. Both restored exhibits and survivors. It’s very hard not to call it a hoarder’s garage, but organization and exhibit descriptions were lacking. I could only recommend this museum if you’re in the area anyway and really like motorcycles. They had chickens though.

I plotted the straightest and fastest route towards Red Bull Museum i could, but was not prepared for what would happen next. I was riding in the fast lane of a toll autobahn when Waze notified me of “unplowed snow on the road ahead”. I thought someone fat-fingered a report and continued riding as usual. Then i saw the reported snow on the road. Then i had to lift the shades because it suddenly got very dark, like 10pm dark in the late afternoon. The hail started, dropping beads 5-7mm in diameter, and then mixed them with heavy rain. The autobahn was instantly flooded, cars started lane-splitting trying to hide beneath the bridge ahead and blocked me from lane splitting, completely boxed me in with no way to reach cover. I was standing less than 20 meters from cover getting completely soaked for maybe 15 minutes, but it sure felt like eternity. When hail calmed down to a regular rain, traffic started moving slowly, but the road was still flooded and i had very bad visibility due to my glasses being wet, with no way, nor point to wipe them. I moved over to a hard shoulder, took off my glasses (i have -4 myopia and severe astigmatism) and set sail through water up to floorboards. Coolant temperature gauge dropped out of range, i was hitting every pothole with my dinky wheels because i couldn’t see where i was going, but i was going towards the nearest service station.

I wasn’t sure Happy Meal will make me happy so i settled for a box of Chicken McNuggets. There was no way i could get dry, so as soon as skies cleared up i went back on the autobahn towards Verona. There was no way to reach Austria before 8pm check-in deadline of most cheap hotels, so i had to spend another night in a country i absolutely hated at this point.

2024.05.17 #

It was cold in my gear still wet from yesterday’s flood, stupid fucking piece of shit Zyxel LTE2566 router needed to be restarted twice per hour to stay online, but i was making steady progress towards Salzburg.

It felt like a very late arrival, but i still had a couple hours before Red Bull Hangar-7 closing time. I expected to pay entry fee and get free energy drinks, but it was surprisingly the other way around. We live in a clown world where lifestyle brand advertisement is better equipped to be a museum than most actual museums i visited so far. Almost every exhibit had information about athlete, why the vehicle was special, and what challenges had to be overcome, with craftsmanship and engineering proud on display. Everything was clean and polished. There was no trace of “fuck it” anywhere in the building. They had a couple trees in oversized buckets around chill area, which was usual to see, until i found a 2-meter tall board elaborating in small font on specific tree species planted here. A lemonade manufacturer can’t just plant a fucking tree, they have to be balls to the wall about everything. I still prefer Monster Energy as a drink, but Red Bull is most certainly a superior brand.

I had a box of chicken nuggets and a financial disaster. There were no cheap hotels around Salzburg. After being stuck in a 6km long queue of campervans i reached an overpriced hotel and ordered some overpriced sausages. As more campervans were slowly progressing towards 29€/night pieces of land with no infrastructure (wild camping is illegal in Austria), i was looking through booklets advertising local museums. Some of them looked worth visiting.

Wi-Fi barely worked so i went to sleep.

2024.05.18 #

Austria takes great pride in their composers, but not so much in painters. Top 100 attractions on Tripadvisor listed things like pickle statue, but i found some automotive/engineering POIs to visit.

On my last year’s trip to Germany i visited the main Porsche Museum, but it was a big family, and there are multiple museums to visit. I started the day with Hans-Peter Porsche Traumwerk. It has a couple cars, but it’s mostly a toy museum. Hans-Peter was a huge model railroad enthusiast, and there are multiple very well detailed setups exhibited. Another tax write-off to see is a massive collection of tin toys, dolls and other kinds of vintage toys. Again, this is not a car museum, but there’s cool stuff to see.

My Burgman started flashing oil level warning, so i topped up engine oil and visited yet another Porsche museum.

Ferdinand Porsche Erlebniswelten fahr(T)raum is a museum dedicated to Ferdinand Porsche’s work before he copied Tatra V570 to create VW Beetle. There’s lots to see, as before Adolf Hitler’s order that reset DNA of Porsche vehicles, Ferdinand expressed a lot of variety designing Austro-Daimler, Steyr, Audi, and even contributed to train car designs. There’s area with a couple science experiment thingys for kids, and also a sim racing rig. Most exhibits have very detailed description tablets and significant design features are prominently highlighted. Overall, a very good automotive museum.

The last but not least for today, was KTM Motohall. Much like Ferrari, racing vehicles were a major part of brand marketing since the beginning. The first section of the museum is dedicated to evolution of 2-stroke and 4-stroke engines, frames and suspensions. Sure, KTM built scooters and commuter bikes as well, but most of the engineering effort historically went into winning races, a complete opposite mindset and goals to, say, Piaggio Vespa. A small and rather soulless section after current racing technology exposition was dedicated to electric drivetrains. A spiral leading to the top floor exhibits history of KTM production bikes, and there’s unexpected variety of designs, unlike current offerings. Top floor was a tribute to riders, presenting accomplishments of KTM riders in various competitions, and specific bike models used to win. A small section on the bottom floor was exhibiting Dakar Rally tech, that seemed to have nothing in common with Adventure series of production bikes they sell, but spiritually they’re similar i guess.

After 3 museums i was so tired i accidentally booked an apartment instead of hotel in a place that looked like Austrian version of Dobele. At least it had Wi-Fi and there was no caravan of campervans outside.

2024.05.19 - Pilsen, Czechia #

I found the max speed of my Burgman to be 175km/h while i was riding towards Pilsen. Switching CVT into manual mode could make it go 185+, but i wasn’t going downhill. Full auto mode kept revs close to redline consistently.

McDonalds in Czechia had Teriyaki Rice and Sweet Chilli Poke. Traveling different countries just to try all region-locked menu items in fast food chains would be understandable.

My first stop was a Trabant/Wartburg museum that was open to groups by appointment only. I spent my karma in Pagani Museum already, and there was no group to join.

Went to visit GAME STATION muzeum her Cibien’s Corner. Excellent variety of well-maintained arcade machines. Fighting games were set up on modern emulation cabinets, but most of the other genres were on original machines. I played Starwing Paradox and a couple Japanese rhythm games. I wish i had a Player 2 for all the racing games and Xbox One Kinect setup they had, but i still had a good time.

Historically, Pilsen is a beer brewer’s Mecca, and the origin of Pilsner type of pale lager. I booked an Urquell factory tour for the next day and went to the center of the city on foot. Pivotéka a Pivovarské muzeum was a good warmup, explaining both beer manufacturing process and cultural significance of beer in the history of Pilsen city. For centuries, beer brewers selectively adopted technological advancements - they replaced horse-drawn carriages with trucks, but barrels were still made of wood, because newer vessel materials negatively impacted the taste of the product. An entry fee to the museum included a voucher for one beer in the nearby bar.

I kept walking around the city, had a portion of greasy noodles and a Chinese beer for dinner, and declined multiple offers of beer spa before calling it a day.

2024.05.20 #

As you may know, Urquell is not an indie craft establishment, but one of the Europe’s most popular beers. Great demand justifies great supply. The factory is too big to be walkable, and we had a friendly looking green bus take us through the facilities. We were shown bottling facility, brewing tanks, and finally we went underground to see barrel storage. I did not expect this kind of traditional process from a mass-produced brand, and my thoughts were interrupted by the opportunity to taste WIP beer from those barrels. This experience was definitely worth the 15€ entry fee.

I hopped into Pivstro for some good food and Wi-Fi, searched for more POIs in Prague, had one more late night walk around Pilsen, and went back to the hotel for my last night in Pilsen.

2024.05.21 - Prague, Czechia #

Noticed a weird clicking noise from the drivetrain while reversing my Burgman out of the parking lot. Didn’t seem important at the time, and after a brief stop at KFC for a Twister Pepperoni i reached Museum Jawa Konopiště.

Usually, I’m not happy about “museums” that are just a barn with a pile of vehicles double stacked with no info or context, but this one had a lot of interesting old bikes, and they were laid out in a way to get up close and observe small details on the most of them. There was a BMW R1200, Suzuki RE5 Wankel, Hercules W-2000, and obviously a massive collection of Jawa and CZ bikes, scooters, and even some Jawa automobiles.

By the time I’ve seen all exhibits in the museum, it started raining. I bought a coffee in the nearby food truck and hoped the skies would clear up soon. I had quite a list of POIs planned for Prague.

I checked into Grand Hotel Prague Towers that was more expensive and more fancy than i wanted, but staying in a hostel with no parking wouldn’t save me enough money to downgrade.

There was a Czech Police Museum within walking distance and it stopped raining, so walked to see a museum with unexpectedly good exposition of police cars, motorcycles, bicycles and specialized equipment like polygraphs, speed cameras and RC robots, from different years. There was also an area dedicated to forensics history, but I’m not a big fan of that, so didn’t bother to pull Google Lens on every tablet. Most of the information was unfortunately in Czech language.

It was too late for museums already, so i went to a highly recommended Výtopna Railway Restaurant. It’s a railroad-themed restaurant with a sophisticated computer-controlled model railroad connecting kitchen, bar, and every table. Food ordered is loaded onto a train car in the kitchen, and then the model train delivers it to a specific table. You have 15 seconds to take your food and/or load dishes onto the train, because otherwise you would cause a traffic jam, and trains delivering other customers’ orders would have to wait in queue. Every locomotive has unique color scheme and name tag. The infrastructure is well thought out and lovingly handcrafted. The food was good, but it’s not the point in this restaurant.

Walked back to the hotel and found a band of K-Pop dancers practicing in front of a glass wall.

2024.05.22 #

With a full day ahead i went to Národní technické muzeum and spent 8 hours there. Exposition presentation is a bit of a rollercoaster, but overall this museum is on par with the Krakow museum. Very elaborate exhibits and information tablets explaining context, history and significance of particular inventions. Variety of sciences presented is top notch, from fundamental physics and chemistry, to a more customer-focused industries like photography, vehicles, toys and computers. Motorcycle and bicycle sections alone can be a reason to visit this museum. The bicycle section actually explained evolution of the vehicle and failed experiments.

Next was Museum of Communism. I expected memes and socialist circlejerk, but it was a very serious venue explaining timeline of occupation by USSR. Multiple ways in which communists nationalized and devalued people’s assets were explained, as well as black markets and other systems that allowed privileged few to keep and multiply their fortune while most people were deprived of luxuries and even basic rewards for being productive members of the society. I doubt any modern leftists are capable of making conclusions from this information, but honest effort was made to explain why capitalism is a better system.

Last for that day was Sex Machines Museum. Once again i expected a shitshow, and received education instead. Quite a few vintage sex toys were exhibited, and some of them required explanation. Luckily, info tablets were provided in multiple languages.

Ordered pizza and beer, and called it a day.

2024.05.23 #

Multiple POIs i wanted to visit were open on Friday and weekends only, so i rode out of Prague to visit Sedlec Ossuary. It’s hard to describe this place without being disrespectful or downplaying the ambiance. It’s a cultural heritage that will never be repeated in the civilized world, and the closest thing to Egyptian mummies we have in Europe.

There was also Museum of Bricks Kutná Hora down the street that had a Lego build of the ossuary i just visited. Similar to Bricks & Figs in Krakow, it’s a private collection set up as a tax write-off. Still a good entertainment with many vintage sets on display.

I also noticed brand new weird noises coming from Burgman’s final drive. Yay!

The rest of the day was wasted going around motorcycle parts stores and workshops. I assume due to driving through flooded roads in Italy, small wheels and the fact it’s a fucking scooter, not an adventure bike, all wheel bearings were ruined and needed urgent replacement. I managed to source the new bearings, but getting them replaced almost made me push the bike off the bridge and get a plane ticket back home. Almost every workshop i called was happy to work on a Suzuki, until i stated it’s a Burgman 650. Nobody wants to work on this retarded unicorn of a bike. And my oil level warning was back on.

I managed to convince fine gentlemen at Mv2 Moto to book me for early morning the next day.

2024.05.24 #

The hotel i was in asked 130€ for extra night, so i needed to book a different hotel if i wanted to stay in Prague. Packed my shit and checked out, i was confident i can find a cheaper accommodation.

First thing in the morning i was back to Mv2 Moto for wheel bearing replacement. While waiting for work to be done i found Firefighter and Police pop-up excursion for school kids. They had horses and doggos, and Tatras, much joy.

With new rear brake pads and rear wheel bearings i felt optimistic and visited GAME WORLD muzeum her Cibien’s Corner at first it looked very casual with common racing and beat ’em up arcade machines, but the 2nd floor is the full nerd area. It had retro PCs and non-PC home computers like Commodore and Apple, all kinds of home consoles, including some rare gems like Apple Pippin, Nokia N-Gage and Nintendo Virtual Boy. Highly recommended venue if you’re in Prague.

The final museum that day was Cyber Arcade. They only had full-day passes, and i only had 1 hour. One financial mistake later i was in and found quite a few pinballs, arcade cabinets, rhythm games, home console setups, and also retro PC setups. I didn’t have time to research it, but there was also a slot car track. Highly recommended if you have a full day to spend and a Player 2 for co-op and PvP.

I booked another hotel for two nights and made a list of 3 railroad museums.

2024.05.25 - Saturday #

Museum of Public Transport was pretty cool. In Latvia, we had Tatra trams and Škoda trolleybuses that were renovated and adapted to new requirements as time went on, but this museum had many vehicle models in their historically accurate trim, and also various pieces of infrastructure. I mean, horses were infrastructure before tram cars gained electric traction. A very nerdy museum, probably boring for some people, but i enjoyed it.

While having a zapiekanka i noticed my phone mount situation was suboptimal. Adhesive RAM base on the top of the dashboard was starting to come off, and another knockoff RAM base on brake fluid reservoir was never solid to begin with (it was installed by previous owner, i kept it as a spare). I didn’t have any way to tether my phone to the bike in case the mount comes off so i kept checking the phone mount after every pothole.

By the time i arrived to Lužná u Rakovníka Railway Museum i was not in the mood to see any trains. I could get around without phone mount, relying on voice directions through bluetooth intercom, but it’s not a good sign when you can hear your front wheel bearings with earplugs on and music blasting, isn’t it?

I still visited the museum, but i knew i have a major problem to solve before i can ride to Poland. It was a good railway museum, the biggest I’ve seen yet. It had its own narrow-gauge track with a real small steam locomotive, that carried passengers for a lap around the train yard for extra fee. The model train section had both diorama, and individual models on shelves. Lots of cars and locomotives of different years were on display in and around depot building, and i was curious how suspension designs evolved as trains were expected to carry more and more weight towards modern times. The efficiency was also a major factor in train evolution. As much as I’d like humanity to develop sources of cheap/unlimited power, I’m confident it will degrade pace of technological advancement. Most information was in Czech language, and i was not in the mood to Google Lens and read all the stuff, knowing i should spend business hours looking for a workshop that could change my wheel bearings.

To make the day even worse, it started raining. I noticed there’s JK CLASSICS Museum of American vintage cars Lužná i didn’t notice when planning the day around railroad museums. I spent an hour looking at American cars, and unsuccessfully calling various motorcycle workshops i found on Google Maps. There was one moto workshop just around the corner, that was supposed to be open, but it wasn’t, and noone answered the phone listed on the website.

I did not get back to the hotel. On my way through Sobín the noises from the front wheel made it clear i cannot continue my ride. I stopped in the industrial area that had multiple auto/moto workshops, and every single one, including a supposedly 24/7 arrangement, was closed and didn’t answer the phone. At some point i was informed that some important hockey game is today and everyone is either already drunk or at least has their beer open. I was on my phone joining various Czech motorcycling groups on Facebook, posting a call for help. A friendly guy replied he has a van and tools to replace my bearings, and a few hours later we were on the way to his guest house.

Vojtěch was a motorcycle traveler much more experienced than me, and had set up a guesthouse camper truck in his back yard. I was the first to test it, and i wish i had more adventurous mood to enjoy it. I went to sleep still having a bike that is not roadworthy.

2024.05.26 #

The day started early, we hopped back in the van and went to fix my stupid wheel bearings. Throughout the repair process i was fighting the urge to push that plastic abomination into a ditch and taking a bus back home, but as a Trabant enthusiast Vojtěch already had enough broken plastic vehicles in his back yard. In a couple hours we managed to fix the bike and i was on my way to the last museum in Czechia.

Škoda Museum was humble but competent for a single-brand museum. The history of the company was presented thoroughly. I didn’t know the company started as Laurin & Klement, a bicycle and motorcycle manufacturer, and was among the first motorcycle brands that recognized the need for a motorcycle frame shape tailored to the engine dimensions and layout. The area explaining the process of historically accurate restoration had multiple cars on display in different stages or rebuild and there were lots of exhibits explaining how materials and processes of original parts are used to replace lost and damaged parts of the vehicles. Another interesting area was modern material lab, boasting facts like using coffee manufacturing byproducts to tan leather seats.

I pledged my allegiance to the Burger King and departed towards Poland. I had to stop to charge the intercom in my helmet, but eventually i arrived to Wrocław.

I should pay more attention when booking hotels because “parking” in Hotel ZOO meant there’s a random lot nearby. Payment app was not available for Latvian accounts in iOS App Store, and payment terminal gave me a ticket to put behind a windscreen. It’s a fucking motorcycle, how is the ticket gonna stay on the bike? Even if i tape it to the bike, anyone can steal it easily. I found a cheaper and much more secure parking lot nearby, but it was cash only. I hate cash, but it was a better option for for my 3-day stay.

Wi-Fi in my hotel room was only working if TV is on. I switched it to empty channel, muted it, and started looking for RAM Mount dealer to buy a RAM-B-346U.

2024.05.27 #

USB outlets on my Burgman’s dashboard died, and 12V socket in the glovebox was corroded and unusable. Luckily, i had two power banks as a workaround.

The first museum i visited in Wrocław was Hydropolis. I felt a bit too old for it, but execution was S-tier. It covered every aspect of water - fluid dynamics, chemistry, biology, mythology, shipping as both technology and socio-economic impact on civilization. As i was leaving, parking lot that was empty when i arrived, now hosted a long row of buses that brought the loud school kids that were zooming past me as i read the information about exhibits.

I visited Motoklan and bought a RAM Mounts baseplate that fits my Burgman. I wish it was this easy in Latvia.

Wroclavia shopping mall had arcade and a food court. Neither brought joy. Arcade was one of those scammy traveling amusement park variety with machines that play like shovelware mobile games.

Went to OBI to buy tools and fixed my phone mount. Now it felt like my bike will be fine until i get back home.

I encountered another paid parking that required me to leave a ticket on the windscreen of a motorcycle, and then i realized its monday and the videogame museum i wanted to visit is closed.

Went back to the hotel, parked my bike and took a tram to the city center. Wrocław looks and feels like a smaller Warsaw. Function over Form, very busy, very fast. To wind down, i visited Old Havana Cigar Lounge, then walked back to the hotel.

2024.05.28 #

In the morning, i received an SMS warning about storms, strong wind and hail. Shouldn’t be worse than what i experienced in Italy, so i didn’t change any of my plans.

Post and Telecommunication Museum was conservative overall, but some exhibits were pretty cool. Area about early telegraph and telephone equipment was pretty wild if you know contemporary applications of the same engineering solutions. Vehicle section had a couple carriages from different years, i was surprised some horse-drawn carriages had drum brakes. Information tablets provided a lot of historical/social context, but not much engineering and organization details.

Muzeum Motoryzacji i Techniki Zamek Topacz was small but nicely decorated. Exposition had lots of period-correct accessories around vehicles and was focused on vehicles made in Poland, that are generally rarely seen outside Poland. Quite a few cool cars.

While i was eating a bowl of KFC Chilli Poke with Rice (yes, they had rice bowls in KFC) i observed storm destroying flags and banners on the parking lot. Weather forecast promised it’s not gonna take long, so i just waited out. After all, there’s Wi-Fi in Poland, unlike Austria and Italy.

It was my second try, but this time Museum of Games and Computers of the Past was open. A fine venue with lots of interesting exhibits, and many of them were playable. Played Bomberman PvP against a random visitor, won 5:0.

Rode back to the hotel, parked my bike and went to a nearby park for a snack. Did not enjoy any of that, picked a can of beer on the way back, turned on the TV to have Wi-Fi and called it a day.

2024.05.29 #

The last museum before i rush to Łódź was Centrum Historii Zajezdnia. It’s a museum about life in Poland in general, and covers various historical periods before, during and after occupation by USSR. There were expositions dedicated to toys, politics, propaganda, furniture, computer science, vehicles. Way too many interesting exhibits to mention. This museum didn’t feel excellent at anything particular, but was entertaining for a visitor of a different country occupied by USSR during the same time period.

A couple hours and one kebab later i arrived to Łódź, bought a ticket to Orientarium ZOO Łódź but didn’t get to see it. I noticed my top case baseplate was cracked and flexing. Poland is a Catholic country, and the next day was Corpus Christi national holiday. I had just a couple hours to find replacement baseplate, or i would be risking to lose my top case if the baseplate catastrophically breaks.

I rushed to Inter Motors store, but they didn’t have parts specific to my Burgman in stock, and weren’t sure how long it would take to ship those parts from upstream distributor. The staff had an idea though.

Serwisuj się u Kuby looked like a movie set. They barely spoke English, and the soundscape was a consistent drone of “kurwa mac ja pierdolę”. One of the mechanics was a girl that looked ~13 years old. I had no idea if they’re discussing the capability or possible ways to fix my baseplate, so i was rekindling my idea of pushing the motherfucking rolling tupperware into a bush and taking a bus. The piece of metal was too small, the hardware was too short, but they sandwiched the cracked baseplate with a rusty piece of metal into what can be generously called a composite assembly. It looked good enough to stay in one piece for another 800km until i get back home, unless something else breaks. It didn’t feel like an adventure anymore, but as a pay-to-win survival.

I checked into Hotel The Loom and opened Latvian Honda dealer website to check prices. Apple Health reported there’s a change in my average calories burned per day, but there could be a change in my average motorcycles burned per day if Burgman has any more issues.

Surprisingly, Manufaktura shopping mall did not close early and i managed to end the day with lasagna and beer, watching Honda NC750X reviews.

2024.05.30 #

Tired of issues with my bike, i decided to walk that day. It was a ghost town. Biedronka did not biedrone, Żabka did not Żab, even Central Museum of Textiles that is usually open sundays was closed due to Catholic holiday. The special interest of this city was textile, so i found themed escape room and random references everywhere. Accidentally found developers of SUPERHOT.

With absolutely nothing to do, i wasted most of the day watching motorcycle reviews.

2024.05.31 #

While packing my stuff into the bike I’ve noticed some nice youngtimer cars. They were participating in Rajd Koguta charity rally, but i ran out of time to detour. My goal for today was to reach Warsaw, and for extra confidence i bought luggage straps and made sure the weight of my top box is spread onto grab handles, besides a kurwa-enforced baseplate.

I visited Zapiecek dumpling restaurant and enjoyed a traditional Polish mix. It was good.

There was a doll house museum nearby, and i was keeping up with my schedule, so i visited it. Lots of toys exhibited, not just doll houses and furniture, but also curious things like actual working sewing machine for kids, manufactured by Hasbro in 1969. It wasn’t just a random corporate brainfart either, because 3rd parties were releasing patterns for doll clothing and the sets contained scissors and needles. To be completely honest, i have no idea what kinds of toys young girls play with nowadays, but seeing the trend of every product category dumbed down for “modern audiences” i assume sewing sets would not pass the child safety requirements nowadays.

I skipped the Vodka museum and washed my clothes after brief research of the “resort” I’m heading to for a corporate event.

Spent a night in Hotel Victory Home again. This time i had an HDMI cable, so i tried to use the TV as a second display for my laptop. Discovered the TV is screwed down to the cabinet so it’s an ergonomic nightmare. Went to see regular nightmares instead.

2024.06.01 #

McMuffin Cream cheese and Radish was my breakfast, and i was about to leave the parking lot when i noticed Lithuanian numberplate on a bike parked nearby. We had a good chat and the guy had extra duct tape to fix one of my wind deflectors coming off.

Muzeum Pamięci Sybiru was dedicated to one of the topics that makes it very hard for me to socialize with Russians. A quick sanity check is to ask people why my grandfather is Polish, i was born in Latvia, but my first language is Russian. Invading a country and replacing the government is a well known habit of Russian Empire and their descendants, but it’s always just the first step. The way to make the conquered land harder to deoccupy is to replace native people with invader’s, and gradually but confidently degrade influence of native language and culture. USSR’s success in this endeavor varied depending on particular nation’s population and proximity to mainland Russia, but the methods were always the same, copied straight from Nazi Germany’s guidelines. If you still don’t understand what I’m talking about - there’s no reason to continue this discussion.

I reached Augustów the same day, walked the city for one evening, and there was absolutely nothing to do. Had a beer and went to sleep with a vague sense of achievement. I was traveling for 5 weeks and 7000+ kilometers so far, and managed to get to this city just in time for a corporate event tomorrow.

2024.06.02-04 #

There was a multi-day corporate event i needed to attend. Everything fun there was, i can’t share because it’s work-related.

As for not-fun things, i received a reply from the Givi dealer - the baseplate i need replaced on my Burgman would take 3-4 weeks to arrive, so I’m officially not traveling until July.

2024.06.05 #

I rode from Augustow to Kaunas, Lithuania and one of my friends there offered to take bicycles for a lap on gravel roads around the city. It seemed like a good idea at first, but 38km later i had some regrets. In the last 5 years i haven’t ridden bicycles, except rental e-bikes a couple times. Besides a lower body workout, there was a challenge riding a vehicle with narrow seat and stiff suspension. I was butthurt in more than one way.

We finished the day off with some good food and beer in KUHNE.

I booked a room in Savan House “Easy Kaunas”, and immediately regretted, because “parking” they advertised was just a sketchy public backyard. Should have picked my usual choice of Motelis Jonučiai instead.

2024.06.06 #

Finally had a chance to visit VICE Sushi & Pizza. The entire premise of the venue is GTA Vice City and Miami Vice inspired interior. Pizza is fine, but don’t expect anything more than a novelty vibe. Ordering a pizza from this place defeats the purpose completely, and visiting in person wears out the novelty before food is on the table.

2024.06.07 #

It was another day of doing nothing, and then the LAN party at Silicio Palėpė was as usual. We played old games and discussed the greatness of Lithuania compared to measly Italy. I was definitely longing for a day of familiar environment, cheap kebab and videogames.

2024.06.08 #

Departed from Kaunas for the last day of riding. It was uneventful, and i wasn’t looking for any more adventures. It felt weird that major highways in Baltic states are organized like rural back roads everywhere else i traveled for the past 6 weeks.

I was back in Riga, parked the bike in the garage, and the trip was officially done. According to odometer, it was 7617km.

Visited mom. Mom said I’m fat. Went back to my place.

Conclusions #

5.11 Rush24 backpack takes way too much space, as a tradeoff for organization it provides. Turns out that organization was not well fit for this particular adventure. For the next trip I’ll be using even more pouches and packing cubes, and use a more compact backpack for laptop and chargers. MOLLE covers the cases when some pouches overflow, but usually flexibility of small individual pouches allows to pack all my stuff into the top case and underseat compartment effortlessly.

I had to change all fluids in my bike, and replace both tires and Givi top case baseplate. Later that summer i had engine radiator fail due to fan rubbing on it, but otherwise I’m still riding my Burgman as of 2025, and it’s still my favorite of 3 bikes i own. I am confident a more popular and easier to service bike would be a better choice for long adventures, but in sub-20k€ price bracket everything seems to be a compromise. For a big budget trip to France/Spain i would pick a 2025 Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports, but i have no idea what my time/money budget for 2026-2027 will be. For my 2025 adventure through Eastern Europe I’m preparing a Royal Enfield Himalayan 411 as it provides better comfort on perished roads, and will be easier to get parts for and repair of anything goes wrong.

While planning my next trip, i developed better planning tools:

More app ideas to develop are still on my backlog and/or various stages of planning, research and development. I enjoyed the “release cycle” of my traveling - i plan, i find issues, i travel, i find more issues, i come back and make sweeping improvements to planning workflow, and start planning the next adventure.