From Riga to Warsaw.

Day 14 – 07.03.2025

Our day started great – the hotel had an à la carte breakfast included in the price 😊 Eggs Benedict is always welcome. After the breakfast, we sprayed the car to get rid of the Surströmming smell (well at least we tried) while we changed our daily clothes – swapping the old ones for fresh ones in the backpack. Then we headed towards Lithuania, but before leaving Latvia, we stopped in Jelgava to send a postcard to Dad in the nursing home.

Person packing or unpacking a large gray bag with clothes at the open back of a red vehicle.

Our first task of the day was the Hill of Crosses, where we built and erected our own cross. The exact number of crosses is unknown, but estimates put it at about 100,000 in 2006! We incorporated a green ribbon from the children’s hospice and our team logo, and placed the cross with thoughts of all our loved ones, both present and passed. The place was truly impressive, and our small cross now joins the overall picture of hope and remembrance.

Numerous wooden and metal crosses of various sizes along a dirt path under a clear sky.

Dirt path beside a dense collection of various crosses and a 1993 stone marker under a blue sky.

Next, we drove to Marijampole, where we formed a giant peace sign with our cars along with the other teams. Despite the many small and often – lets be nice and say – quite bad roads putting us on a tight schedule, we managed to make it on time. The bright sunshine perfectly matched our peace symbol and the last big challenge of the rally.

Aerial view of cars and trucks forming a peace symbol with Baltic Sea Circle banners.

After much back and forth, calculating kilometers and time, we decided to use a highway joker and make a detour (!) to Warsaw. We plan to do some sightseeing there tomorrow before starting the final leg for our arrival in Hamburg on time on Sunday.

Man and woman taking a selfie at a restaurant table with bread basket and city lights visible.

Road sign showing directions to Vilkaviškis, Kaliningrad, Balsupiai, Kalvarija, Warszawa, and Šunskai near roundabout.

Today, we drove about 700 km, spent about 9 hours in the car, and spent a total of 1.5 hours with the cross and the peace sign. Due to the time change, we gained an hour.