On my way to #Wikimania. It's Tallinn-Warsaw overnight bus once again.
We got to Riga on time, but at what cost? The driver was the terror of the highway, at one point passing 4 cars and 2 trucks in a row on a curve. (The oncoming car had to switch to the emergency lane.)
For the first 5 hours I sat next to an employee of the federal not-ministry of education of #Canada. I learnt a lot about indigenous languages and the provincial education systems. Some languages went from less than 10 native-level speakers to several hundreds.
Most of these have zero or one active translators in #MediaWiki (usually not native speakers). Let's get those locales running!
Today went as planned, tiring and unforgettable.
Local #vegan places are incredibly good. I had my best panzanella since childhood (those cooked by my mom aside).
Tomorrow it's 320 m underground coal mine time, then #Kraków. There's still plenty of room!
https://wikimania.wikimedia.org/wiki/2024:Tours_and_Side_Events/Guido_coal_mine
Our train Wrocław-Łódź (#IC6120) has been stuck in Bukowice Trzebnickie for over 30 min now. Powering the train off and on again didn't help. The train manager is counting the people onboard.
(Update: we're moving again.)
Today on the train I met a researcher from #Canada and I learnt about ice thrust in dams.
https://cripe.ca/docs/taras-et-al-2011-pdf?wpdmdl=1716&refresh=66bd02277618d1723662887
We agreed Hydro-Québec has a lot of data which would be valuable to share in #OpenData for further analysis. They do have a repository and OA policy now.
https://www.re3data.org/repository/r3d100014066
Accidental #CrossBorderRail adventure: I'm now on a random train in the direction of Kaunas, as I realised only today that my bus to Riga was cancelled a month ago (!). On the bright side, I'll have a few hours in #Suwałki and one less wasted #interrail day.
The Jewish cemetery of #Łódź is an extraordinary place, with some 60,000 named tombs and almost 200,000 in total, for a population which used to be over 230,000 in town. Hard to describe.
I'm pretty sure this is the oldest pear tree I've ever seen. I've eaten an apple from the tree just outside the entrance, but so far neither Hades nor Hermes have come after me.
Also spotted in #Łódź: sarcastic car propaganda, curiously branded Prada-Gucci green hostel.
This building in #Warsaw (near Marymont) was a rare case of good flags being in the majority.
This train carries at least 8 bikepackers, 1 person who fell asleep while reading Henry Kissinger (understandable), 2 massive policemen and 2 nuns. We're pulled by a cargo locomotive, as often happens. Power plugs and wifi work very well (wagons built in 1984, renovated in 2023). The minibar has run out of hot water but is splendidly staffed.
Almost in Tallinn now. I skipped Riga. So it was just 5 hours by train and then the usual long bus ride.
The people of #Suwalki are very friendly. A local student helped me with the tickets and told me about his English philology and philosophy program at the university of Białystok. I chatted with a few more along the way.
After I crossed this plentiful apple tree, I was so full I no longer worried about #vegan dinner options.
Nemo_bis 🌈