Gdańsk: Last days

In the morning I visit the Basilica of St. Bridget. This reconstructed church was originally built in the 14th century. It was destroyed in WWII and rebuilt in 1970. It is known for its beautiful amber alter and its homage to the solidarity movement.

There is a chapel in memory of those who participated in the solidarity movement.

There is another area dedicated to those that have lost their lives in the Katyn massacre during WWII.

And finally I have to make a visit to the room of skulls. I must see all the skulls.

I visit Blue Lamb – a heritage museum housed in an old granary, in order to get an archeological view of the region. I enjoy the exhibit where they show you what the original people of the region would have looked like based on the skulls found.

They have walk through sight and sound area depicting life in the region over time.

And finally there is a display of archeological items.

I end up back at Mariacka once more but this time I enjoy a glass of wine and people watching and check out some additional things I learned about the street.

Many of the houses on Mariacka street have reliefs out front but one restore one was given a modern day touch – a Lunar rover.

Last official stop is the first seagoing ship built in a Polish shiyard – Soldek. It is docked in Gdansk and available for exploring.

I slow down considerably for the rest of my travels. I am very tired so it is good I go home soon. I’m just trying to enjoy the cool and sunny weather my last few hours here.

It’s been a long trip but I am not done with Poland. There are so many places I left off my itinerary. I will be back.

More shots around town….

Gdansk all day

This morning I’m walking to the Museum of World War II. This must do for Gdańsk is the most thorough war museum I have ever visited and takes about three hours for the audio tour.

I also schedule a walking tour for this afternoon of the main town.

I arrive the Museum of the Second World War right at opening and have purchased my ticket and audio guide in advance. Arriving at opening is advisable because this museum is huge and covers lots of information. It gets very busy as the morning passes. The museum gives all the reasons for the war, all the players, and the aftermath. Sure you might see a little more information on how the war affected Poland than other similar museums but it also goes into how the way it affected other territories like the Balkans, Baltic countries, and even those effected by Japanese invasions.

I always enjoy propaganda posters.

I learn the ways the Finnish people tried to stop the Soviet Union from invading.

More exhibits

I learn how every Soviet territory has a little red corner for Soviet materials.

The museum also talks about Japan’s role in the war. There is a particularly disturbing exhibit on Japanese brothels during the war.

Gdansk is talked about as well as Poland. After WWI the treaty of Versailles took Gdansk, which was predominately German at the time and made it the Free city of Gdansk (but tied to Poland). All of this makes more sense when I learn about the efforts to defeat communism that has origins in Gdansk later on. During WWII since most in Gdansk were German speaking and Gdansk is also called Danzig in German.

An agreement was made to partition Poland by the Soviet Union and Germany. There is an exhibit to show the divide.

More war related exhibits

There is a whole section on terror, specifically terror by the hands of the German, Soviet, and Japanese.

I learn about how Germans stole polish children during the war. I learn more about Croatian concentration camps. Also am introduced to the Katyn Massacre where there was a mass execution of Polish military officers by the Soviet Union.

I see an example of an Enigma machine. Enigma is the machine used during WWII to break the German codes. There is a whole movie about it called “The Imitation Game”.

There are walls that show how messages can be hidden in plane sight just by looking at them differently.

One of my favorite little exhibits was about the nazi hunters. So many people were killed during WWII but very few people were punished for those crimes (Nuremberg Trials were the ones actually caught and punished). Most guilty officials assumed a different identity and fled to other countries, many in South America. The nazi hunters were really good at tracking these war criminals down.

I thoroughly enjoyed the museum but it requires a good deal of time to fully experience the whole thing. The audio guide is a must to get you more efficiently through, otherwise you could spend an entire day here.

I am very hungry when I leave the museum. I don’t have a ton of time but I should have enough for a lunch. I mistakenly think I could eat at a pierogi place. I wait for thirty minutes to get a table for them to tell me it’s at least an hour wait for any ordered pierogi. I don’t have enough time before my tour starts so I walk out to find another place to get lunch. I am getting hangry and I cannot find any quick service restaurants in the area. Time is running out.

I finally find a place to get a quick pastry and then briskly walk to meet my tour guide for the city tour. I didn’t eat a full lunch but at least I won’t be hangry. No one wants to meet hangry me. I usually carry snacks but today I did not; I will not make this mistake again.

The tour is mostly of main town Gdańsk which actually looks more like old town Gdańsk and old town Gdańsk looks more like modern Gdańsk. Long story short Gdańsk was also bombed pretty bad in World War II. They didn’t completely rebuild it in its original form like they did in Warsaw but instead they built modern interior buildings. In the main town they built facades that make it look like the original Gdańsk. However in old town they have more modern facade with the architecture more modern day or communist style.

Brama Złota or main gate. Lots of town symbolism.

I learn again from the tour guide how Gdańsk has a very different history from the rest of Poland. They were German speakers in 14th-16th century but loyal to Poland.

The tour guide asks if there are any Americans in the group and I seem to be the only one (there is one other American that lives in Ireland but she doesn’t speak up). Apparently the guy who invited the Fahrenheit thermometer is from here (Gabriel Fahrenheit). There is a monument to him. Although not sure how much we can praise him since only a couple countries use his scale, mine one of the few. Fahrenheit makes things so confusing with the large amount of international travel I tend to do since I am forced to do math to communicate to people about the weather.

At one point the Poland was part of largest country in Europe, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonweath. Gdańsk was a large player in this and became wealthy. Merchants were middlemen in Gdańsk. The island was purposed to hold Polish grain and secured day and night. The 16th-17th century was the golden age in Gdańsk. It all came to an end when a Swedish king began to rule Poland.

We stop at the beautiful Mariacka street and see the fun drain pipes. This is the place to buy amber since there are amber sellers up and down the street.

House under turtle. Look above the house and see a turtle.

By the 18th century Poland no longer exists. It is partitioned and is no longer prosperous again until the 19th century.

We end up in old town (which is new town) at the post office that was home to a spectacular attempt of postal workers attempting to stop a fascist invasion, one of the first spots World War II broke out.

Post office and a piece of the original city wall.

After my tour I am determined to eat at one of the restaurants that turned me away the night before. It wasn’t worth the anticipation. Even though pasta carbonara is one of my favorite dishes, this one is too salty for me to enjoy.

I have a nice evening walk around town and tomorrow I am taking the train out to Malbork Castle.

Gdańsk

I’m on my way to the port city of Gdansk that is a the top of Poland near the Baltic Sea. Many come up to this part of Poland to enjoy the coastal life. Unfortunately even though it is May it is still too cold for beach weather.

My train ride here from Warsaw is only 3 hours but seat reservations in first class is the way to go. The train is busy. On this train there is a rude group of guys in the partition next to us. They unceremoniously kick out an older couple from their seats and because they don’t speak Polish they are endlessly mocked. The guys get louder and louder and soon they play very loud dance music the rest of the ride. They even catcall me at one moment when I am lining up for my stop. Honestly this is the first time I’ve encountered rude and inconsiderate Polish people during my entire travels here. Hopefully it is not a trend.

It is cold and wet again so once I get to my hotel room I don’t want to leave. I think all my travel exhaustion is catching up with me so I spend a couple hours napping. I eventually force myself out for dinner and a walk around town. Luckily the rain is just now a slight drizzle. Most of the surfaces here are stable but there are some slippery spots near my hotel and I am one of those people who can render the most slip-proof shoe useless. I walk carefully this evening. I have contemplated buying more secure shoes because mine are old.

I am excited because I am actually staying in a hotel where my rate includes early breakfast so I don’t have to wait around for coffee shops to open to get my coffee. The hotel room is a bit of a splurge, purchased with credit card points, with a wonderful view of the canals. It does get loud during the day with all the drawbridge alarms and moving sidewalks (for boat passing) but luckily it gets quiet in the evening.

The first night I find it really challenging to eat at places I originally planned due to long lines or being completely full for the night. I have a note to make reservations when I can for other nights. I do finally get an outdoor table at a pizza place because it has stopped raining and no one wants to sit in the cold.

In the morning I have a busy day of sightseeing so I am not feeling too bad about my early bedtime tonight.

Warsaw: Last Day

I canceled another day trip. The commute was too long and I’ve been tired. I want to stay close to my flat in case I want to cut sightseeing short. There is still so much I have yet to see in Warsaw but I am sad about canceling the other things I had planned. I don’t understand why on travel forums people tell you that not much time is needed in Warsaw. I understand that people don’t love the modernism of the city or that the historic parts of it are actually completely rebuilt in the last 50 or so year, but there are still endless museums and parts of town to visit. I feel like I’ve stayed fairly busy these last few days and will still not get to see everything I want to see – this is with mostly 10+ hours of being out and about each day.

My last morning in Warsaw I sit down and have a proper breakfast at a nearby cafe.

I start today at the National Museum in Warsaw, the national art museum. My travel to Poland has been odd since I usually hit all the art museums in town, especially the modern ones. This trip I have been visiting things more historical in nature. I have a “free” day here in Warsaw so finally I visit an art museum.

The National Museum is mostly medieval and older art. The most famous painting here is the Battle of Grunwald. Medieval art isn’t my favorite genre but I always enjoy the expressions on humans and animals.

I love some of the weirder stuff in the museum because as always I am drawn to the weird.

I also like the Polish design temporary exhibit. It takes its inspiration from the communist era where it’s all about getting the most use out of a space.

After the museum I head to the royal way to get a dessert since I am not yet ready for a proper lunch, don’t judge me.

“Palm” tree in Warsaw. Inspired by Israel.

I walk over to Warsaw Fotoplastikon, a historic photo viewing machine that is circular and rotates photos along the viewing spots. As old as the machine is, it is able to make some of the photos appear in 3D. I first saw one of these at the Schindler’s factory in Krakow. This one changes the historic photos out every month. The current exhibition is from Polish tourism to Palestine in the early 1900’s.

The final thing I want to do today is check out the “bohemian” neighborhood of Praga across the river. The red army, or Russians, stayed here during WWII. Visiting Praga is recommended because it is an artsy part of town. I spend hours in this neighborhood and really don’t see much bohemian. I view the large impressive rebuilt church, walk a nice park, and hang out in a newer industrial area. I even join a vodka museum tour last minute to learn more about Polish vodka.

St Florian’s church was destroyed by the Germans in 1944 during the Warsaw uprising. A huge reconstruction effort led to church to reopen in 1972.

Some architecture in the “Bohemian” Praga.

I really enjoyed a peaceful walk in the Park Praski.

I am in the New Praga and it appears there isn’t much going on over here besides a nearby zoo so I hop on a bus to go to the other side of Praga because I am exhausted from walking all day. I am in an old industrial complex that has been converted into a very modern area, including a google lab. It seems like a very good idea to do a tour of the Polish Vodka museum with an upgraded tasting. I book a tasting a then order a very large and relaxing meal while I wait.

The vodka tour takes you into the origins of Polish vodka, how it is made, and how it is produced and distributed today. In the US I don’t typically sip vodka, maybe an occasional shot, but mostly it is an ingredient in a probably sweet cocktail. The vodkas I tried today are good for sipping. I probably won’t drink them this way on the regular but it isn’t the worst thing.

My special tour included a drink upstairs at the attached bar from a special menu. I chose a dessert like drink because its not something I’d normally order.

And just like that its the end of my visit to Warsaw. Loved my time here in this international city. Now I am heading north to the city of Gdansk.

Wrocław

The train here is packed. I am glad I have a reserved seat in first class. As I walk to my hotel there are tour groups with rolling luggage and many people carrying guitar cases. I am confused at first then I remember there is a big punk festival this weekend for the holidays.

I catch a protest of some sort as I walk to my hotel. It is constitution day so it doesn’t seem out of the ordinary. “Workers united are invincible” is on their sign. It appears to be a labor protest on constitution day.

I walk into the city center there are more guitars and artsy people. I hear music playing at a stage near my hotel. My goal is to check in quickly and check out the music.

I drop my things off and turn the corner to find a band playing a cover of “Sweet child of mine” it is busy in the courtyard but not as busy as it will be in a hour or so. The crowd slowly fills with people carrying guitars and bystanders like me. I am here in time for the annual Guitar World Record in Wrocław. People come from all over the world with their guitar to play “Hey Joe” in unison to reach a world record. If I read the news correctly I think they beat the record this year.

About the holidays this weekend, I had only scheduled 2 1/2 days to enjoy Wrocław and I later discovered that two of these days are during national holidays: May 1 Labor Day and May 3 constitution day. Not everything is closed on these days but a good number of things are and if they aren’t they close early. This means I won’t get to see all the things I want to see in town because I really only have one full day of sightseeing and part of that day is going to a festival to see some polish and international punk-ish bands (when in Rome).

I escape from the crowd temporarily to get a snack and climb the tower to see Bridge of Penitents or Witches Bridge. This is famous for its little witch dwarves overlooking the town. The view is nice but there is way too many people on the bridge at one time so I don’t stay up there too long. They really should do some crowd control at the top to make the experience better for everyone.

Georgian food to go. I love cheese so much

After the bridge I find an antique market I explore for a bit before I brave the guitar crowds once more.

While the crowd gathers a woman who used to perform with Michael Jackson is on stage. I can’t get close enough at this point to take any pictures. The crowd is a sea of guitars getting ready to play.

Finally they play their “Hey Joe” for the record recording. I walk out to beat the crowds but I hear the crowd cheering in the distance.

Some of the many dwarves in town playing little guitars for the day. Dwarves are important to Wroclaw but more on that later.

I walk down to one of the many “islands” that are connected by pedestrian bridges. The goal this afternoon is to stalk the gas lamplighter on Cathedral Island but I am way too early for that so I explore other islands and surroundings.

On one island there is a huge park with many groups picnicking, many with small foil pan metal grills. The smell of grilled sausages permeates the air and makes me really hungry. I’m waiting to eat until I get back closer to my hotel but does it smell good. I take a break to have a happy hour by the water. I watch the boats go by while I finally get a moment off my feet. Today has already been a long day.

I get to cathedral island to explore and even though most things are closed except a few restaurants there are still many people strolling around. Lines are consistently outside the college botanical garden that should be closed right now so I am not sure what is going on over there. Finally I spot the lamplighter and he moves quickly. He’s got an entourage of kids following him. He is not an official tourist attraction he’s just one of the few actually gas lamplighters left in the world. He (or someone else) lights at sundown and then they extinguish in the morning. I think I saw another in Zagreb, Croatia a couple years ago. This is not the only one but they are rare these days with electrical power.

I walk back toward the main market square where I have my eye on a Soviet communism theme restaurant that has a private room (not so private tonight since it is being used for diners). There is a long wait for food and it is just ok but I love the theming of the place so I explore the secret room quickly before I head back to my room to sleep. It’s late and I am tired after this long day.