Hotel Parnas Gdansk

Have spent every day of our vacation running about seeing monuments and museums and building styles and churches and old towns. Today is our last day beside the seashore before a 7 ½ hour train ride to Krakow. We thought to take it easy today. Slept late, went to a wonderfully chocolate restaurant for breakfast, determined from the hotel staff that there is no such thing as a coin Laundromat in Poland ...

I am not a hot chocolate drinker. Maybe one or two Swiss Miss packets in a 2 or 3 year period is about enough for me and then I need enough marshmallows to totally take over the chocolate. So a couple of years ago (already!), traveling in Croatia, one of the other tourists (Thank you Heather!), got a cup of hot chocolate at a roadside restaurant. I was intrigued to see that ...

... A glass of wine is $20 so you would think you would like to sell some. Beers are $15 each. One evening here, no one comes. Next evening here, we are asked within 5 minutes but we don’t want anything tonight. Next evening, it takes 10 minutes before we are asked if we want a drink. Hubby gets a beer. 10 minutes later his beer comes. I say I would like a drink but she ...

... is a piece of green amber. Hubby found an amber elephant which was a bit pricier than he desired but he hardly ever finds anything for a souvenir so it is going home with us.<br><br> Wandering and wandering back around the town, through the market to pick up some food for the train trip on Saturday and back to Sopot and the hotel. Tomorrow it will definitely be ocean viewing and pier walking.

... was a decent stopover as well. It's not too big, not too small and mostly friendly people. It was just a really comfortable place to kick back and walk around...pretty streets, lots of places to people watch and perfectly scaled for walking. I will have to tell you about the crusty old woman who threw a plastic bag at me when I have time tomorrow. I am off to bed for some much needed rest.<br><br>

... after a very long refreshing sleep meant that we had missed most of the morning. We had an incredibly poor breakfast of a long strip bread with salami, dried oregano and cheese which was then made even worse when the waitress doused enough tomato sauce to feed 100 Richard Heath's all over it rendering it inedible to Odie. I managed to force both of them down with a mild indifference and the worlds smallest Cappuccinostopped it all off. After wasting half an hour doing a ...

... bakery and Don got an eclair, I got something that tasted like pizza bread with pizza sauce and cheese and they were very good. We checked out the crystal - beautiful, but I have no way to get it home. Poland is famous for its crystal and art glass. After about an hour or so of that we were done with being wet, my hair was soaked because I couldn't keep it inside my hood, my feet were soaked, and I was soaked. We headed back ...

... outskirts of Gdansk that we passed through on the train were often derelict or run down and covered in artistic graffiti. There are miles of tower blocks so beloved of the Soviets which have clearly been renovated, improved and painted up - but which still have the ability to depress. For me the highlight was visiting the Monument to the Fallen Shipyard Workers which stands in Solidarity Place at the very gates of the ...

... such a Catholic believer country. My expectation was completed when we arrived at the little, quite newly built, suburban church which revealed to be fully packed with people. That was quite amazing. Back home, we finally talk till pretty late and I also called my parents and my brother through the Internet to have a short wishes exchange while they were just starting to prepare for their evening. Then, we went to sleep pretty late by night. ----------------- December 25 Merry ...

... if I could eat, bur the waiter said no. I thought it was a bit strange but then I realised this was one of the most exclusive restaurants in Gdansk. I pleaded if I can I have a drink and he said OK, showed me to this beautiful room and sat me in a big leather seat at a table. Lots of stares from the waiters but then ordered the best beer and goldwasser (vodka with gold leaf in). When he brought it over he said the chef had finished cooking but could ...