Willa Jaskowy Dworek 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 ˝ 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 ...

... came very thick, almost as thick as chocolate pudding. I tasted hers and it was like chocolate pudding! As the drink cooled, it got thicker and thicker. They bring a spoon along with it so that you can finish it to the bottom of the glass. Yum!

Yesterday we are walking up the square in Sopot, Poland and I notice people sitting in a café with cups of what looks like ...

... is very time challenged.

Another local restaurant, a different city, a different country. I walk up to the hostess to make her seat us so that we will get service. She puts us in a room where there are not as many people nor any cigarette smoke either. 30 minutes later we leave without ever having seen a waitress. The hostess thanks us for coming as we walk past ...

... The top floor had some paintings that were enjoyable. The next floors had furniture from the period including some wonderful old ceramic tile stoves from floor to ceiling. We even got into the kitchen. Usually you don’t get to see the kitchen.

Back on track to go get baked potatoes. I had a Mexican and hubby had a cheese. They were quite tasty. Not exactly Mexican like ...

... you look at the world through three inch glasses (which I swear is how thick hers were), it's easy to forget how things were or could be. A British word I learned last week describes perfectly the look on her guide's face...gobsmacked. I will admit I was a more than a little bit of that, too.

But back to our history lesson, and I promise it's almost over. Discontent was always simmering away underground in Poland and on August 14, 1980 workers at the ...

... like a contorted fruit bat on death row. We took a break from the rain in a cosy cafe before wandering exploring a bit more, old crumbling buildings vied for space with attractive looking gabled buildings reminiscing Amsterdam. We took a walk along the canal past the Gdansk Crane, the oldest medieval crane in Europe (more about that later) and spotted a large Viking Boat offering tours to Westerplatte. Lunch was taken at Greenway, despite the initial disappointment that they ...

... that treaty with us (that is ******* off Russia) seems like their own way of showing their stubbornness to Russia. Their country has been repeatedly destroyed by war because they are surrounded by Russia, Germany, and Austria. Gdansk (called Danzig by the Germans) and Warsaw suffered the
heaviest bombing during WWII and you can still see the burned out buildings that were never torn down or replaced after all these years ...

... up being a little bit of a wrong choice, as we didn't end up making it there. First we took a train to Gydania (the next city after Sopot), then we took a bus down to the docks, then we lined up for a ferry ticket ... and found out they were all sold out (except for the last one of the day, which of course was too late)! So we walked back to the train station (the next bus wasn't for an hour) to see if we could catch a ...

... I say that i've lived in England for 3 years the typical reaction is: 'OOOOhhhhh, so that's why you don't sound like a kiwi - you've lost your accent!' Hmmmmm. I can't really be having that so when i get back to London you kiwis are going to have to retrain me in the art of kiwiana. I need help!!!!! (especially cos i'm slowly picking up some aussie twang - erica, i'm already saying hos-tell like you predicted...) Gdansk ...

so, i went to gdansk by myself. i love traveling by myself. it's such a challenge, and this really was. i don't speak a lick of polish, and most poles don't speak english that well. historically, gdansk is a bilingual city, hence the two names (Gdansk/Danzig, one polish, the other german), but not that many actually speak German that well, which made buying stuff a little interesting, but hey, who cares? it's ...