Had a great day in Gdansk today. We started at 7 AM and left for the 2.5 hour drive from Olsztyn to Gdansk. When we got here, we parked the car at the Mercure Hotel, a large, fancy hotel in the center of town. We checked in and were surprised to find no air conditioning in the room. Praveen and I were set to share a room here and walked in to the room on the 13th floor and found it quite hot. I asked our hosts whether we could get an air conditioned room, even if it cost more and he apologized profusely and called the front desk. The word came back that there were no air conditioned rooms in this hotel at all. I find this quite amazing. I mean, this is a classy, high-rise hotel with a luxurious lobby – and there are no air conditioned rooms in the hotel? Maybe I’m too focused on this right now because it is 11:30 PM and we just returned to our rooms. Today was a very hot day and the room is almost cooking. There’s no fan and no air conditioning and I’m dreading the night as I know I’ll get little sleep. SO bear with me while I get this frustration off my chest. It must be well over 80 degrees in the room now and I’m supposed to sleep?
Anyway, other than this, today was a fun day. We started by heading to the Vistula river and catching a boat to the Westerplatte. On the way, we stopped at a bar for a cold beer. It seems that no one here drinks water (they don’t even serve water with dinner – you have to specifically ask for it) but will find any excuse to stop for a beer. This time, it was an Okcim. We hopped on the boat and headed to the Weterplatte which is the place that is considered to be where World War II officially started. A German ship parked off the coast on a visiting excursion in Septmber 1939 suddenly opened firs on the Polish garrison at Westerplatte and began their invasion of Poland, starting WWII. There is a huge stone monument here to those that died on that day and those who died in the war. The day was warm and getting warmer by the minute. On the way to Westerplatte, we stopped by the beach on the Baltic sea and spent some time enjoying the sea breezes. This area is very famous for its amber and according to Radek (one of our hosts who is from this area and served as our guide for the day) you can even pick up small bits of amber on the beach as it gets washed ashore. So, we scoured the beach and picked up several little bits of amber. It was a lot of fun and apparently a common pastime on the beach. I heard the kids love to play along the beach and find pieces of amber.
At about 2:30 PM, we headed back to Gdansk and walked around the old town area. This area is really beautiful and all the homes that were destroyed during the war have been restored to their original glory based on photographs. So, it has the beautiful cobbled streets and spectacular frontage of the original homes. We ate lunch at a beautiful restaurant inside the Old Town Hall (washing it down with more beer) and then spent a few hours just walking around the town. It really was a great experience. As usual, it is so incredible to walk into a church and see an original astronomical calendar created be one Danzinger in 1442. Many of the buildings are just as old. Some of the original cornerstones for the homes bear dates from the 1700s. Quite an experience!
We then decided to take the local train to another beautiful town, Sopot. Gdansk (also referred to as Danzig by the Germans), Sopot and Gdaniya are close together and known as the tri-cities. They are all on the Baltic sea and all have long histories. Sopot is also the site of the longest sea promenade in Europe, and so we walked around that area breathing in the sea breezes. In the evening, we stopped at a bar and drank some more (I had a “Green Sugar” which consisted of Niemeroff Vodka and a bunch of other liquers and was quite delicious). I mean, yes, I’m drinking and eating a lot, but when in Poland …
Across the bay from Sopot is a spit of land that extends out to the sea and ends in the Polish city of Hel. A constant joke we kept up during the day was “Oh no! We’re getting closer to Hel,” or “Looks like we’re headed to Hel.” Doesn’t sound so funny now, but it somehow got a laugh from the group every time the tired joke was used again.
Also, just like I noticed on my last trip to Europe, people here view distances quite differently from us. It is amazing for me to realize how spoiled we are. Frequently during the day, our hosts would say something to the effect “It is very close to here – only 20 to 25 minute walk.” Truly, we walked EVERYWHERE today and these 20-30 minute walking distance is considered to be very close. Essentially, we left the hotel at about 10:15 AM and just got back after 11 PM. We were on our feet walking somewhere almost all day. I’d say we did about 8-10 hours of walking in the sun today. And none of these guys considered it even slightly odd. Everyone walks to places here. If we just started considering a 20-minute walk “just very near” like these folks seem to do quite naturally, I think half of our obesity issues in the country would disappear. Of course, people are noticeably slim here – very few overweight people.
Well, I better get to bed. We have an early morning tomorrow – we plan to hit the road by 7 AM and are meeting in the lobby (all packed and ready) at 6:20 AM. I genuinely don’t know how I’m going to sleep in this oppressive heat tonight, but that’s all part of the fun experience.
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