Month: May 2019

We’ve had a great time in Poland with many surprises around every corner!

Our last couple of days in Gdańsk were filled with museum visits. We visited the National Museum to see this triptych altarpiece titled Last Judgement by Hans Memling.

And also the newish World War II Museum which we’ve learned has a controversial history.

Rick Steves’ blog explains it well here.

The building is unique,

And the exhibits well-done, like this re-creation of a city street from the 1930’s.

The weather was a tiny bit warmer (52 degrees) so we took the train to the seaside town of Sopot on the Baltic Sea. We had to pay $2.00 each just to walk on this pier!

Then this seagull wanted to charge us a fee to snap a photo!😊

Throughout our time in Poland we’ve enjoyed visiting interesting sites, eating delicious food, learning quite a lot of history and tasting a few Polish beers. We wholeheartedly recommend Poland as a destination!

Tomorrow we’ll leave from Gdańsk Lech Walesa Airport. We have a short layover in Amsterdam but hope to be home Tuesday evening.

So long Gdańsk! We hope to return one day!

Thanks for following along!

Cheers!

It’s Saturday and we visited the Old Town Market Hall. This market building has been around since 1896. The market has three levels with clothing and other goods on two floors and meats, cheeses, plus baked goods in the basement. Covered space outside is where we found fresh fruits and vegetables.

Cauliflower in the Market

Rhubarb! Just in time for spring baking!

Have you ever made a rhubarb for Pie or crumble?

Homemade jams, sauces or confit?

Many varieties of Polish sausages!

Plus so many other things to purchase and prepare – beets, berries, pears, lettuce and more!

And, while it’s not the raspberry variety, a beret for me!

New Beret!

Locals tell us that it’s unseasonably chilly! We hoped to visit the seaside but will wait a day or so to see if it warms up! Otherwise, we’re having a fun time in Gdańsk!

Like the other Polish cities we’ve visited, Gdansk is charming with lots of history.

We visited the European Solidarity Center which is devoted to the history of Solidarity and the Polish trade union and civil resistance movements.

Monument to Fallen Shipyard Workers (1970)

This is an excellent museum with artifacts and footage from newsreels related to the Solidarity Movement led by Lech Walesa in the 1980’s.

We’ve enjoyed delicious food while in traveling around Poland and have tried many local specialties. This evening we found a cute restaurant and had a healthy plate of salmon, chickpeas and carrots at pleasant Bistro PoMeLo.

Our room at Hotel Liberum is small but cozy and well-laid out. We have a nice view. The location is perfect!

Today (May 3) is another holiday in Poland. It’s Constitution Day! Stores are closed, the city is busy, and families are enjoying a day off. The weather has caught us off-guard as it’s very chilly and sometimes rainy! Temps in the upper 30 degree-range. But all is well and we’re happy in Gdansk!

We’re celebrating two big events today! Most importantly, it’s Larry’s birthday! Secondly, it’s Labor Day in Poland (and the rest of Europe too) – stores are closed except for some of the museums and the touristy shops. Restaurants are filled and streets are packed with families on holiday.

Toruń is a cute, small Gothic city and we’ve found enough to do for a couple of days.

Main Street – Toruń, Poland

The city is famous for gingerbread with shops selling all types of spiced cookie treats on nearly every street in town. There is even a Gingerbread Museum but we arrived too late to get tickets for today.

Gingerbread Cookie Shop in Toruń

Toruń is also the birthplace of the astronomer Copernicus. His statue is prominent in the main square and Copernicus-shaped gingerbread cookies are sold in the shops.

Copernicus Statue

We’re staying at Hotel Spichrz – it’s in a great location near the Old Town but our room is oddly laid-out and a bit funky. The best feature of the hotel is the buffet breakfast with everything imaginable available – homemade yogurt, cherry jam, local cheeses, sausages, apple cake, freshly made omelettes and more!

Breakfast Buffet – Hotel Spichrz

Tonight we’ll have dinner here in the hotel restaurant to celebrate Larry’s birthday.

Tomorrow we’ll take a train to our final stop on this trip – Gdańsk on the Baltic Coast. We’re looking forward to checking it out!