Eating our way through Gdansk

I'm sorry, but this is going to be a fast post.  I'm standing outside a closed information center in Warnemude Germany on a fairly busy street, writing this blog because it has free wifi.  I just haven't been able to load pictures on the slow ship internet this week.

 

I don't remember if I mentioned that I brought Mr. Poe on an adventure for him.  He joined us for coffee and pastries to start our second day in Gdansk.  The coffee is really good.

We next went to St. Nicholas cathedral, where we just happened to catch the organist practicing.  This is a huge cathedral, and organ filled it with sound.  I can think of a few of my friends who might like to play this organ or at least hear it.

One of the things we like to do is find a market where the locals shop to see what it is like.  This is the fruit and vegetable market, and everything looked very fresh and lush.  We were dying for an apple, but we didn't have a way to wash them or peel them so we just didn't take a chance.

Next door was a small indoor shopping mall with the entire lower floor devoted to food--not canned or pre-packaged stuff, but fresh meats, bread and cheeses and candy.

 

As a student, Nancy spent a semester abroad in France on a shoe string budget.  Most of her travel consisted of eating bread and cheese, so she suggested we try that for lunch at the above food market.  We had no idea what kind of cheese we were getting but it was delicious.

 

 Jan Heweliusz was just one of the many famous Poles who were represented in statues throughout Gdansk.   I guess name translates to Copernicus.

As part of a somber afternoon, we visited the brand new Solidarity Museum.  It was free for the month of September, and we were fortunate to be here to visit.  Many of us remember the Solidarity Movement and Lech Walesa, but we weren't really aware of everything that it meant.  Most of the students don't even know much about it at all.  This was a wonderful  museum and exhibition of the history of the movement and contextualized it into the downfall of communism.  There were certainly some brave people involved.

Gdansk is known for Amber--a petrified tree sap with lots of detritus (like insects) trapped inside.  It is made into jewelry and one street is filled with shops.  Nancy bought some earrings and befriended Agniska who spoke very good English and told us all about the cold winters.

    

While a lot of people headed to Berlin for music, we caught this Lithuanian Rock Band.  They were great

 

And finally we ended the last night in Gdansk eating Piergoies and they were delicious.