The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

 

Here we go…..Lufthansa Airbus 380-800 going to Poland via Munich.

30 minutes into the flight, got gin tonic, nice!  People in the back seat talking and laughing, but pleasant…  so far….(I we could write life FER!!)

I downloaded the site he is writing into……not as easy as it looks!

Maybe the site will give me ideas. I bought a new IPad with a keyboard, I am loving it, but it does not teach me how to write a novel!

Got a towel to clean my hands (I’m flying coach),,Oh German… great service, even in economy.

6:45 time for dinner..Pasta, salad, chocolate cake and wine.   Watch 2 cellos on TV.  Jackie, my girlfriend and travel companion, is watching a Star is  Born.

9:30 PM but dont know from what place….LA maybe??  Time to take a nap. Got some Bendryil..mmmhhh…maybe I will try to sleep without it.

Night Night

1:20 minutes to Munich, took  Benadryl, on and off sleep (not as good as the hop on and off) now breakfast.

Got to Munich, now in an airplane going to Gdansk. Little plane!! Landed in Gdansk, change some money on an ATM machine and we saw a man with a sign  that reads NORMA LIA  waiting for us and took us to the hotel.

Went out for a walk ( after 20 hrs of traveling!!) , met with a woman in the street, she saw we looked lost, really looking for a place to eat, and she directed us to an american restaurant!! LOL…..we decline the offer , and she went on to ask about what do we think about Trump, and if he was still our president!!  Luckily I was with Jackie and we have to same political opinion  (we will omit that), anyway, we got near a canal and saw a boat that was a restaurant, very cute and good food!!!  Paid in Zloty (polish money).  Back to the hotel at 9:30 PM and slept until 7:30!

 

 

 

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9 AM: Had coffee and toast at the restaurant, learn how to say dzien dobry  (Shanedobrie), meaning good morning and Dziekuje Ci……never mind!!!

48 degrees, or 9 Centigrades……a little cool!!!! COLD!!!! But nothing will stop us. 2 blocks away the Main Street. Very colorful!

Nice walk up to the Golden Gate. Took the Hop on and off, did the red and blue line, 2.5 hr drive, passing through the World World Museum (that we will see later), Gradowa Hill (a hill 50 mts above sea level) that has The Millenium Cross which. Stands where the base of the anti-aircraft warfare stood during WWII, the Upland Gate, 16th Century ,the main Entrance to the Old City, the National Museum, the European Solidarity Center, devoted to the history of Solidarity, the Polish trade union and civil resistance movement, and other opposition movements of Communist Eastern Europe.

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Then towards The Westerplatte, where one of the first battles in Germany’s invasion of Poland, marking the start of World Was II , The Energa Stadium, The Railway Station (we will go later) and the Music Academy. We did not stop in any of them because it was raining, cold and windy!!!!!!

Off the bus, lunch at a cute little place , KAFEBE, where we had dumplings and a delicious sweet spinach cake with pomegranates and cream!

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Kept on walking under the rain on Mariacka Street, very colorful where ornate gargoyles rain gutters are a unique feature of the houses where there was a lot of amber everywhere!!! Poland is known for their amber.

Kept on walking to ST Mary’s Bassilica, a Roman Catholic Church, constructed in 1343, considered to to be the largest brick church in the world, it can hold up to 25000 people and where the members of the Solidarity movement sought refugee. (The Solidarity movement was co-found by Lech Walesa, who won the Nobel Peace Prize and later became President of Poland.)

There is an enormous astronomical clock dating from 1464, with complex dials.

There are 409 steps to get to top of the tower, where the view is magnificent. The entrance fee to the tower is 10 Zloty, I climbed only 100 steps but did not ask for the change 🙂 A tight narrow spiral stairs!!!

By then it was 4 PM. Under the rain came back walking to the hotel, but….what about dinner?????? Out again to find something to eat, we found a Falafel place, got some food to go, stopped to get a beer and back to the hotel. Having fun writing !!!!