I Left My Heart In Poland Part 3 - Gdańsk!!!

So I managed to make yet another return to the homeland. I was so excited I was able to do so and even more excited I was able to bring some of my favorite people there, Bianca and my new friend Marta from spring quarter.

Getting there was a bit of an epic adventure. I was nervous because my Polish is already a lil less than spectacular and jumping right into it after being in German mode for weeks is even more difficult. We had a little bit of a holdup out of Berlin. We were going to transfer at Szczeczin (a town right on the border of Poland and Germany), but then the German train was not on time (OMG THE SKY IS FALLING), so we missed out Szczecin connection. After 4 hours of getting real well acquainted with the Szeczecin train station, we finally were on our train to Gdansk. We all passed out super quickly, spread out all of our stuff across the train compartment, and pretended to be sleeping whenever people came in looking for seats. It was great haha.

We got into Gdansk Glowny around 8, soooo excited to have finally made it!!!!! We got into our cute little hostel the first evening and then wandered around the Old Town. It was absolutely beauutiifuulll. And so amazing to be by water again - I really miss being by the beach in Berlin. I love how Polish cities are set up with the Old Town as the center. It makes for some excellent wandering, shopping, and eating. We picked a random restaurant, ended up kind of crashing a Polish wedding there, but came away with some free wine and Polish beer and a 5% discount on our meal haha. Marta was a little tired after our intense travel day (and we had all gone out the night before) but Bianca and I were still down to explore some Gdansk nightlife. More Bianca than me haha she definitely dragged me out of bed. But I ended up being really glad she did we had a lot of fun. Gdansk is obviously a lot smaller than Berlin so it felt like the whole city was out wandering the streets that night.

We got our travel-worn selves out of bed early that next morning, grabbed some hostel cornflakes and instant coffee (Polish instant coffee is sooooo good! ), and then set out to explore some Solidarity history. Gdansk is not only famous for its beautiful amber jewelry and scenic location next to the Baltic Sea - it is also where the Solidarity movement started in Poland. Solidarity began on the shipyards there and was the first organized movement against the Communists. It began in 1981 and was a HUGE force to be reckoned with because pretty much the entire country was behind it. Although the Communists tried their best to suppress it, they ultimately couldn't and in the late 1980's Poland become the first Communist state to be free again. Lech Walesa, one of the foremost Solidarity leaders, became the new President of Poland.

The Solidarność (Solidarity in Polish) Museum was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. In addition to really amazing pictures and historical information, they also had amazing life-size replicas of what life was like under Communist times. Such as what a grocery store looked like under rationing, what shipyard workbenches looked like, etc. They also had the Solidarność logo evvverryywhhheerreee, in so many different artistic forms. It was sooo cool and amazing.

We went to the Memorial to the Fallen Shipyard Workers afterward. It is right in front of the entrance to the shipyards and is an amazingly beautiful tribute to those that died in the struggle for freedom in the 80's. The main thing there were these three HUGEEE iron crosses that were set in a circle with anchors at the top. I think that they stood for the three twin cities along the Baltic sea, Gdansk, Gdynia and Sopot. In the crosses were sculptures and Polish proverbs, and beneath them were flower arrangements in the shapes of anchors. At the foot of those lay black and white pictures of the president, his wife, and many of the other people that died in the recent plane crash. A lot of figures that were monumental to the Solidarity movement died in that plane crash - I didn't realize how many until I saw the memorial. So many red and white candles, ribbons, and roses adorned the foot of those crosses. I saw a country grieving its losses but a country that really drew strength from this piece of positive history. They had come together and overthrown an oppressing power with no outside help and still take great pride in that. I also was reminded once again of how much solace Poland takes in the Catholic church. The Catholic church, such a huge part of their history and culture was something that both the Communists and Nazi oppressors tried to take away from the country. Instead of losing its religious fervor, Poland grew stronger in its Catholicism, using the Church as a source of strength and pride. I always feel super re-affirmed in my Catholicness after visiting Poland because I'm reminded of just how deeply engrained being Catholic is in being Polish. The two are kind of inseparable.

Anyways, after all of that history Bianca and Marta went on a long bike ride along the beach and I went by myself to wander through town. I wanted some time on my own where I could not play navigator/translator, not be immediately labeled as a tourist because of speaking English, and just kind of blend in and observe the city. I had such a great time walking around by myself. I wandered in and out of epically goregous churches, went shopping and bought a beautiful amber heart ring, and went to Mass at the oldest church in Gdansk. I also stumbled upon this awesome festival with live music and a ton of food and beer booths. We ended up coming back there later for dinner. I introduced Marta to bigos and had some golabki and Zywiec beer myself.

We also randomly ran into a friend we had made at the hostel while we were eating. She and I hit it off really quickly (she taught English for a while in Poland and now was just traveling around the country by herself), so she and I hung out by the water with some more piwo (beer) and pierniczki (COOOKKIIESSS!) while Marta and Bianca went looking for some nightlife. As we were looking out at the water, we hear a series of insanely loud BOOOMMM's behind us. Not having any idea what they were, and having been reading war history all day, I was legit spooked haha. We went back inside the walls of the city and then realized the noises were coming from a fireworks show that ended the festival. Super glad we weren't under attack haha. Lasssttt night in Gddannsskkk.

I was really sad to leave : ( . I'm always sad to leave Poland though. I'm thinking I'm going to try to go to Warsaw for my birthday this summer because one of my best friends is going to be interning there over the summer.

Love and miss you all!!!!! Approaching broke so I am done with trips for awhile, but I have definitely had some adventures around my city that I will update you about!!!!