The Streets of Gdańsk

Lyon Part II will just have to wait. Gdańsk, where we are tonight, is begging to be told NOW.

Sunday was a whole day of nothing but travel — Marie and Juliette drove us to the train station in Lyon, where we caught the train to Paris Gare de Lyon. We took the Metro to Port Maillot, where we got on the bus to the airport at Paris Beauvais. Once at the airport, we understood why Wizz Air can fly  so cheap! There are no assigned seats; people rush to stand in line for over an hour! Ugh. When the flight began to board, passengers rushed along the tarmac to the airplane doors — open both front and back. Zach and I dashed to the rear door, climbed the stairs and chose the very last seat in back. Hence we were among the very first off the plane in Gdansk! Great! I must admit I love it when we can deplane by stepping down stairs right onto the tarmac, right into the reality of the weather. (Isn't "deplane" an interesting verb? Why don't we "decar" or "deboat"?)

And here we are! In Gdańsk! (By the way, that little mark over the N makes the center of the word sound something like the "ein" in Einstein. So, like "Gdeinsk.")

Before we could leave the airport, we had to get some złoty out of an ATM.  Poland does not use the Euro. (Another pronunciation lesson here — sorry, I just can't help it — the L with a diagonal line through it is pronounced like an English W. So the money is pronounced something like ZWOTY.)  But big bills came out of the machine, and to buy tickets for the city bus we needed small denominations. How to break a large bill? Why buy something, of course. We bought an expensive airport sandwich to go, grabbed the change but forgot to take along the sandwich! Crazy Americans. 

A short ride on a city bus brought us to Ul. Długa and our hotel. Wow! It was like stepping into a fairyland, and on that first night we really enjoyed it. Here's the view from our hotel room window taken on Sunday night:

There are no cars on Ul. Długa; it's a pedestrian mall filled with sidewalk restaurants and vendors of amber. We enjoyed a most delicious meal — fish for me, pork chops for Zach — while listening to a piano player doing schmaltzy renditions of mostly American pop tunes. I wanted Chopin.

The hotel itself, Dom Schumannów, is a lovely old building dating back to 1560, with only six guest rooms. Best part to my mind is the terrific old wooden staircase. No elevator —that's probably why it's in the mid-price range. Right outside is the Fountain of Neptune.

Hotel Dom Schumannów is the pinkish building on the far left.

Inside our hotel room:

Telephone actually works!

Constance Schumann

A few street scenes of charming Gdańsk:

This tiny building is part of an English language school. Within its walls is a lovely courtyard.
How about living here and teaching English?

We walked through this gate to get to the River Motława.

Yet another gate at the riverside

Motława

Even on a cloudy day, there is beauty everywhere here.

Zach needed a toothbrush, so we found a little grocery store. Ahh. Cases of Zywiec beer to admire. 

Gdansk is filled with culture — art, music, film — but it was Monday and museums were closed. So? We set off on foot along the river in search of the shipyards of Solidarność fame. That's next.