Monday/Tuesday
That Monday we had an extensive lecture on the Solidarity movement in Poland. We learned all about Gdansk and the dock workers who started a revolution. It was in Gdansk that the people first publicly started talking out against Soviet occupation in Poland. Eventually all their work and that of the rest of the nations worked out and Poland became free after years of Communistic control.
The following day we had an early wake up call and started our trek to the port city of Gdansk. What we originally thought would be a four hour drive, ended up being over eight hours. By the time we had arrived we had missed most of of what was to be our tour of Gdansk that afternoon. Thankfully the tour guide was fine with only doing an hour tour. He showed us around the gorgeous Old Town of Gdansk and told us about its amazing history. Gdansk truly is a romantic city full of amazing architecture and wonderful views along the river.
That night we had a scrumptious dinner at a very nice restaurant. There was a woman singing opera music while we ate! We had broccoli soup and grilled eggplant for dinner, delicious.
Tuesday we got to ride a pirate ship! It was just a tourist boat ride down the river. But it was fun to ride on a pirate ship! The ride took us all the way down the river to where we were to have our next tour. We were given an educational tour of Westerplatte. This was once one of the last strongholds of the German invasion on Poland. We explored old bunkers and walked along memorials describing the events. Finally we came upon the main attraction of the area, a huge statue to commemorate the soldiers who lost their lives defending Gdansk. After our tour was done we took the Pirate ship back to the city of Gdansk and were free for the rest of the day. Shopping! I spent the rest of the day exploring the city and taking advantage of the fair that was going on in the city. Tons of stalls with hand made crafts everywhere. Perfect for souvenir and gift shopping.
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