Gdansk, Poland

 Perhaps we were riding the coattails of accomplished travel from the last port, because this port turned out to be anything but.  We definitely lost steam, which I remember experiencing during the fall 2010 voyage.  I specifically remember saying to Chris in Japan during our fall 2010 voyage, “I never thought I would say this, but I am tired of traveling.”  We had hit four cities in four days, and walked hours upon hours in all four cities.  Our lack of steam in fall 2010 voyage was definitely not for the same reasons as this voyage. 

In addition to travel fatigue, Chris still has a lot of work to do because he not only needs to wrap up   Therefore, we only left the ship for dinner in the old town of Gdansk, for two days.  The third justification for our lameness was…no surprise…Quinn.  We always did look forward to the day we could blame our lameness on having a child, and it has now arrived, so here we go.  She had two long days of travel so we wanted to give her more time to sleep and a break from the stroller.

Semester at Sea courses, but also must prepare for two new courses at Clarkson University this fall (aka, two days after our arrival onto US soil).

The ship was harbored at the port of Westerplatte, which is famous for the Battle of Westerplatte, the site where World War II started and the Germans invaded Poland.  At that time, Poland had 180 soldiers fighting 3,500 Germans (including naval and air), and managed to defend themselves for seven days until they were finally out of ammunition and surrendered.

From our port, we had a quick shuttle bus ride into the popular tourist destination, Gdansk. Picture cobblestone streets, colorful buildings, beer gardens, brick churches, and millions of tents with souvenirs or food (where polish sausages and pirogues are ubiquitous).  I think “quaint” is my most common word in my blog posts; however, it really is the perfect word to describe Gdansk, as well as many of the other places we visited on this voyage.  The one downside of this port, like most of the destinations this summer, were the crowds due to peak tourist season.  Take tonight.  We decided to go into town to grab a quick dinner and buy a few grocery items.  We ended up walking quite a bit to find a restaurant that would suit our palates, provide a place for Quinn to sit with us (unlike the beer garden and tent vendors), and had seating available.  After much frustration, we finally decided to check out the place we visited the night before with some friends.  We knew the food was delicious though it was not Polish by any means because it was a pizza joint.  The hostess told us there were no tables available.  As soon as we heard the news and walked away, Quinn got upset.  Likely, because she was hungry and excited to sit down, but perhaps because she knew she could manipulate this kind hearted hostess with her tears.  Because just as we were contemplating going back to the ship for dinner (now do you feel our desperation?!), the women found us on the street to tell us a table would soon be ready due to some patrons paying their bill.  She had seen Quinn cry, remembered us from the night before, and wanted to help  I seriously teared up.  She also told us we had the “sweetest baby” when we left the restaurant.  Sigh.  Quinn, the charmer, had worked her magic on the hostess and we finally were able to eat our last dinner off the ship on this voyage. 

 

In addition to walking around Gdansk, we took a day trip with some friends to Sopot, which is a beach town nearby. This was definitely my favorite day because a) the day involved spending time with people we enjoy from the ship, b) the beach always brings joy to Quinn’s face (add the extra attention from friends to that joyous face), and c) I was able to spend a few hours riding a bike with these said friends.

So, not the most exciting blog entry, but not a ton to report. We now have five days at sea before arriving back in Southampton, England, on August 21.  We will take a shuttle from the ship to our hotel near London Heathrow Airport.  Chris has never been to London so I am hoping we can tour around London that night, however, I am unsure if it will work logistically.  Then, we fly and arrive “home” to Potsdam, NY, on August 22.  There will be more adjustments awaiting all of us.

P.S. This is a picture on a Ferris wheel in Gdansk.  A few mentioned how happy Quinn always looks in the pictures.  While she is a very happy girl, I thought I would give a more realistic perspective on traveling with a toddler. Quinn has this amazing view in the background, but was most interested in the floor the entire time and got upset about who knows what.