29 May 2007:

The Star Princess sailed into the Polish port of Gdynia, past the pride of the Polish Navy...a half-dozen medium sized cruisers and a small battleship who seemed to be surrounded and out numbered by a large group of while swans occupying the harbor. Before we have a chance to dock it begins to rain....not a good sign; I have a walking tour of Gdansk on the schedule. I pack my trusty folding umbrella....it has never failed me....anytime I carry it, it doesn’t rain. The only time I haven’t had it with me was on the night tour in Russia when it rained very hard and I became a soggy, dripping, lump in a wrinkled dinner jacket.  And holding true to form, as I emerge from the ship, umbrella in hand, the rain has stopped and the sun is peeking through the clouds.

The tour bus leads us through a port filled with junkyards and out past crumbling apartment blocks very reminiscent of St. Petersburg. During the ride our guide provides a little local history and gives us a lecture on banking credit and loans.....Poland has the oldest Constitution in Europe and was second only to the United States in creating a Constitution.....and even though the Communists were tossed out over a decade ago, you have the impression that the simple act of being able to get a loan from a bank to buy a car or the ability to actually own your own apartment are still new and exciting concepts here.

You can also tell that there is still much bitterness over the repressive Communist regime that ruled here for so long....there are many comments about the “Russian Puppets” that governed the country....stories about the hardship and deprivation....rationing of petrol and chocolates...and the privileges of the bosses in the Party....and many jokes told about the Russians.....very similar to the way people in the U. S. tell Polish jokes.

They are very proud of their young Democracy and the sacrifices they made to achieve it; and they seem happy to be part of a “normal” country like the rest of Europe. Our guide seemed particularly happy that Poland was now a member of NATO and of the European Union.

On the 30 kilometer drive from Gdynia to Gdansk we pass monuments to workers killed in clashes with militia units in the 1970’s and to the Solidarity Movement of the 1980’s as well as a monument to Communist Regime....the longest building in the world (according to our guide)...it is a single 10 or 12 story apartment building that is 1.1 kilometers long and houses over 5000 people.....and is now considered something of a slum due to the miniscule size of the apartments.

Gdansk is far older, but much less grand than St Petersburg. Once known as Danzig, a part of Germany, the city was almost totally destroyed during and after World War II by the Russian army.....another sore spot in relations between Poland and Russia. The reconstruction has left the city with many buildings whose exteriors invoke the 1300’s but whose interiors are post-war modernism.

As we begin the walking tour of the old city my umbrella finally fails me and the rain begins. The only refuge is either the church (donation required for visitors) or a café (donation also required...but they serve beer), so café it is.....I find that most of the cafes have umbrellas over their tables that are strategically placed to insure that water drips off the umbrellas and onto the seats....I think they use the umbrellas for shade, not for protection from the rain. Only about 1 in 3 seats are dry and those seats are  occupied by tourists who were faster on their feet than me. Finally, I spot a café where three people have just gotten up and left. I race to the table, claim the dry seat and wait to give my order to the waiter. As it turns out, I am the wait-er, not the guy with the apron. After about 15 minutes of sitting there without being able to generate any interest in someone taking an order, I overhear someone at the next table mention that they had placed an order 35 minutes earlier, but still had no food. This is definitely not McDonald’s.  I give up on this café and begin searching for another dry table. A couple of blocks further into town I find another possibility. I sit and wait. After 3-4 minutes the guy at the next table takes pity on me and mentions, in excellent, but heavily accented English, that in this café you must go inside and order your food. I enter the café and check out the menu board....all in Polish. I find a printed menu....all in Polish. Finally I see someone eating a baked potato....its not what I want, but its something; so I point at the potato eater and tell the guy behind the counter that I want one of those and a beer. The counter guy then asks me a series of questions in Polish, to each one I smile and nod. In the end, I have a baked potato with ground beef and Mexican spices....sort of a Taco Potato. The potato was not memorable...the beer was fine. I have successfully, negotiated my first Polish meal....beer and potato.

Gdansk is a fine place to stroll and enjoy the semi-exotic atmosphere, but it is crowded and while the buildings look old, you know they are all post-war. So the overall effect is more a Disneyland version of old Europe. I highly recommend coming on a sunny day and trying the Tyskie beer....but pass on the baked potato.