Take A Peake: I miss pierogi and the wonderful Polish exchange rate.

So I finally had a chance to upload all my pictures and sit down and write about my experience in Poland. Although Poland was definitely different that I thought it would be, I ended up having a great time. Throughout the entire trip, I constantly felt that I was living in a different time, it felt surreal. The currency over there is zloty which had an exchange rate of 3:1. I am for sure not a math person, but I found myself dividing everything by 3 to figure out what everything cost in USD. For example, my favorite meal which consisted of a giant plate of pierogi with gravy cost 20 zl. This roughly amounts to just under $6. SO good.

After a long train ride from Berlin to Gdansk, I learned that riding in a train compartment is not at all how it looks in Harry Potter. Apparently we were on a busy train because it was packed. As in people were crammed in every seat, standing/sitting in the aisles and in front of the doors. When I had to leave the train, people saw my bag, picked it up, and passed it along because they knew there was no way I could get through all those people with it.

I loved the city center of Gdansk - it was so picturesque and it truly made me feel like I was living in a different time, circa 1940s. It was a small and quiet town, so after the walking city tour on Saturday, we had seen all there was to Gdansk. On Sunday we took a pirate ship to Westerplatte. Yup we actually traveled on a pirate ship! And Westerplatte was probably one of my favorite places because it was the site of an early battle in WWII between the Germans and Poles. To sum it up, in 1939 there were 180 Polish soldiers posted at Westerplatte armed with 3 guns, 4 mortars, and some machine guns. This was only supposed to last them for 12 hours until reinforcements came. Well these 180 Polish soldiers held off 3500 German soldiers for 7 days. They had to surrender due to the fact that no supplies or reinforcements would be coming, but still, it was probably my favorite story.

The next day we went to Malbork Castle, which is actually the largest castle in Europe by area. This is also where I took the picture of me on the "chamber pot". Sorry but I had to do it! It was actually a single, tall tower that was solely dedicated to being a bathroom.

Then we headed on the train to Warsaw, which was a much bigger city with a lot more going on. I went on a couple of walking tours where I got to see the Royal Castle, Jewish Ghetto, Culture Palace, and my favorite park - Park Lazienkowski. From what I saw of Poland by train, it looks kind of old and a little sad. There was also a lot of construction going on because next year, Poland is co-hosting the EuroCup with Ukraine. But Warsaw is beautiful and Park Lazienkowski is completely gorgeous and now I know what an actual autumn is. On our free day, I spent the day with my friend Danielle playing in the park with all the leaves! I also was lucky enough to see a Chopin concert which was amazing! I felt like I could have listened to that guy play for hours and hours.

Gdansk City Center

At the Torture House!

Only a pirate ship.

Malbork Castle with Danielle

Malbork Castle

In Poland they put vodka in your tea, they did it, not me!

Westerplatte

Chamber pots in Malbork Castle

Playing in the leaves! So pretty!

I have no idea what this is. But it was good!

Soldiers standing guard

Culture Palace at night - according to the Poles, the best view of Warsaw is atop here, because you can't see this building. The Polish apparently hate this building built by Stalin, but its too costly to tear it down.