Gdansk, Poland

The next morning, our floating resort arrived at another port rich with history. Actually, the ship docks in Gdynia, a modest little town that seemed unremarkable to me, but it is the gateway to Gdansk, a city over a thousand years old that had been a rich, Free City where trade flourished due to its strategic location from the outset.





Flash forward to August 24, 1939, in faraway Moscow, Germany’s Third Reich and the Soviet Union signed a treaty of non-aggression called the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Like in the game Risk, which my family has played many times, this agreement allowed Germany to ignore its eastern front and take over poorly defended countries of strategic value.










Previously, Hitler had broken the Versailles agreement by taking over German-speaking regions: Austria and the part of Czechoslovakia known as Sudetenland.  But Great Britain’s Neville Chamberlain had signed away those countries in a bargain with the devil, infamously promising “peace in our time.” Hitler interpreted this appeasement as weakness, leading him to deduce he could do whatever he wanted.





On September 1, 1939, a German warship opened fire on Gdansk. Hitler’s Nazi Germany launched a blitzkrieg attack on Poland. On September 3, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. The Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east on September 17, and faced with onslaught by two totalitarian regimes, Poland submitted to defeat on October 6 of that same year. Gdansk would be leveled over the next few years following Chamberlain’s proclamation of "peace in our time."  Germany and the Soviet Union divided Poland between them.



On June 22, 1941, Hitler invaded Russia. For Hitler, the Russian winter combined with the retreating Red Army's scorched-earth policy was like consistently rolling snake-eyes in Risk. Had Hitler not broken his non-aggression treaty with Russia, who knows what hell we would be living in now? As it was, Russia became the enemy of Germany, and the enemy of our enemy was treated as our friend, and with a little help from our friends, we defeated the Nazis. At the Yalta Conference, however, the Allies left Poland under the control of the Soviet Union after World War II concluded, damning Poland to an even longer period of near-slavery under Communist rule.


Flash forward to 1970, when lack of food led to riots against the Communist government and 27 workers were shot in the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk\

Firebrand Lech Welesa had been one of the leaders of the uprising, but he was released after questioning by authorities.

In 1976, as a result of his activities as shop steward at the shipyard, Welesa was fired. In 1980, the year when the young United States hockey team stunned the world by upsetting the invincible Russian hockey team, Lech Welesa rose up to form the Solidarity union that helped crack Soviet domination in Eastern Europe. Walesa eventually led Poland to independence, and Lenin Shipyard was re-named Gdansk Shipyard.

The beautiful, prosperous Gdansk had been completely reduced to rubble in World War II, but miraculously the city was rebuilt to the way it had looked in medieval times. Now it attracts tourists from throughout the world.

However, this apparently was not meant to be a serious day for us. Gina and Laszlo joined Julie, Jay, Amy and I, and we were all in rather silly moods. We took a taxi to the train station, where we caught a train to Gdansk. Julie and Laszlo had been studying maps and determined we could get off in Oliwa to see a famous church on our way to Gdansk. I can’t claim to much intelligent input, although I remember mentioning that Pat Welch’s mother was Polish, and his family came from Minnesota, so he was a Twins fan. His favorite player when we were kids was Tony Oliva, which is spelled almost exactly like Oliwa. The payoff of the story probably impresses you about as much as it did the others.

Anyway, we got off the train in Oliwa, and I saw a giant poster of a naked woman holding a can, and I said, “I don’t know what she’s selling, but I’m buying.” I was walking behind the group, looking off to the side at the poster, so I didn’t notice they dodged some 3-foot bollard posts to stop motor vehicles. I hit one with my leg, somehow catching the tail of my shirt and ripping a button off. We all laughed at me about that for the rest of the day.

We asked directions, and as we found most of the time while in Poland, the people either spoke no English or had no interest in encouraging people too cheap to buy tours. For $175, we could have hired a van to take us to this church and Gdansk on an all day tour, and that was probably a good deal, but we had a laughing good time on our own. We asked others we passed on our hike, pointing at a picture of the church, and they nodded and pointed as if we were going the right way, but when we arrived at the church, it was not the Oliwa Cathedral.

We walked toward a hill, and for some reason, Jay and I became convinced that Gdansk must be on the other side of it. Julie kept saying we were going the wrong way, but we were in mountain climbing mode. There were animals rustling through the trees, and it was really a beautiful area. Jay found a big walking stick, and then he ran ahead to see what he could see. It turned out we were just reliving the life of Hansel and Gretel, so instead of potentially being made into ginger bread cookies, we doubled back to the train station.

The train, by the way, was no Disney version or modern bullet train. It was an old train used by locals to get to work. We weren’t sure which exit to take, so I asked some other passengers, who looked at me like I was a beggar or mad man, but eventually one guy looked at the picture of town I pointed at and nodded, saying, “We go too.”
We watched for him to give us the signal, and we got off the train at the right stop. He continued onto a subway, but we decided to walk from there. We reconnoitered the area searching for a tourist center, where we grabbed some local maps and were pointed in the right direction.

The city of Gdansk turned out to be beautiful, as advertised, and we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon there.

We found a little cafe where some had smoothies and I had the best pale lager I’ve ever tasted. It was a Zywiec, a Polish beer that is now under the Heineken umbrella.

Beer aficionados don’t consider it to be as good as I do, but perhaps because it was a fresh keg or some other happenstance, I found it perfect to sip at this sidewalk cafe in Gdansk on this day. When I went inside to use the restroom, I had to wait for it to open, and I found a Polish copy of “Playboy.” Of course, I only read the articles.

We walked around the wonderful medieval village, past the waterfront, and it was all beautiful, but we had decided on a mission. We would find the best Polish sausage in town. We finally found a patio restaurant grilling giant sausages outdoors, but all the tables were full.

One handsome young man sat alone at a table large enough for all of us, and I remembered what Erica in Old World Village said long ago.

“In America, people will make a point of not sitting with a stranger, but in Europe, it is an insult to not sit with others, even if you are the only ones there.”

We asked if we could join him, and surprisingly, he spoke very good English. He said he’d enjoy having us share his table. He had come to town for a rock concert, and would soon be returning back to his inland home.

We ordered a round of drinks. They didn’t have my favorite brand, so I ordered another Polish lager beer, Tyskie. Others had Lech beer or wine, and we ordered three of the giant sausages. We enjoyed talking with a local.

We were watching our watches, waiting for our lunch and knowing we needed to catch the train back to Gdynia. The sausages finally arrived, and they were fantastic, tasting terrific with some mustard and rustic bread. We finished them while walking, but we made it back to the ship with time to spare.

That night, we had a late dinner in the formal dining room. Gina, Julie and Amy decided to go to Movies Under the Stars to watch “Confessions of a Shopaholic.” Movies Under the Stars is a giant outdoor movie screen by the swimming pool. At night, special cushions are placed on the lounge chairs for a feature film. Princess waiters bring around popcorn, pizza and cookies for snacks during the movie at no charge. The girls had a wonderful time, and I think they would rate their girls’ night out as one of the highlights of the trip.

Darlene, Brooks and I went to hear comedian Pete Matthews at the late night show. Darlene and Brooks thought he was terrific, nailing aspects of the trip perfectly with satire. I thought he was pretty good too, although it seemed like I was hard to please at the shows on this trip.

The night was still young, and there was plenty of action on the ship, but Germany would arrive early in the morning, so we turned in. While we didn't see about half of what we planned and gave only passing glances at the big attractions we found, Gdansk proved to be one of the most fun ports for us.