The Solidarnosc Museum, Gdansk

At the beginning of March (I know, I know, I am SO behind) Anneke, another volunteer living close by, and I went to the Solidarnosc Museum near the centre of Gdansk. In all truth, I knew nothing about Solidarnosc before setting foot in this museum, but I left with great empathy for all Poles who lived through this time of suppression and scarcity, and a massive respect for those who drove the change and stand for freedom that was at the core of this movement. I also left kind of wanting to have a career in designing museum exhibitions...

Hard hats of shipyard workers from the beginning of the Solidarnosc movement, affixed to the ceiling

The original plywood boards outlining the twenty-one commands of the shipyard strikers

...I mean, this museum was so well designed. It was multimedia, interactive, and - most importantly, it not only presented information by giving you screeds and screeds to read. Each room was unique, interesting, and conveyed its own message through form and aesthetics, and let the artefacts, footage and photographs predominantly speak for themselves - the audio guide also helped. Seriously the best  museum I've been to so far.

Wrocław - Miniatures, Gnomes and a Panorama

Wrocław is one of my favourite cities in Poland, and this weekend ranks as one of the most fun and memorable. We spent about half a day just exploring old town, and came across so many little bronze statues of gnomes doing different things. A jolly old gnome laden down with croissants on the window sill of a bakery. One carrying pails of water across it's shoulders as it sat on a fire hydrant. Climbing up lampposts, slouched against walls, and generally causing mischief - these little men were a delight to find, and truly make Wrocław unique.

A little bit more Gdansk & a Warsaw Weekend

The Gdansk shipyards

Me looking like a red marshmallow in my Antarctica jacket - oh, in front of the Gdansk skyline

On Wednesday after school this week, one of the teachers, with her husband, took me to a few places of historical interest around Gdansk. First was to a fortress or something that you could see across the river, then to a hill up behind the train station in Gdansk. There are some old bunkers in (on??) the hill, well as a sculpture of a wavy red cross erected in 2000 to bless Gdansk throughout the new millennium. 

My favourite part of the Gdansk skyline are the cranes you can see in the shipyards. To me, they're synonymous with Gdansk, and when I see them, they not only embody all that Gdansk is, with it's economic growth, it's ties to the sea, and it's function as Poland's trade gateway to the world, but it also symbolises a bit of Gdansk's past.

Auchwitz & Krakow Weekend

After taking about an eight hour overnight bus ride (commitment) down to Krakow on Thursday, three of my friends and I got up nice and early on Friday to go on a tour to the Auschwitz and Birkenau concentration camps. It truly was an eye-opening and sickening experience.

 We started in Auschwitz we we got systematically shown through the major parts of the museum. It took a little while for it to hit me, the gravity of what had happened here, and it took even longer for me to comprehend that this had happened to actual, once living, human beings. I still struggle to comprehend that it was caused by human beings. It was a little bit harder to go into each building as the tour progressed, knowing that some other horrible reality was inside. But at the same time, I felt obliged to. If I can pay respect to the countless victims of this terrible event by hearing their stories told and seeing the remains of what happened to them, then, in this small way, I will do it. 

First Taste of Gdansk & Sopot

A revolutionary apartment block

Zaspa as the sun goes down

I and another volunteer, Anneke, trained to Gdansk where we were picked up by our first host family. The next day our host mum, Magda, took us to the pier at Zaspa, Gdansk, and along the beach. The craziest thing that I couldn't get over was the fact that there was SNOW on the sand. Those two things just don't go together for me.

Yes, it's snow...

The Tower of London - Day Seven

Ok, I'm seriously behind. This is getting real now. I've been in Poland for a little over three weeks now, which means this this blog is behind by about a month. I'm still going to do posts for each day of London (this is the penultimate one, after all) and after that, well let's say I should catch up quite quickly.

The V&A and Harrods - Day Six London

Today I took a tour through the Victoria and Albert Museum which showcased major highlights of their vast collections. Throughout the hour-long tour we saw an Imperial Throne from the Chinese Qing Dynasty, whose carvings were all carved out of the millions of layers of lacquer painted onto the chair (not the wooden core), busts of Spanish Princes - or something - and some other interesting stuff, but the highlight for me were the Cast Courts.

Convent Garden, Galleries & Sights by Night - Day Four London

The morning was spent browsing the cool & quirky shops of convent garden, and gazing in all the bakery's shop windows along the way. There were people playing music & singing opera while we were there, which gave the place an added sense of culture & refinement. We went into this exquisite candy store which had an (as yet) unbelievable range of truffles & chocolates. I took all my willpower not to buy about a dozen (filled chocolates are me weakness) , but Laurie and I just settled on a little chocolate penguin each, which happened to be filled with praline anyway :)

London is Calling Me - Day One

On the Thames

After spending a night just outside London with relatives, I caught the train to Waterloo where I met my second cousin to stay with her and her partner for a little while. That first day, after dropping my bag at her flat, we walked along the Thames, past the Tower of London, and through the streets to St Paul's Cathedral.

the old telephone box - you've just got to, haven't you...

Greetings from Windsor

Next stop was London. I stayed with some family near Windsor on the first night and we drove around the village and went to nearby Eton. It was amazing! The castle was quite over the top. How could one family live in such a large place?! At the same time, I loved it - I can't help being partial to the royals.

Windsor Village