Westerplatte, Gdansk, Poland

July 22, 2012

We live on the western bank of the Motława River, south of the medieval city, and see a good deal of small boat traffic. Yesterday we noticed that a ferry passed by our windows around 9 am and again around 3 pm. After a little research, we discovered that this ferry goes to Westerplatte. Why would anyone want to go to Westerplatte? Stay tuned, I'll show you soon!

We embarked on the ferry less than a quarter of a mile from our apartment at Zabi Kruk. The ride cost 10 PLN per person ($3.00) and took almost two hours, but it was worth the time.  Below are some of the sights along the way. It was a beautiful day for sightseeing, and it was the first day without rain!

Our ferry - the F5.  Ferry in Polish is "prom"

Our building from the boat! 

We are the apartment with the satellite dish on it (it doesn't work yet)

Almost to the old city

Gorgeous architecture

Creative, decorative down-spouts for the gutter systems. 

The one on the far left is an owl, the middle is a cow, and the far right is....I'm not sure. Use your imagination!

View from the water of medieval town and the "Crane"

One of the most famous sights in Gdansk - the "Crane" or Zuraw (Polish) or Krantor (German).

It is a type of Treadwheel crane - built before 1366 and was burned by the Soviets in 1945, but the original brick structure remained. It has been beautifully restored and is a part of the Polish Maritime Museum. 

Almost directly underneath the Crane!

I'm on a boat

Floating fish restaurant

Everybody look at me, I'm sailing on a boat

Shipyard Gdansk

Oil tanker

Ships being repaired at the shipyard

An oil rig being repaired 

We noticed that once we stepped off the ferry onto the peninsula of Westerplatte, that there were lots of little bugs flying around.  There were BILLIONS of LADYBUGS EVERYWHERE! 

It was like being in an Alfred Hitchcock movie, except with ladybugs.

I kid you not, the walk ways were paved with smushed ladybugs. 

I'm sure I'll find several in my hair when I take a shower later.

Ladybug in Polish is Boża Krowka, which means "God's little cow"

Westerplatte.

The very first shot that started World War II happened on this very peninsula.

The Nazi battleship Schleswig-Holstein was at the Port of Gdansk on a "goodwill visit."

The Polish cemetery on Westerplatte.

230 brave Polish soldiers fought against the Nazis here.

The surrendering officer, Major Henryk Sucharski, was allowed to keep his saber while being held captive, in recognition of the Pole's valor.

Sucharski's surrender on September 7, 1939

Photo courtesy of the Republic of Poland

The memorial statue at Westerplatte, in memory of the Polish defenders and the 55 Polish Post Office workers who were murdered by the Nazis on September 1, 1939.

NO MORE WAR

These remind me of the butterfly weed in Georgia - except purple instead or orange

For Euro 2012 soccer tournament, the city of Gdansk set up a series of ABC's of Gdansk next to the Museum of Amber (in Polish and English). I have photos of a few interesting ones here.

Above is information about F is for Fahrenheit

Fahrenheit's thermometer

Ancient local brew - J is for Joppe

R is for Reconstruction

S is for Solidarity

W is for Westerplatte

The detail on the buildings is just breathtaking! Lots of gold, bronze and copper

City Hall

After a long day on the ferry, we had a nice refreshing cocktail of bison grass vodka and apple juice. 

(Can you see the long piece of grass in the vodka?)  

I first had this drink with our friend Caitlin in DC at her infamous wintertime vodka party. 

We used 1 part vodka to 1 part apple juice.

The final touch was the addition of fish-shaped ice cubes - a perfect ending to our day on the water!

Na Zdrowia!

Getting into the groove

July 20, 2012

Well, we arrived safe and sound with the critters, and introduced them to our new apartment just a couple of days ago!  Since then, we've been waiting for our household items and car to arrive, and killing time like anyone would in a new city.  You know, the normal stuff...shopping for new sheets (our apartment came with a nice king size bed!), sightseeing, napping, and cooking!

`

"ARE WE THERE YET??"  ~ Piper, future US President

Piper practicing yoga in Warsaw. She needed a BIG stretch after 10 hours on an airplane!

Warsaw central train station.  I was told by multiple teachers at FSI that this place is horribly dirty and scary - they must have done a ton of work to it before the Euro 2012 soccer tournament, because it was SPOTLESS!

Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw

Danger may be popular in America, but on the train from Warsaw to Gdansk - he was a SUPERHERO!

He was snuggled by at least 5 children throughout the trip.  

This is Ewan, a Polish-American kid from Chicago. 

He was delighted to speak Poglish -think Spanglish :)- with us and snuggle Danger.

The train experience:

The train trip was long, about 8 hours. It usually takes about 4 hours to drive. 

First class tickets are $35 each. The first-class cabin will hold 6 people, or 3 people, 2 cats, and one big dog! The train was clean, but old and none of the lights worked. The most shocking thing was - when you flushed the toilet on the train, the bottom of the toilet opened up, and dumped your waste directly onto the tracks below, and the toilet paper had LARGE RAISED BUMPS printed into it! YIKES!

The view from our largest balcony, off the living room

I'm FREEEEEE!  Oh, wait. No I'm not.

Princess approved!

Guess where we had lunch!  Tastes like home, or Sweden. 

Another Olmsted spouse had mentioned that ice cube trays are really hard to find in Europe.  I looked at IKEA, and was given the choice between blue fish or orange starfish silicone molds. No "regular" square molds on a rectangular tray.  I was informed that these silicone guys are NOT used for baking.

A little friend I found on the sidewalk.  

I bought what looked good and fresh at the market today and then decided what to do with it.

I could not resist buying a "Polish" sunflower at the market.  It cost 3 PLN (zloty) or $1.00

I have no idea what kind of flowers these are, but they are pretty!

We have a couple of very dull knives and an old warped cutting board...but I managed to make spaghetti carbonara for dinner tonight. I bet Jamie Oliver feels like this when he goes to film a show out in the woods somewhere in France with borrowed equipment.

First dish in Poland - Spaghetti Carbonara Gdańska

The bacon here is not smoked, not salted, and not cured in any way. 

If you want to try my version, you can often buy non-cured, non-smoked pork belly (bacon) from small pork producers at farmers markets or at your local Korean/Asian grocery.

Off-the-cuff spaghetti "carbonara"......

Ingredients:

25g butter

4-6 pieces of bacon, chopped

1 leek, thoroughly rinsed and the white/light green parts chopped fine

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

4 large eggs

500g spaghetti (a whole regular package)

200 ml 2% milk 

- I have only been able to find skim milk in one store here and it was the "boxed-Parmalat" variety - I'll just take the fresh, local stuff with fat in it -

20g Parmesan cheese, grated

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Boil water to cook your pasta, add some salt to the water.  Cook your spaghetti per package directions.

Start your pasta right after you put the bacon in the pan.

You want the pasta to be HOT when you  mix in the egg-mixture, otherwise you will have raw egg in your dish!

Chop the bacon into small pieces and cook on medium heat.  

After 5 minutes, add the chopped leeks, and cook on medium heat until translucent/softened

Lower the heat to medium-low and add the garlic.

Remove from heat when garlic is fragrant.

Whisk in a bowl the 4 eggs, milk, parsley, Parmesan, salt and pepper.

Once the pasta is done, drain it, reserving a cup of the pasta-water - just in case you need to moisten the final product.

Put the HOT pasta back into the pot and toss in the egg mixture.  Toss together.  

Add in the bacon/leek mixture and keep tossing until creamy and combined.

Serve immediately with fresh grated Parmesan and fresh chopped parsley.

Smacznego!