Day 8: WWII history day

We slept late which really meant 830.  We woke up to gray clouds and rainy skies.  The weather is cool, and we set out to one of Colin’s 3.  If you know Colin, you know he loves all things World War II so it was no surprise he found the Museum of the Second World War located in a far northern part of Poland.  He had high expectations until we walked by the museum and saw how small it looked. 

I was just hoping they had tickets for the day.  Last night I looked at the website and it said they were sold out.  I began to panic as we are here for this one museum.  We went a little early in case the ticket office was open and thankfully we were able to buy tickets.  However, when the museum opened at least a hundred other people entered at the same time.  We decided to just sit back and let the crowd clear as it was hard to see anything.  The museum path flowed in one direction and it was way too crowded to even see any of the displays.  The crowd finally cleared so we ventured around the displays.  While the outside looks small it sure was not.  The actual museum is below ground which had us wondering what was in the above ground structure?  Colin said he thought it was a great WWII museum . . . maybe not the best he has been to but at the top of his list.  I was impressed too and thought the displays were very well done!   

 

As we exited the building the line wrapped around the building.  I made sure to remind Colin that this is why you go early!  We headed back to Długi Targ area (Long Market) to have lunch.  Of course we could not decide where to go so we went back to Mojito Café and Restaurant.  I liked the menu and the food was really good and fresh.  It was cold out so we had yummy tomato soup with a crepe for dessert. 

It was so good. I am sure you can guess who ate the fruit and who ate the crepe! It was back to walking around . . . there is a street that is full of shops of anything you can imagine made of amber. I wanted a necklace, but I am rather picky.  We went in every store . . . twice!  I took notes of places that had options before finally going back to the sweetest couple to buy a necklace. And when I say an entire street, I mean every shop has about the same inventory . . .

Since this was our last full day in Gdańsk, I am soaking it all up.  This might be one of my favorite stops on the trip!  I absolutely love the buildings and the architecture.  

After a quick rest we headed out to explore Westerplatte.

Westerplatte is located on the Baltic Sea coast in the Gdańsk harbour channel.  It is famous for the Battle of Westerplatte, which was the first clash between Polish and German forces.  On September 1, 1939, the first shots of World War II were fired as the German battleship Schleswig-Holstein attacked the Westerplatte peninsula in the port of Gdańsk.  So now you know why we had to go visit!  It was really cool to walk around and see some of the original bunkers still there.  We had heard you could go inside some of them but we tried with no luck. 

There were buildings that were damaged and can you believe they let you walk inside this dilapidated structure? 

Of course there was a sign warning you it was a danger to life . . . 

. . . and like any good tourist we went right inside!

As the sun went down it was rather cool but feels so good because I know we are headed for way warmer temperatures as we soon travel south.  We had one more stop to see the Westerplatte Monument which was a nice walk to the top.

And a quick walk to the beach . . .

We headed back to the Hotel Hanza to pack and move to the airport for our morning flight.  Before we left I had to stop in and buy myself a little treat!

Steps:  18,337
Miles:  8.01