April 18, 2015
Day 92-93 - G'day Gdansk
I like this city. The history of the place is fascinating: Gdansk was briefly independent, Westerplatte was the first place Hitler attacked--and 200 soldiers held out for a week, the Solidarity movement essentially started here in 1980. The old buildings are great (except for the dull church interiors I peeked at), the Solidarity museum absolutely packed with photos and video (I would like to believe everything, but I have seen so much propaganda in recent months that I do not automatically believe information presented to me in this manner).
The hostel and streets are noisy at night. I really should have planned my city stops to avoid weekends, which are less appealing than they used to be since my poor, abused body is demanding proper sleep on a nightly basis. I've determined that consistently sleeping like a log is essential to my body tolerating my ongoing abuse of it. The abuse is out of kindness; I should be thanking myself for doing this to myself.
One more day here would be really nice: once again, I can't participate in a Saturday night in Poland. I guess it's okay, there's nobody interesting at this hostel either, though they're definitely livelier than the kids in Poznan.
And that has me thinking that after this trip, I'm finished with hostels in Europe. The backpackers were so much better in Central Asia. All this time in Europe, and there were a couple interesting people at the hostel in Skopje, and Timisoara... and that's pretty much it. The long term travellers are non-existent. I remember there were a lot more of them in Europe five years ago. Where are you??? Show yourselves!
Wow, 4500 km on the odometer. That's a lot considering I could have come here in 2500 km. And that 4500 doesn't include the ~500 km of hitchhiking, or the 65 km on the train! I have at least 1700 km left, considerably more than the direct route to my destination, which would take in absolutely nothing I want to see--all of those things are conveniently situated up to 200 km out of my way.
There are seven things I want to see: four historical-cultural, two natural, and one pure kitsch. Going to them all would be foolish, as it would involve a lot more biking than I've been doing, with less rest, and possibly nasty headwinds. I choose to be foolish. (And I might get a bit behind on the journal, but I promise I'll finish it.)
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Note: it was much rainier than you'd think by looking at the photos. Remember that the next time I claim it's always nice on rest days and rainy when I get back on the bike.
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