a) I started an online course and got a bit busy
b) I ran out of ideas
c) laziness
I've got a few ideas now though, so here goes. I'll start with Saturday night...
Torun had a visit from Rod. He was only doing one night in Poland and chose the Motoarena here! It was a cracking concert with loads of the old hits + others and an amazing backing band.
Earlier that day I had visited Fort XI with a few colleagues and a local historian. Torun is surrounded by about fifteen 19th Century Prussian forts, most of which are overgrown and in ruins, but once you are inside you get a fascinating insight into the lives of the prisoners.
We were also accompanied by a British woman whose dad had been captured at Dunkerque and marched to Poland where he was detained in a few forts, including this one. He managed to escape from one of them and made his way to Gdansk and home. She was visiting all of the sites where he had been kept.
We started at a school in town where our guide, Piotr, works as a teacher and has set up a small museum packed full of artefacts from the war. We then moved on to the fort itself.
You start by nipping through a hole in the wall and then make your way down very dark tunnels.
The highlight for me though, was the graffiti that you can find on the walls of the cells. Many had written their names and regiments but there were also lots of drawings and comments of various sorts.
Last weekend I was at the Motoarena for its main purpose - Speedway. This is quite a big sport in Poland and Torun has one of the best teams so I was itching to get there before I leave. It was a great evening out (and Torun won comfortably).
Going back a few months ...
In March I had an interesting experience in the public toilets of Chelmno bus station. I had just walked there from a neighbouring town and popped in before catching my bus. In every public WC you pay an attendant who is sitting in a small booth at the entrance. They rarely even look at you but this chap gave me a personal service - he came and showed me the toilets and opened a door for me, showed me how to switch on the taps and how to use the electric hand drier as well as offering me a towel. We got chatting - now that I have made a Great Leap Forward and can string as few sentences together I'm keen to practise on any poor soul who will listen. Heinrich (I think that's his name) is 80 and a very friendly soul indeed. Over the course of the next fifteen minutes I told him what I'm doing in Poland and he showed me pictures of his family. I even managed to say he looked very young which made his day. I received several hugs before leaving and think I made a friend for life.
Now, having lived on an island all of my life I'm rather used to my borders being fixed but this hasn't been the case with Poland over the years. Or for some of its neighbours either, Lithuania being one such example.
I knew as little about Lithuania & Latvia before I left as I did about Ukraine. Well, I knew they almost always beat us at Eurovision, but that was about it. I decided it was time to pay a visit and this time I was joined by my good buddy David.
We started in Vilnuis, which is absolutely full of beautiful buildings.
The building above is called the Gate of Dawn. After a while I noticed that lots of people passed through the arch, turned, and then crossed themselves. Some nuns passed through and looked up at it for ages. Inside there is a gold statue of Mary and it is credited with miraculous powers by many Catholics.
We managed to find a few nice spots for a beer or a coffee - sightseeing's tough work y'know. We also decided to try an 'authentic' Lithuanian restaurant. David's a bit more adventurous than me so he ordered the local delicacy - pig's ears - as a starter. Words cannot express how pleased I was when we realised that the waitress had mixed up the order and they never arrived. I would have had to try one if they had turned up.After a couple of days we moved on to Riga, which has its own statue of liberty...
A tower very similar to one in Warsaw ('Stalin's Birthday Cake') ...
and interesting side streets + its own range of interesting buildings...
OK, I haven't finished, but I'll stop there as my typing fingers hurt (index finger on each hand).
I've still got a trip to Malbork Castle to mention as well as more about life in Torun and a bit about where I'm off to next as I think that's sorted now. The next thrilling instalment of this blog will be out before the end of the month (I hope).
