Torun

Back in 2009, when John and I visited Poland (Gdansk specifically), all of the locals told us that we needed to visit Torun.  We didn't make time back then, so when Ethan suggested it, I was thrilled!

The question seemed to be, the entire time we were in Poland, was how to get anywhere?  Warsaw is super convenient to get around within itself with its multiple forms of public transportation, but Torun was at least two and a half hours away.  Ethan got the day off from work though, so it was a plan.  Ethan thought it would be easier if we rented a car than take a train.    

No worries, right?  We always rent cars in Europe.  Well, as it turns out, Poland wants anyone who rents a car to have an international driver's license (not something that we needed back in 2009).  John begged, pleaded and cadged, and finally found that Avis would still rent us a car, but we basically had to sign away our lives.

As it turns out, World Youth Day, a celebration of Catholic youth and young adults, was being held in Kraków the following week, and every single person had rented a van around Poland.  No joke, every van was gone. Which meant there wasn't one for us.  And with Baby, we are a definite six people convoy.

So, John rented two cars.  And we signed away our lives twice.

The upside was that I discovered a car that I could and would buy to replace Greenie.  The Nissan Qashqai.  It was roomy, but quick, and it felt good to be driving a standard again.  Too bad it's only sold in Europe.

Anyway, back to the story.

Ethan had signed us up for an English tour of the Gingerbread Museum in Torun.  I had no idea what to expect, but it was more than I would have imagined.  We got to actually make our own gingerbread!  There was a whole demonstration, and in true Kennedy style, we were chosen to help with it :-)  After watching the process of making gingerbread, we were then led over to tables where we got to push our own lumps of raw gingerbread into a mold.  Our creations were then whisked away to be cooked while we were allowed to sample gingerbread....which in this instance is much more like ginger cake.  Seriously, my whole image of gingerbread has been completely changed--no more gingersnap kind of cookies.  Real gingerbread is soft, and rich, and (to give Glo the heebie jeebies) moist.

Here we are, making our own.  There were some fun, traditional molds to choose from also.

We had a great time just hanging out, waiting for our cookies to cook.  And Baby got to crawl around on the floor and collect gingerbread dust all over her cutie patootie legs.

I think Ethan said that this said something like Torun is the capital of gingerbread.
Kind of like Traverse City is the Cherry capital?

Our little gnome-like Polish guide thought he was hilarious, photo bombing our cute picture.

Afterwards, we were hungry.  After all, a man can't live on gingerbread alone.  Or can he?  Hmmm....

And we had great plans.  Manekin.

Manikin is a chain around Poland, and it's all about the pancakes (or as we think of, crepes).  It honestly mimicked my experiences in a Polish pottery shop.  So many choices that I was completely overwhelmed.  Basically anything sweet or savory that we could put in a crepe was on the menu.  And beyond that, multiple choices of sauces.  And goodness, I loved it all, because as we waited, we were sitting outside, just people watching and taking in the beauty of the town.

I ordered a big old piece of deliciousness that included chicken and cheese and some other goodness.   And then we split dessert pancakes between pairs.  Rebecca and I shared a banana and chocolate dessert.  Oh goodness, my mouth is watering even now!



After two hours of gorging ourselves, we headed into the town itself.  It really is a beautiful place, having been built to be beautiful (and to attract tourists, I would guess).  Sometimes, it felt more like we were walking through Disneyworld when it's trying to be a European town...except we actually were walking through a European town.  It was amazing to see the beauty of the town itself, and there were gingerbread shops everywhere.  And when we walked in, it was like a bakery, or a chocolate shop, but with gingerbread.  It was AWESOME!

Too, it was fun to see a parade of kids coming for World Youth Day.  Many of them are on pilgrimages to Kraków.

Next, we went to the house of Nicolaus Copernicaus.  Turns out, he's from Torun.  We couldn't understand much of what was actually in his house because anything that was translated into English was done poorly, but it made me appreciate again how brave people had to be centuries ago to put forth new thoughts (that specifically went against the Catholic Church).  And it was a testament to the human mind that he could discover what he did about the universe using the very basic instruments that he had at his disposal.

Baby is always trying to make connections with people (aka she's a bigger extrovert than her father).  Copernicus wasn't giving her much to go on though...

I absolutely loved that a family tree was included in his home.

Before we left for the night, Ethan wanted to go down to the river.  Turns out, the rivers are a big part of each Polish town.  If we had had more time, we would have spent time walking down it, but it was still beautiful to at least see it.

And with one final farewell, Ethan pointed out a street sign that had some interest for us.  "Bulwar" is the word for Boulevard.  If you say the other word (aka Mad Gab style), you'll figure out why this name has some meaning for our family specifically. :-)

We hopped in the cars and drove like mad men to Krakow.  A four hour drive.  Yep.  No rest for the weary!