The Man with the Walrus Moustache

All moved in to my newest digs. I must say, all the places we have stayed on this trip have been great. Today’s apartment is no exception.A couple of months ago I had drinks with a dear friend who I hadn’t seen in some time. A lot had happened since the last time we met up but we had written and kept in touch. Whenever I travel, I send him a postcard to say hello. He has the opportunity now to travel more and so we started talking about where to go, dream destinations, planned trips, and then he asked me what it was I liked so much about travel. Why do I do it.

I didn’t hesitate in answering. I told him that travel for me is about people, and culture, and seeing the way other people live. The world interests me, as do people’s stories. Travel gives me a chance to meet people who have different stories than mine. It affords me the opportunity to try to understand and appreciate other people’s experiences.

I have been blessed with a wonderful family who love and support me. I grew up happy, and healthy and while I didn’t necessarily get every single thing I wanted, I had more than I needed. I have a great job that provides me satisfaction and fulfillment and the means to enjoy life to the fullest.

I recognize that I haven’t experienced hardship, or turmoil, or great loss or despair in the way that others have. I haven’t had great controversy in my life, or been forced to make choices I didn’t want to make. But there are people in the world who have done all that. And to stand us side by side, you would never know the difference. We get up in the morning, put our underpants on one leg at a time, (or both legs in and jump), and do what we have to do. I find that fascinating. And inspiring. And it reminds me to appreciate and respect all that I have.

Whenever someone asks if I want to go somewhere, I very rarely say no. There aren’t many places that aren’t on my list of places to see. Unless I have been there, and then it’s usually just because time and money come in to play and there are so many other places I haven’t yet been.

Poland has so much history. So much was destroyed during the war and whole cities have been rebuilt. Today I arrived in Gdańsk. This is the city where World War II began.

As I drove from the airport today, I noticed a lot of really cool buildings and graffiti so I marked them on my map, hoping they would be in walking distance from my apartment. I guess that’s one good thing about taxis with drivers who can’t speak any English- you can spend the time planning what to do when you arrive!

I took a walk down to what I thought was the shipyard. Gdańsk is Poland’s principal seaport. The Shipyard has always been private and off-limits to the public but a few years ago they opened up in an effort to share the history of Solidarity and Lech Walesa (the man with the bushy, walrus-like moustache). I read about the strike in the 1980s.In a nutshell, (apologies if I am way off in my understanding and interpretation), this is what happened:

Things were already not great. Then a female crane operator was dismissed and this sparked the workers to take action. Lech Walesa had been dismissed before, but he came back, scaled the wall and convinced workers to form a union.

They locked themselves in the shipyards and waited to forge a deal.

The government eventually gave in to their demands and Solidarity was formed. Lech Walesa was elected chairman- over ten million people joined the movement.

Solidarity kept fighting for reform and at a certain point, a state of martial law was declared, the movement was dissolved, its leaders were jailed and it was forced to operate secretly, underground.

The people did not back down. I read: When Father Jerzy Popiełuszko, Solidarity’s chaplain, was abducted and murdered by the secret police over a million people attended his funeral.

Over a million people! That’s amazing. They resisted and talks resumed and they were once again granted legal status. It was not post-communism and during that first election, Walesa and the party were victorious. He became the first freely elected president of Poland in December 1990 and served until 1995, the party lasting until 2000 when they were officially ousted from active politics.

What a story! Apologies because I don’t think I did it justice. Hopefully my photos make up for it.

A lot of the buildings are empty, in disrepair, but there is still production going on and things happening too. And there are plans to revitalize the area and develop some of those old spaces. It was an amazing place to walk around.

I happened upon the “beach” which is in the center of a very cool outdoor eating space- kind of like a food truck gathering, only it’s permanent. Here I met the owner Pan Baleron, a Philly cheese steak stop. I have never had a Philly cheese steak- funny that my first try would be in Poland. He was awesome. He took the time to tell me a funny story about the Philly Cheese Steak, a little about its history and then he explained the menu to me in English. I wasn’t sure what I was going to eat, but after all that effort, there was no way I was going elsewhere. And it was yummy! 🙂I didn’t manage to walk as much as I had hoped today, but I will try to make up for that tomorrow. I want to see as much of this city as I can! I came home to figure where to go next and when I headed back out the rain was starting. That was all the excuse I needed to turn around and head back to my room. I am going to attempt an early night in the hope that I get some much-needed sleep. Fingers crossed!