Hot weather, packed trains and a weekend at the beach

This past weekend a group of us from the IX Dom Studencki (name of our residence in Lodz) decided to go to Gdansk for the weekend. We asked out employers if it would be ok with them if we were to take a day off work to admire some of the Polish beauty, and on Friday morning at 5:30 am we boarded a train to Gdansk.

We knew that it would take about 6.5 hrs on the "fast" train to get from Lodz to our destination, but with 2 straight weeks of 30C+ weather and no rain, we were determined to get to the beach.

We arrived at about 12:30, arranged some accommodations for the two nights we'd be there and headed to the beach. We went to Sopot, a cute little town about 20 min by train from Gdansk (see Chris' blog for more), where one of the more popular beaches is located.

A cute little restaurant in the "Crooked House" in the city of Sopot

Needless to say, it was packed, but we managed to find a a free spot. The water was, by my standards anyhow, too cold to swim in (though there were a lot of people in the water) but it was very refreshing to stand in it waist high and enjoy the HOT sun.

In the evening we went to Gdansk and had a nice dinner while admiring the beauty of the old town.

The next day, it was time for more beach, unfortunately our trip got delayed because it decided to RAIN!! What are the odds?? It has not rained in Lodz since I got here, and the weekend we are at the beach it decided to rain?? Lucky for us it was only passing, so we made it to the beach a bit later on. Not for long however, cause the rain returned (grrrr) so we packed up and headed back to the city. By the time we got back, however, the rain had subsided and we made plans to have dinner with "The French" (a group of French students who also live in the Dom, but are not part of IAESTE) who were also visiting Gdansk.


All of us, minus the photographer, at a pub in the city's main square

After a few beers, we headed over to a nice Polish restaurant and had some sea food for dinner. From the restaurant we headed over to yet another pub and some delicious ice cream. At around 2:00 am we called it a night.

On Sunday, we had some time to see a bit of the city, buy some gifts and then had to hustle to make the train.


Erin shopping for some amber on the famous Mariacka Street in Gdansk

Lucky for us, the train was a bit late; unlucky for us by the time the train got to our station it was already PACKED!!!! We squeezed into the isles, bracing for the 6 hour ride in a train that was 50C.... We managed to get some seats about 3 hours into the trip thanks to a big stopover in Bydgoszcz. We were lucky to have gotten the seats; The French had to stand the whole way home.

We got back, sweaty and exhausted but happy with our weekend. This upcoming weekend we're all going to Krakow (there are 55 of us in Lodz to date) for the IAESTE Poland weekend. Another long weekend, another early and long train ride but it should be amazing. There are about 200 IAESTE trainees in the entire country so it should be quite a get together. IAESTE has planned a weekend full of activities for us and I'm looking forward to visiting Krakow, Wieliczka and Auschwitz.