Torun: a lesson for Lodz

This past weekend most of the IAESTE crowd headed to Gdansk, but having been there four weeks ago, Erin and I decided to take a day trip to Torun. The city has been named a UNESCO heritage site in 1997 and is known for its Gothic architecture as well as being the birth place of Nicholas Copernicus (Mikolaj Kopernik) and the fantastic gingerbread treats. Having escaped much of the WWII destruction, most of the old city is actually really well preserved.

We left early in the morning and arrived just before noon. After getting some pointers at the tourist info and finding Erin a place to sleep for the night (she was heading to Malbork the next day, all by herself a very bold and brave move) we headed into town.

Some of the beautiful 'kamienice'.

The beauty of the buildings was often times enhanced by the decorative flower arrangements, which make the whole thing look simply charming.

More of the colorful 'kamienice'.

The rumors that Torun is quite a charming little city were more than just true. I would have to say that to me, Torun is the city of colours. The old buildings were many times simply stunning, and the camera could barely capture the vibrancy of the place.

The most famous building in the old square "Under the Star" (Kamienica pod Gwiazda). I was nearly hypnotized by the decorative facade. Simply gorgeous!

The gingerbread-like people cut out in the side of the building.

View of the old town hall tower as well as the statue of Copernicus.

Erin and me under the statue of Copernicus in the main square. It took a couple of tries, but we managed to find someone to take a nice picture of us.

Erin taking a shot of the frog fountain.

A close up of the frogs on the fountain.

For lunch we stopped at a traditional Polish "Milk Bar" (Bar Mleczny). Basically what it is, is a place that serves traditional Polish food that's REALLY good and REALLY cheap. It mainly services students and inside looks like an average cafeteria, but smaller. Erin and I got some pancakes with blueberries (BOROWKI) and whipped cream.... Soooo goood...

As I have mentioned many times, this summer Poland has been experiencing an extreme heat wave. As a result, the water level of many of the rivers has been dropping like crazy. This is a shot of Wisla (Vistula) from the tower. The river is at least 200 m wide, yet in one of the parts the water looked to shallow that you could almost walk from one shore to the other. You can see the extended beach as a result of the droughts.

Wisla and St. John's Cathedral; view from the tower. Copernicus was baptized here and JPII visited the cathedral in 1999 during his pilgrimage to Poland.

View of St Mary's Church from the top of the Old Town Hall tower. Inside there are some impressive frescos from the early 14th century (see pictures below), on the outside the one part of it looks like a giant barn.

More shots of the city, this time from the top of the tower. Kind of looks like Gdansk from this angle, doesn't it?

Close up of my favourite kamienica.

The amazing frescos in St. Mary's Church. They are very well preserved and still quite colourful.

A really weird fresco in St. John's Cathedral. It's supposed to be a monk battling with some dark evil spirit, or the devil or something like that. I still fail to see where this so-called devil is supposed to be...

The house where Copernicus was born.

I really like this photo, so though it's a bit random, I decided to throw it in. This was right beside the Copernicus museum; a dog was hanging out on the balcony among the flowers. This in itself was a bit comical, but what put it over the top, was a little black dog that was running down the street trying to keep up with its owner. The two spotted one another and paused for a quick greeting. Not sure if you can see it, but the bigger dog was beaming with joy. I just finished taking a picture of the house so I had just enough time to capture the moment. Hehehe, sooo cute.

I never saw the leaning tower of Pizza when I was in Italy, but as it turns out I had a chance to see A leaning tower. This used to serve as a defense post that was build in the 14th century. Due to the shifting of the foundations, the tower leans 1.4 meters from its old vertical position.

After all the sight seeing, I hopped on the bus and headed to the station to catch my train (I had plans to visit some family on Sunday and thus needed to head back to Lodz), while Erin headed back to the hotel for a quick rest. I have to say that I was a bit apprehensive leaving Erin by herself, but despite traveling alone by both bus and train the next day, in a country where not so many speak English, Erin made it home on Sunday night without a hitch.

On Sunday, I went to Czestochowa for the day to say bye to my family. It was a bit sad, since I know that I won't see them for at least 2 years, but hopefully they will make it down to Toronto for the wedding.

This weekend IAESTE is planning a trip to Warszawa for us, so we are taking Friday off and heading to the capitol. Should be lots of fun so stay tuned!