The ferry from Karlskrona lands in Gdynia, a small seaside town that boasts the world's longest wooden pier. This picture is actually from the final few hours of the trip waiting to return home, which is why I look so Authentically Polish.
The night before we left I found out that there was an ultimate tournament going on a couple hours south in the city of Bydgoszcz. After an astounding email turnaround time, especially for an ultimate player, Lucjan replied and told me I was welcome. So first thing off the boat I jumped on the train and went to meet my team, Astrodisco. We had a great time (4-0!), and it was awesome to see the spirit of the game alive and well on this side of the world. These guys take spirit seriously, every game ended with an arm in arm circle and what seemed like some solid heckling.
Tuna asked if long johns under shorts were the uniform for Ultimate...
The city of Gdansk is an amazing place. I admit that Bydgoszcz was a bit disappointing architecturally speaking, largely square gray concrete. However, the Poles in Gdansk (and in Bydgoszcz, actually) informed me that the ugliest town in all of Poland is in fact Bydgoszcz. Gdansk in contrast was very regal, and a great walking city. We also had fantastic food (perogies and borscht!), and the restaurant proprietors seemed to delight in giving the goofy foreigners vodka for aperitif and digestivo with every meal.
I didn't find anyplace, however, offering Polish Sausage...
Actually, it's pronounced "Lek".
During All Saints day, thousands of people go the graveyard to decorate their family tombstones with candles and flowers. We went to one of the biggest cemeteries in Poland with a new Polish friend (see below). It was amazing, like walking through constellations. In this case especially pictures feel inadequate in their failure to capture the scale. It took us nearly two hours to see half of the cemetery, and the entire place was glowing bright.
I met Michal through couchsurfing.org (highly recommended site!) and though I didn't sleep on his floor, he was an excellent guide for myself and the crew. He was the one who told us about this graveyard, then showed us how to properly drink and saunter and identify gypsy graves.
The ferry from Karlskrona lands in Gdynia, a small seaside town that boasts the world's longest wooden pier. This picture is actually from the final few hours of the trip waiting to return home, which is why I look so Authentically Polish. 
The night before we left I found out that there was an ultimate tournament going on a couple hours south in the city of Bydgoszcz. After an astounding email turnaround time, especially for an ultimate player, Lucjan replied and told me I was welcome. So first thing off the boat I jumped on the train and went to meet my team, Astrodisco. We had a great time (4-0!), and it was awesome to see the spirit of the game alive and well on this side of the world. These guys take spirit seriously, every game ended with an arm in arm circle and what seemed like some solid heckling.
Tuna asked if long johns under shorts were the uniform for Ultimate...
The city of Gdansk is an amazing place. I admit that Bydgoszcz was a bit disappointing architecturally speaking, largely square gray concrete. However, the Poles in Gdansk (and in Bydgoszcz, actually) informed me that the ugliest town in all of Poland is in fact Bydgoszcz. Gdansk in contrast was very regal, and a great walking city. We also had fantastic food (perogies and borscht!), and the restaurant proprietors seemed to delight in giving the goofy foreigners vodka for aperitif and digestivo with every meal.
I didn't find anyplace, however, offering Polish Sausage...
Actually, it's pronounced "Lek".
During All Saints day, thousands of people go the graveyard to decorate their family tombstones with candles and flowers. We went to one of the biggest cemeteries in Poland with a new Polish friend (see below). It was amazing, like walking through constellations. In this case especially pictures feel inadequate in their failure to capture the scale. It took us nearly two hours to see half of the cemetery, and the entire place was glowing bright.
I met Michal through couchsurfing.org (highly recommended site!) and though I didn't sleep on his floor, he was an excellent guide for myself and the crew. He was the one who told us about this graveyard, then showed us how to properly drink and saunter and identify gypsy graves.
I bet you'd been missing those American Hotdogs too -- nice find.
ReplyDeletethis is an excellent travel post,
ReplyDeleteno surprise really -
and thanks for the giant size postcard!
that is nice, it is on my desk in the lab -
reminding me of how good international adventure is -
soon enough my friend
kevin