Marlbork Castle

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July 20 - I woke up early today and had a slow and lazy morning, chatting over breakfast with some other travelers, including a German who had just finished a week at a medieval fastival where he camped and dressed like a knight. He loved it. Then I met Amelia, a Kiwi returning home from a two year working visa in England via a three month tour in Eastern Europe. We decided after some talking to go to Marlbork Castle together, which I was planning to do tomorrow but the weather was supposed to be better today, so that sounded good. We left early enough for the 11:16am train but got lost underground between the bus and train stations and couldn't find the ticket office but FINALLY got tickets at 11:13am. We had to make a run for the train, but we got on and I felt great about making it. Until the train didn' t go anywhere. We actually sat on the train until 12:45 before any movement actually started to happen. In that time we chatted a bit together and with an English couple we met on the train, Dot and Cecil. They have a 31 year old daughter who is also a teacher and were fun to talk to.

We did eventually reach the castle, but it was already about 3pm when we finally began the audio tour. The three hour audio tour. It was good but long. But the weather wasn't great and my pictures came out with terrible lighting. I'm sure someone with more skill could have avoided this, but here we are. It is officially the largest Gothic castle in Europe, which is originally why I made the trip to Gdansk. How nice that Gdansk turned out to be so lovely.

When we were ready to go back to Gdansk, we walked to the train station, which was under construction and eventually found the ticket office. It was 6:29pm and the sign said the woman was on break from 6:30 to 7:00pm. And she was already on break. So a guy there talked to us in Polish and with the help of a printed schedule on the wall, showed us that the next fast train was at 7:31 and the regular train at 8pm. We did not want to stay any longer but decided we would probably leave on the fast train. So we went back to town to get dinner, and saw a guy with a big backpack that we had seen on the train. We told him when the trans were and asked if he wanted some dinner. He did. His name is Eric, and he's an American pilot in the US Air Force on some whirlwind trip in Europe for two weeks. So the three of us proceeded to the nearest restaurant where Amelia and I spilt a little pizza and some perogies.

In the morning I had asked if I could get a refund for the next night as I thought I was ready to move on after I visited the castle. She said she would have to check and I would have to come back and ask again later. But while I was on the train, Dot and Cecil told me about their ferry ride to Hel, a town north of Gdansk and said it had a lovely beach. Really, how could I not go to Hel? So I decided to stay the next day after all.

After dinner, we saw Dot and Cecil at the train and the the five of us rode back to Gdansk together. I went home and stayed in, of course, but Amelia went out with some of the guys at the hostel for beers. I think I am the only backpacker ever to not even be remotely interested in the bar scene. I went to bed early and it turns out it was just me, Amelia, and another guy in the room that night. Easy sleeping, right?

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