Happy birthday to me

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As it turns out, when you start your birthday by getting eaten by an elevator in Poland, the rest of the day only gets better.
Lindsay and I were on our own this morning, and we decided to do all of our last minute gift shopping. First thing, we had to drop our wedding clothes off at the 90 minute pressing place across the street. They will be ready before noon tomorrow. Truth is so much funnier than fiction!
Then we set off to shopping, but decided to go to it a different way. I can’t say what exactly it was that we found, and I haven’t had time to look it up, but there’s a small lane that leads behind a museum a few blocks from the hotel. There’s a long section of old brick wall, and there are small rectangles of fired clay at varying heights, with finger tip imprints in them. At the end of the wall, perpendicular to the long wall, there is a huge photograph taken in 1939 and blended with another of the same place in 2005. It is a line of men who were lined up against this wall and executed. Each of the clay markers represents the location of the fingers of each hand of the victims along this wall. The last set of markers, closest to the photograph, isn’t more than three feet off the ground.
That set a rather somber mood for the rest of the walk, but soon we were surrounded by children and life and smiling again, and someone, I won’t name names, became addicted to shopping for amber. Gdansk is the amber capital of the world. They have more shops, vendors, dealers, and buyers per capita than you would ever imagine. I stopped thinking amber was even rare after the fourth block we passed. We got some shopping done before meeting up with everyone for lunch. The rest of the shopping followed, and feeling that sense of completion that only comes when you’ve maxed out your credit card, we did what we do best, grabbed a pint.
I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening napping in my room, until 21.30 or so, when a slight knock came at my door. Linds wanted to head down to the lobby and have a couple of nightcaps. And here I sit, posting for the day. Not a bad birthday at all.
P.S. I’m going to try to post the pictures tonight, though descriptions may come later.
P.P.S. We're changing hotels tomorrow morning, not sure about wifi, so this may be the last post before I'm home.

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