We’ve been in Gdansk for several days. WWII started in Gdansk. Of course Prague said it started there. It did, but the rest of the world ignored it, so I guess it does not really count. When Hitler invaded Poland, via Gdansk, the world called it a war. Gdansk has a really weird history. After WWI, it was considered a free City. Not part of any country, although surrounded by Poland. But it was mostly German and also went by the name Danzig. Politically it was Nazi leaning. It was invaded by both Germany and Russia at the start of WWII. Eventually both Russia and Germany split it in two and each took half. The world war went on. Gdansk was a big ship building port and once occupied by Germany was a strategic location for allied bombs to slow the ship/submarine making. So basically Gdansk was bombed by everyone at some point. It was completely ruined. At the close of the war German people living there feared reprisals and fled in 3 ships, all of them were sunk killing 20,000 civilians. After the war, Gdansk was given to Poland; it was re-settled with Polish people and was under Soviet rule. The shipbuilders eventually striked, called it solidarity, and the name has stuck for other struggles for human and worker rights. Gdansk takes credit for the first overthrow of soviet oppression too.
We took a day trip to Marbork to tour a really large Teutonic knight castle. It was really interesting. To date, this is the best medieval castle we have ever seen. Gdansk is close to the North Sea and folks flock to the beach.
Now we are in Torun. Two things came from Torun: Copernicus and gingerbread. I kid you not; they have museums to prove it. Copernicus was a real overachiever: medical doctor, lawyer, statesmen and city leader, economist (first person to describe inflation and tie it to monetary policy) and of course astronomer. And gingerbread is, the treat we know, cake form and cookie form, Torun takes credit.
We are enjoying Poland. People are thrilled to have American tourists. The food is good, beer and wine, not so much. And the dollar is going very far.