Marine Station

Panorama, Museum of Emigration

I am so exited I can barely contain myself. I was very fortunate to take part in Instameet in Gdynia. We were visiting soon to be open Museum of Emigration. It goes without saying that I was more than happy with the whole tour. Mostly it is due to Mr. Marcin, who was our tour guide.

Entrance Hall

I can admit that I am not familiar with history of Gdynia, or it's - too see places. But whenever I ask any Gdynia native what there is to see in Gdynia, I don't get any more info than what I know already (sometimes even less).

Emigration Museum and the Sun

We got nice warm up walk with quite few "details" that I'll share with you later. But everybody knew that the museum was the real deal. I'll just add that this was my first InstaMeet, so I had no idea what to expect. I will also say that till last week I had no knowledge whatsoever of Museum of Emigration. Open or not.

"Emigration" wall

The museum is based in a station, that was in use between 1933 and 1987. Silly of me, but brave to admit that the whole time of the tour I thought it was a train station. I had it all figured out. Since it was the emigration museum and a station I figured it was used during WWII to ship people out of danger. The idea I had was that people where brought by trains to the station and then put on ships to emigrate. I was wrong there. My imagination fails me so often!

Original track from the crane

The museum is set to be open in early summer, so since they aren't quite ready we didn't see any exhibits. That didn't bother me. The building itself is a gem. They restored the original building that was open on 8th of December 1933. The building was enriched with beautiful glass that adds so much to experience and it is consistent throughout the building. You have the sleeve that is mirrors what is was there before (which was a fully working sleeve). Clever use of glass gives you so many reflections and angles. I was amazed. Truly.

Cafe, see beneath you :)

I promise you, I will get all the facts about the actual station by the time it's open. But for now I can't get over how it was restored and made into such a gem. I'll say people of Gdynia start spreading the word that such beauty is around the corner. The museum is very close to main town, but to get there one has to go through industrial area, also big surprise that such terrain still exist so close to main town. You even get a feeling of village-like life. I would live there if I could.

Waves at  French Harbour in Gdynia