Forest. Run.

So what did you do this weekend? I got lost in a jungle. Well, almost :)

Swampish river

I decided to try one of them orientation walks. Silly as I am, I imagined something in terms of a childhood game, I loved and played when I was young - Paper Chase. I found an orientation walk that offered different difficulty levels, to not be cocky I signed up fo the easiest one. The boot message said to bring compass, so I downloaded one on my phone (although I am not convinced it really works, but I don't know how to work a compass, so it was fine by me:).

Other "gamers"

Luckily for me, I managed to find "volunteer" to tag along. As we arrived I was full of enthusiasm, that unfortunately decreased by the minute (we got lost on our way to the starting point :(

Berry bushes

I determined to do the walk and come back alive. Even when at starting line I asked if I can be explained the rules of the game and was told that the remaining 5 minutes to my start wasn't enough time, or when I saw advanced team map in a shape of a thong (and as wide).

Our map

Time... Start! So off we went (in the wrong direction) about 10 meters away. I had no idea how to read the map we were given, there was no mark indicating where we (except start/finishing line circle). I'd just say: thank heavens for my partner and GPS! Half the time I didn't know where we were.

Polypore

According to the rules, we had 3 hours and 12 points to find. It took us 1 hour to find first point. Beginner's pace I guess:) I didn't mind though. I love forest, I grew up around it, played in it, so I was happy.

Intersection

During our 5 hour walk we saw rabbit hole, wild deer, duck and a terrifying wild snail. My partner lost his shoe twice, we ended up at swamp couple of times and most of the time we were pretty lost.

Can you see the duck? It is there.

Overall, if you like spending time outdoor and always say yes to an adventure, I'd say: Go on orientation walk! I explored Tricity Landscape Park, but there is plenty to choose from: bike orientation, night orientation or kayak orientation.

Feeding station

If you feel it's not your cup of tea, but still enjoy outdoors, I'd say: Go to Tricity Landscape Park. There is plenty of paths for both biking and walking. I was actually surprised how many people go to the park and take advantage of the peacefulness in the city.

Highway

But remember! Whatever you take with yourself take it back with you. Do not leave any rubbish in the forest! Ever!

Let's go to war

T34-76

Today's post is about monument that isn't described in any tourist books. If it is I will be greatly surprised. I would like to write about a tank that stands by main road in Gdansk - Victory Avenue, and is the best known tank in Gdansk.

The tank

Let me just say that this is a hands-on type of monument, I would even say all limbs-on type:) It took me few trips to take pictures of the tank without dangling kids of the barrel :) It doesn't take much for the adults either to let their imagination go to war and jump around the tank as if they were under attack. Believe me, if I had a kid with me today, I would "play war" too.

Wow, don't shoot :)

Don't get me wrong. The tank doesn't work. Although it still has engine inside, it lacks other components inside that are needed for driving (like driving wheel or equivalent:) Despite it being closed shut and completely not working I think it is nice to have it there.

Tank track

I mean, how many times have you seen a tank? How many times have you sat on one? How many times have you played war with one? How many cities in the world have tanks in their centres?

Hope on!

Apparently it isn't even an ordinary tank. I read that this is quite rare type of tank  - T 34-76 (most of them have been destroyed during war). It was build in 1941 in Stalingrad (today's Volgograd) or even further away past Ural Mountains and was equipped with F-34 barrel of 76,2 mm calibre.

Busy tank :)

The tank arrived in Gdynia on 27 of March 1945. According to sources this tank was the first one of allies tanks to arrive at Tricity. The tank driver was lieutenant Julian Miazga. Unfortunately the tank was bombarded soon after entering the city.

Unveiling of the tank, 1946

Lieutenant Miazga was the last one to drive the tank, as he drove it to the place of it's destiny in 1946 where in the first anniversary of the end of the war the tank was unveiled.

Happy anniversary, Tank :)

The Neptune Fountain

The Neptune Fountain

Probably the most known fountain statue in TriCity and symbol of Gdansk. So, why do I write about it since it is so famous that every tourist knows to stop by it anyway? The answer is quite simple. The fact that it is famous doesn't mean that people know about it.

The Neptune Fountain with Town Hall in background

Let's start at the beginning then. In 1549 first fountain appeared on Long Market (some claim it was simple wooden water jet and calling it 'a fountain' is overstatement:). The "fountain" was placed more to the east from the present one.

The fountain, view from the back

However soon enough the stewards of the city grew tired of the litter water jet in the centre of the city. All the more so as they were able to see greater structures around the world. Naturally they decided that Gdansk deserved a fountain that could proudly represent Gdansk and its residents (that was in 1606).

View of the Neptune and Long street

Abraham van den Blocke was hired for the work (I start to feel like this guy built half of Gdansk!). New place was carefully chosen. It was decided that statue crowning the fountain should be Neptune - the god of freshwater and the sea in roman religion. New fountain was to be faced in direction of apartment houses across the Artus Court. The head of Neptune was to be bowed in respect of kings and queens that resided in said apartment houses when visiting Gdansk. Also the Neptune Fountain is in the axis of the entrance to the Artus Court and the axis of Long Street and Green Gate.

Statues around basin look up to Neptune

It took a long time to finish the fountain. Not only the construction problems, but also the war with Sweden delayed the works. However despite the obstacles the work was completed in 1633. The fountain was created by Abraham van the Blocke, however the statue was of Peter Husen work. Surprisingly the first glimpse at the statue came way before revealing date, thanks to Izaak van den Blocke (brother of Abraham), who decided to paint Artus Court with soon-to-be Neptune Fountain in front of it. I haven't seen the painting myself, but if you like to see it, it is on the ceiling of Red Hall in Town Hall.

Details on the stem

Very advanced solutions were put in place in order to have the fountain work. There was a container build at the attic of Artus Court, with pipes running down the building and under the pavement right to the fountain. Every time that the Neptune Fountain was scheduled to work the container was filled with water (read: people were carrying water up to the attic in buckets). That is probably the reason why the fountain only worked only three times a week (Sundays between 11 - 12, Tuesday and Thursday between 12 - 13) between Easter and 29th of September of every year. I guess there was no coincidence that running time was set for an hour, as the container in the attic of Artus Court has a capacity that allowed fountain to work continuously for an hour. Imagine the persistence: the Neptune Fountain was run this way for 200 years!! (that is until waterworks were built in Gdansk).

Neptune attacking Town Hall tower :)

During II WW the whole fountain was taken apart and hidden away. After the war piece were found in different locations, however some pieces never were found: trident, finn of sea bass and stem, which is rumoured to be sunk in one of Oliwa's lakes.

Some parts of the fountain were hidden in its basin during the war

Surprisingly the fin of the sea bass (which loads of people mistake for a leaf) that covers private parts of Neptune is the single most stolen piece of the fountain. Also, there is a small replica of Neptune (or this replica is the prototype of the statue) at a roof of 2 Long Street building. I didn't know that when I went today to take pictures, pity :)

Old postcard 

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

Grzëpa Pachôłka

Panorama

What goes below the surface of earth must come above the ground as well, or something like that :) Since I went below, it was time to go above. No better way that go to amazing view point.

Climbing, or not?

Grzëpa Pachôłka is a Kashubian for Bollard Hill. Peculiar name, if you ask me. I never analysed it before. I always thought of it as a name that doesn't translate, like Jennifer or Tom.

Me like :)

First time I came across this lovely hill was when few years back my parents thought I needed exercise. One weekend they decided they will take me hiking, the goal was the top of the mountain. Boy that was a hike! Few times I thought I am having heart attack, numerous time I hopes I twist my ankle so I don't have to complete the hike. My parents didn't seem to have such problems. Does that mean I am not fit??? Naaah.....

Still climbing....

You shouldn't then be surprised that I was preparing mentally to climb the hill over a week. Finally I gathered enough courage. I remembered too well from previous time the branch grabbing, the panic when faced almost flat surface that I was supposed to climbed over. Imagine my surprise when I saw stairs ! with handrail (?) and occasional benches! This is not how I remembered this hill. I say, well done!

And climbing, getting hazy...

The hill first was known as Pacholkenberg, that was in 1734. Between 1797 and 1945 the hill was called Carlsberg or Karlsberg, that essentially means Carl's Hill (lucky Carl, right? :) At one point the hill was managed by Cistercians, who converted the hill into some kind of a garden, they also build a view tower. Nice!

Old picture of the Hill

However I think it adds to the experience. Also it makes almost impossible to take still picture of the view up there, so the memories will be pretty much stored in one's mind than on photographic film.

And shaky finish :)

But whatever you do. Don't look down...

I looked down for you :)

The Golden Gate of Gdansk

The Golden Gate of Gdansk

I have been to the Green Gate of Gdansk. So it is only natural that I decided it's time for another gate of Gdansk :) The Golden Gate of Gdansk.

Mighty Golden Gate

To be frank, I could have done both of them at same time as even at low pace it would take max 20 minutes to walk from one to the other.  I however am well known for not making things easy for myself, so I had to keep to my standards :)

golden age of Golden Gate :)

To be honest,  as a child I always confused these two gates. I could never remember which one is which.  Now, it just seems foolish to me, as they don't look alike at all. My only excuse can be that as child I was more interested in what was happening on the street.  The colorful displays and beautiful smells of sweets distracted me.

The Golden Gate, view from Long Street

Lets start by saying that Golden Gate isn't really made of gold (no surprise there, right? :) and that wasn't it's name to start with. The gate marks the beginning of Long Street, and is a part of so-called "Royal Route". The original name of the gate was "Long-street Gate" or if you prefer Langgasser Tor (original German name). The current name apparently has absolutely nothing to do with the history of the gate, somebody probably called the gate golden couple of centuries ago, and it stuck :).

View on the Town Hall through the Golden Gate

The gate was built in 1612 by Abraham van den Block as a replacement of a Gothic gate that was there before (I'm sorry, no kings of queens here). Alike the Green Gate, the Golden Gate's style is Netherlands Mannerism. Unlike the Green Gate, it only has three arcades (one main and two side once).

The Golden Gate after II WW

Without a doubt in my mind my favorite part of the gate are decorations, that I never paid any attention until now. As it turns out there are 8 statues on top of the building, 4 on each side (but that I am sure you can see :). The statues on the west side of the building (opposite of the Long Street) were supposed to symbolize the desires townspeople: Pax (Peace), Libertas (Liberty), Fortuna (Happiness), and Fame (Fame). On the opposite side of the building statues were representing civic virtues allegories: Concordia (Harmony), Iustitia (Righteousness), Pietas (Godliness) and Prudentia (Prudence).

Statues of the Golden Gate

Also I really like the message of inscriptions carved into the walls. The first one is in german: "ES MVSSE WOL GEHEN DENEN DIE DICH LIEBEN ES MVSSE FRIEDE SEIN INWENDIG IN DEINEN MAVREN VND GLVCK IN DEINEN PALASTEN". It's a quotation from bible and it translates to more - less : "Let thrive those who love you. May peace be in your walls, and prosperity within thy palaces".

Latin inscription on the Golden Gate

Second citation is in latin: "Concordia res publicæ parvæ crescunt - discordia magnæ concidunt".Which means: "With the consent small republics grow - with disagreements big fall". I can hardly imagine better quotation to be inscripted.

Maritime Academy of Gdynia

Routes of two training ships: "Dar Mlodziezy" and "Horyzont II"

Sometimes it seems to me I should just abandon the idea of making any plans at all, as especially recently none of them came to life. Yes, again my planned post needs to be postponed. Instead I'm going to write, to my surprise, about a place I never thought I would.

Bell in the entrance hall to Maritime Academy

As my work took me to Gdynia. I was told I can write about Maritime Academy of Gdynia, so I was like " oh okay". But inside I was thinking "what could be cool about a school". Nevertheless I begun research about the history of the school. As it turns out, the history isn't long, but still quite colorful.

Outside of Maritime Academy building, Gdynia

17 days after first World War finished marshal Pilsudski ordered the formation of Polish Navy. As a result not only the Navy was formed, but also 1,5 years later maritime college was opened. It was first collage of that kind in newly formed Poland. The school was based in Tczew, a town located about hour drive from Gdynia.

Entrance Hall, Maritime Academy of Gdynia

Since this was the first maritime school in Poland there was not terminology developed to describe processes that take place on the ships, or elements of ships. Coming up with all the vocabulary was up to newly recruited academic faculty. Then and there a publishing house was established, and first books in polish of naval themes were published. Fist book was published in June 1927 by the title of "Budowa okretu" ("Ship Construction").

Maritime Academy, 1930, photo: http://www.am.gdynia.pl/

The school was moved to Gdynia in 1930 and by that time it was promoted to a higher education institution. The maritime college was housed in building that was specially made for that purpose. Unfortunately happy days didn't last long, as the II WW began. The school was made into an emergency hospital and most of the faculty and students volunteered to join the army in war.

Souvenirs at Tradition Hall in Maritime Academy.... and me :)

Surprisingly the National maritime college was the only school that operated during the war. Within the time of the war 300 students graduated. Of course it was impossible to conduct lessons in in war-torn Poland, the school's temporary headquarters were in Southampton, England and Buckie, Scotland.

Tradition Hall, Maritime Academy in Gdynia

Since the end of the war the school lived through few name changes and granted permissions. Since opening its doors to first students it became full-blown higher education facility that educates at four faculties. I visited Tradition Hall (open since 1978) located in the main building of Maritime Academy, where I was able to find out about the interesting history of the school and see for myself part of its tradition locked in pictures, flags, first edition books and souvenirs collected on round-the-world journeys.

Maritime Academy of Gdynia