I still haven't been to Lodz or Poznan, but I wanted to continue my streak of hitting cool Polish towns. So, I went to Torun - the home of gingerbread and Mikolaj Kopernik.
So, I took PolskiBus - which has wi-fi! PolskiBus was awesome. The seats are pretty comfortable, and on the way to Torun, there was hardly anyone on the bus.
After checking in to my super cheap but completely legit hotel, I ventured into Old Town... to The Nicholas Copernicus museum. This is where they think Kopernik's wealthy merchant family may have lived. Instead of legitimate exhibits, it's all things that are copies of old things or copies of things that may have belonged to Kopernik or things that are similar to things that Kopernik most likely used.
There were some real classics. Like the below painting. It features Nick in the middle of all these other scientists. Showing that the planet system does not circle the sun... but in fact, the world circles around Nick himself.
Below is the outside of the house that may have once belonged to the family that Kopernik was probably part of...
Outside the major Cathedral (which asks for a mandatory "donation" to let anyone in) is a nice little poster advertising the First in Poland 3D film at a Cathedral... Who can resist that sort of awesomeness? Unfortunately, I did not watch this awesome film.
I wandered around a little bit. I sat by the Vistula River, just outside of the city gates. I saw some of the outdoors highlights because it was too late for the museums at this point. However, there was a pretty sweet leaning tower. When I was in Pisa, I was told that leaning towers are not special or unique. They're in every old city ever. Which, actually, is a weird thing to hear in Pisa, because you would think that they'd focus on making sure everyone knew that their tower is the best/most leaningest tower ever.
There was a church that was way cooler than the Cathedral - and which didn't require a mandatory "donation." It had some gorgeous frescoes, and it was super way old. Actually, a lot of things in Torun were super way old...
The next morning I got up and did the rounds of the museums, knowing I only had a short amount of time before my bus ride back to Warszawa. So, I hit the ruins of the Teutonic Knights' castle. The citizens of Torun kicked the knights out (although I'm not 100% clear on what that catalyst was, the general consensus seems to be that the knights weren't that cool). Then they tore down the castle and turned it into a landfill. Then tourism starts up (which really, when you think of it, is a fairly new phenomenon unless you could pilgrimages - which have existed since forever). So, some folks clear out the landfill and let the people pay for the privilege of walking amongst the ruins. The weirdest part, however, was this well with a grate over it. And inside the well was a skeleton. Like - what was the point of placing that there? Spooky.
So, They dressed this statue of Nick up to promote Euro 2012, even though Torun won't see any 2012 action. To be fair, Warsaw is doing the same thing with the mermaid and Chopin. But they aren't actually dressing them up - or at least, the last time I was in the rynek or in Lazienki park they weren't dressed up. Instead, they have cartoon images of them (dressed as fans) everywhere. And sometimes on the trams there are little cartoons in which they interact. From my limited Polish, it seems like Chopin hits on the mermaid. Which is just kind of strange on multiple levels.
Next I headed over to the Living Museum of Gingerbread. Note the emphasis on the word "living." So, I show up, and they let me join a demonstration... with 45 Polish school children. So there were some super awkward fun times as they translated the things for me that I didn't understand in Polish. The little girl next to me thought I was so cool, she was all (in Polish) "You speak English?!?" So... yeah. I'm pretty fly. Anyway, I learned how to make Torun gingerbread. However, it's unlikely that I'll take up this skill at home because they let the gingerbread set for months in a dark cellar. Being American, I'm really into immediate gratification. I would probably forget all about my gingerbread. And then centuries from now, someone would discover it in the cellar (which I don't have). That person would probably draw all sorts of strange conclusions from their discovery. It would be weird.
At the super legitimate museum where the Old Town Hall is, there were a bunch of children practicing a court procession. Adorable. There were also a ton of great exhibits from the major museum in Krakow - which is under renovation right now. Though Lola says something about there being mismanagement? I don't know. It must be something that museum-y people know and follow.
After the town hall, I paused for lunch, enjoying the warmth of the sun in a cute town. Then I headed to... the ethnographic museum. How legit is this? There were just a ton of old buildings from all over the country. And the "keepers" of the outdoor museum kept talking to me in Polish, explaining things. Luckily, I know my numbers well enough to know that they were just explaining the century of the buildings. Anyway - there was a mill and a windmill and a houseboat and an old firefighter place and a forge and all sorts of neat stuff.
On my way back to the hotel (then to the bus) I came across this cafe, which tickled my fancy. Yes, It is Central Perk. In Torun. And yes, they made lattes flavored for each of the characters in Friends. It especially amused me because I used "Friends" as an example of cultural differences when I was talking to Amanda R about the problems with marrying someone from a different country/culture. Mainly - I love pop culture references. There are things like Friends in America that everyone knows about whether or not they watched it. They probably know the characters and their personalities and the jokes and the theme song - and most people remember "The Rachel" as a haircut. Well, I guess after seeing this that perhaps Friends wasn't the best example to prove that point.
