Poland - last few days

I spent my last few days in Poland getting to enjoy a bit of the Polish spring and trying to get sick of Polish food (which I never did). SB arrived on Sunday and, together with my cousin Alek and friend Vera, we rode our bikes around Gdansk, touring the old city through narrow alleyways and cobblestone streets, and stopping for beer and dinner (Hawaiian pizza!) once we got tired.

The next day, SB, my cousin Marcin, his friend Mateusz, and I all loaded our bikes onto the train and headed for the seaside town of Puck. From there, we rode nearly 30 km along a bike trail up the narrow Hel peninsula, finally stopping at the town of Jastarnia. Along the way, we had the bay of Gdansk to our right and the Baltic ocean to the left, separated by a quarter mile of woods and an occasional small campground. The weather was warm, the beaches we stopped at had beautiful clean white sand (that squeaked as you walked in it), but the water was bit chilly. We had fresh fried fish in Chalupas (literally translates as ‘old huts’) and then more yummy ice cream (and more lazing on the beach) when we reached our destination of Jastarnia.

That night, SB and I moved back my mom’s cousin’s house in Wielki Kack, where we proceeded to consume vast amounts of delicious food for the next two days. (At one point, SB truly impressed my aunt and uncle by eating one fried chicken breast, two large pork cutlets, a massive pile of potatoes and salad. I came in close behind, quite aware that our trip to India was nearing.) Our last day in Poland was supposed to be spent in my hometown of Gdynia, walking on the boulevard on the beach and shopping at the massive old flea market, but instead, we returned to Gdansk to hunt down my digital camera which I had left at a restaurant. We ate more ice cream and saw more amber jewelry than one could believe existed on the entire earth, and after another massive meal at my aunt’s house, we left on the overnight train to Berlin (with sandwiches and extra pork cutlets for our ride).