August 11-13, 1999 - Torun, Poland
Torun turned into our new favorite place in
Poland. After the somewhat "unpleasant" taste we had after Dave's wallet was
stolen in Gdansk, Torun rejuvenated our spirits and mindset of Poland.
It is known as Nicolai Kopernik (Copernicus's)
birthplace. There were no English-speaking tourists, but the town seemed to be a hub for
Polish tourists. It was the perfect size and there was plenty to do just wandering around
and seeing the ruins of the old city wall.
We found cheap, great establishments to hang
out at too: a Chinese food restaurant which even had tofu, a great tea house called Libra,
and several cybercafes, charging 4 zlotys ($1) an hour. The old city wall looked out over
a river, and the town was filled with lots of trees and plenty of old buildings that
survived W.W.II.
We took a tour of Copernicus's birth house; he
was born there in 1473, and the building (complete with typically Gothic facades) is still
in great shape. It is now a museum filled with a map of his schedule of study, many of his
published books, and some of the tools he used in calculating the fact that the earth
revolved around the sun, and other stuff vital to our knowledge of astronomy today.
Torun had the amenities of a larger city, with
the quaintness, size, and history of a smaller town.
We also visited the typical sites: the
historical museum Okregowe W Toruniu, several churches, the old town gates, and the ruins
of the Teutonic Knights' Castle. One of the most interesting was the Leaning Tower, built
at the turn of the 13th century. They have surmised that movement of the ground beneath
the house's foundation caused a 1.4 meter tilt. It provided a worthy substitute too, since
we didn't make it to Pisa.
