We recently learned that the museums in Gdansk are free on Tuesdays. Great! We're cheapskates so that sounds perfect for us. This past Tuesday we went to Old Town to go see the museum on the history of Gdansk. This city is 1,000 years old so there is much history. The museum has been closed since we arrived because they have been (presumably) working on it. We were so excited to hear it was opened again and to see all the exhibits that we are now familiar with and certainly feel a connection with Gdansk. Here is Abbie at the top of the steps of the pretty entrance.
The lobby looked promising, and Ben is standing by an ornate doorway. It didn't lead to anywhere, but it was beautiful.
We went into a large room. It had portrait paintings of Polish kings on the walls and this large tapestry that has 1975 at the top on the right side.
And that was it. This museum of the history of Gdansk had some pictures of some kings. There was nothing about who these kings were, when they were kings, what the story is behind the tapestry, or any Gdansk history at all! Ok, so then we realize that there is more to the museum upstairs. Thank goodness! We climb two stories and find another room. But it was filled with some temporary French porcelain exhibit. Pretty stuff, but we did not learn one tidbit about the history of Gdansk. Um, I'm sure glad we didn't go on a day we had to pay!
So then we go to the Artus Court Museum which is a few doors down the street. From the website it looks fascinating. The front door is as far as we got because it was closed! Now it is a bit confusing to me that a museum would advertise that it is free on Tuesdays and then be closed on Tuesday. So our Tuesday museum outing was a bust.
But it was a nice day and we saw a guy with some parakeets that were supposed to do some kind of tricks.
We walked over and continued to be unimpressed as they really did nothing (though Trey enjoyed seeing the birds).
Since we were downtown, we followed the signs to St. Nicholas church. It is a Gothic church that is the oldest in Gdansk. It was built in the late 12th century. That was worth the trip downtown. There is of course, a "John Paul II was here" portrait.
They have the biggest, most beautiful and detailed Stations of the Cross art that I have ever seen.
On our way home we came across this statue of a flower. It was a gift to Gdansk from the city of Nagasaki.
Yesterday was Cinco de Mayo. We did have tacos for dinner, but they were soft shelled. There are no taco shells in Poland (that I have found anyway). That's ok, though. We have found some pretty good salsa here. It is made in Mexico and then distributed from Laredo, Texas! Then when it reaches Poland they put a sticker with the ingredients listed in Polish over the nutrition information in English. They do have some good tortilla chips here, too, so we were all set.
There are more museums in Gdansk that we have not been to yet. We'll try again on another Tuesday and see if we have better luck!
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