Had a really fun weekend! Went away for a couple days to Torun, a medieval city about 3 hours from Warsaw by train. The weather's been really nice, so I wanted to enjoy it while it lasts. Plus, October is going to be really busy for me with work, so I figured I should get away now.

Got up early on Saturday morning, picked up some coffee and breakfast, then found a spot on the train. The other guys in the compartment were pretty quiet, so it was a fairly uneventful ride there. Enjoyed music, the pretty scenery, and one guy offered me his newspaper to read when he had finished.

Got off at the main train station, found a bus to the old town, and had some lunch at a nice Italian place. The old town is just gorgeous! Fortunately, it was NOT destroyed in WWII, so all of the buildings are original. The town itself is one of the oldest- it received its city charter in 1233. The buildings are beautiful, a lot of pretty bricks. I walked past a nice park area with a great pond and fountains, up through the center of the town, past the Town Hall and post office, and found my hotel. I'd managed to reserve a room ahead of time, the night before, all in Polish, so I felt happy about that. The hotel was great, too- one of the oldest in the city, and in a great location. The interior had lovely dark wood furnishings and beautiful framed photos and postcards of Torun in older times. I dropped things off in my room, then came back down the stairs and noticed a fantastic panoramic photo of San Francisco hanging just above the stairs- the only photo of a non-Torun city in the hotel. What are the odds? ^_^

Spent the day walking around, enjoying the sunshine, fresh air, happy people. Torun smells good- like waffles, ice cream, coffee, pastries, maple trees. After lunch, I went to The Living Museum of Gingerbreads. Besides being the birthplace of Nicolas Copernicus, Torun is also famous for producing delicious gingerbread. It was a fun tour- two of the staff dressed up in 16th-century costumes and told us all about the history, ingredients, and process of making gingerbread. It was all in Polish, but I picked up a bit of it here and there, and learned the Polish names for cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. They had an interactive demonstration of preparing gingerbread dough, then each of us got a small ball of dough to roll out on the table and stamp with a mold. They baked these in the oven, and we each got to take ours home, as a souvenir! You can't eat them, they're just for decoration, but according to the docent, they'll last years and years in a dry place. Very cool! There were about 20 people on the tour, so it was a fun afternoon. And *man*, did that place smell heavenly!

After that, I headed back to the hotel for a little nap, then went out to find dinner. I had pear crepes at a cute restaurant on the old town square, admiring the beauty of the square. They had draped little white lights through the trees, giving it a peaceful, sparkly atmosphere. After dinner, I just sat on a bench for a bit and relaxed, feeling very happy and peaceful.

I dropped my book off in the hotel room, then headed back out to Pod Aniołem, a bar in the cellar of the town hall. I figured that sounded like a cool place to have a beer- the name means Under the Angels. There are a lot of "Pod" places in Poland. ^_^

It was a *great* place! All dark and brick, low arched ceilings, random furniture, comfy couches and big wooden tables, birdcages hanging from the ceiling, lots of little nooks to hide out in, old accordions on a bookshelf, really nifty. I got a beer and found a spot at an empty table and listened to the DJ- good mix of interesting club and electro stuff. I felt really happy and relaxed, glad to find a good place like this.

After a while, a really drunk guy came over and sat down and we had a little chat. He had very limited English, so we didn't say much, but he exchanged names, told me what music he liked, and I told him what I liked, and he said he liked to dance and drink vodka. This essentially repeated itself about five times, so after a while, I told him it had been nice to meet him, and went off for another beer. He went back to the dance floor, and I returned to my table, enjoying the current mix of R&B and club music.

After about 10 minutes, a couple of girls asked if the other seats were free, and I said, sure, go ahead. They sat down, and we instantly fell into a great conversation. They were from the area and taught middle school- this was their fun night out for the weekend. They were really nice and fun to talk to- one was tall, blonde, very outgoing; the other was more petite, brunette, kind of quiet and shy. After names, professions and where we were from, their first question was, "are you here alone?" I said yes, and they immediately said "Oh! Do you have a husband back home?" I said no, and they looked worried. "Boyfriend?" "Did have, but we split up when I moved here." They looked more relieved then, to think that I wasn't *always* unattached, and we talked more about school, dancing, music, etc. I guess this really is a culture of pairs, couples, attachments... interesting!

After a while, a larger group joined ours, and soon, our table had about 10 people at it. It was nice, just being included in with a bunch of locals, not feeling like the isolated tourist. We talked, drank, danced, had a great time. Then one of the teachers suggested going to a different club- sounded good to me! So we went to Club Monaco, a more trendy kind of place, with a cover charge. Not my usual thing, and I was kinda under-dressed (having worn more practical travel clothes), but we had a great time. Also a good mix of club music, a bit more smooth and modern. We stayed there until the *wee* hours of the morning, just dancing, relaxing, having a great time. By the time I got back to the hotel, my feet hurt and my ears were ringing from about 6 hours of solid techno, but I was really happy- I'd made some new friends, learned more about the town (the cellar used to be a prison!), and basically spent the night hanging out with beautiful, friendly people. Life is good!

Slept in a bit on Sunday, then checked out and had some lunch. Listened to a family chat at the next table over and picked up quite a bit of the conversation. Admittedly, they *were* talking mostly to their two little kids, but still...

Went to the Regional Museum after lunch, in the Town Hall. Lots of great paintings, artifacts, church items, jewelry from the area. After looking at the galleries, I climbed a VERY tall and narrow set of stairs (reminding me a bit of the Tor House) to the top of the Town Hall's belfry. WOW! Totally worth all the exercise. The view was just marvelous- you could see the entire city, the Vistula River, absolutely everything. I stayed up there for a while, just *being*. After taking a picture for a nice couple, I headed back down, then walked out to the river banks.

The river has a nice path alongside where people can walk, and cement stairs for sitting and enjoying the area. I walked down to the end of the path, then came back and just sat for a while, basking in the sunshine and enjoying the breeze from the river. I watched a couple guys fish with their kids, baiting the hooks, casting the lines, then reeling them back in- repeat. I'd never thought much about fishing, figuring it'd be kind of boring, but this just seemed nice- pleasant, relaxing, something you could do with your family, low-maintenance. One of the kids caught a couple of medium-sized fish.

Eventually got up again, picked up a coffee from Green Way, then headed back to the train station to catch the 6:30 train home. Ended up in a compartment again with about 5 guys, and we all enjoyed a nice, peaceful train ride, reading magazines, sleeping, etc... until the hooligans started in. There was a group of guys in the hallway that started out just drinking beer and chatting, then got louder and louder, opening cupboards, taking pictures, yelling chants together. I didn't understand most of it, but the few words I did pick out were bad ones. At each stop, they'd get off and run around, being rowdy, until the conductor herded them back on. The eventually moved on from beer to juice, and then finally to vodka. By the time they got off at Warsaw, they were pretty loud. I could see the other guys in my compartment looking very relieved to be off the train at last!

Altogether, it was a really nice weekend- gorgeous town that I'll definitely need to visit again! Hope everyone else had a good weekend as well!