Peaceniks in Poland

When I got an SMS from Stian on my way to school a couple of months ago saying "We're going to Gdansk. Ready?", my initial reaction was 1) hm, that's a cafe I've never heard of, and 2) so typical that they decided to go to a cafe now that I finally got to school...

Now I know that Gdansk is not a cafe in Tromsø at all, but rather a city on the Polish "Riviera" to which Norwegian has amazingly cheap flights. So on November 29th, after submitting our written exams; Silje, Stian, Scott, Marjaana, Rachel, and I, escaped from the dark north for a few days to see what this city had to offer.

And I have to say I was positively surprised! Gdansk is not the gray and boring city I expected, but it has a beautiful old street and some amazing small cafes with great, old interior. Also, Poland is (not surprisingly) a lot cheaper than Norway. So we got to eat several courses dinner each day, drink cheap beer and wine, and of course do some shopping. The plan before we went was to spend one day at a spa, but unfortunately there were none of those in Gdansk. However, we found a hotel with massages, and another one with steamroom and sauna, so Thursday was a very relaxing day.

We stayed at a hostel called the Baltic Hostel, in a huge, dark and a little scary building not far from the old part of the city. This hostel promised us no less than a free witch breakfast! However, when we came home late from the city one night, we got a little suspicios that it might not be only the breakfast that was a little "witchy" about this hostel... (see picture for proof). Also, the coffee machine that suddlenly turned on in the middle of the night was a little bit spooky. Otherwise, the Baltic Hostel was alright, at least after they remembered to turn the warm water heater on on the second day of our stay.



I will try to post all the pictures from the trip here as soon as I figure out how (those technical obstacles you know...)

On the way back from Gdansk, Rachel and I stayed at Berit's and her boyfriend's place in Oslo for a couple of days. I have to say that they really have my dream appartment there in Grünerløkka. In Oslo I also got to meet some friends from home and from Lillehammer, and it was so great to see them again!! I feel a little far away up here in Tromsø..

And also I found out that the stores in Oslo are open on Sundays now before Christmas.. Oh, how devestating.. So of course I managed to get rid of some more money there, because the Tromsø climate and also the chilly wind in Gdansk has made me painfully aware that I need a warm winter jacket. And the Polish jacket fashion wasn't really for me... I also found it quite surprising that they expected me to buy my own buttons and saw them on the jacket. well, that's all for now.

Babosjka.