Gdańsk

The breakfast this morning at Hotel Gromada in Warsaw was the worst yet on the trip. The place was heaving and the very slow machine produced coffee that was disgusting. I had a bread roll with jam and some tasteless watermelon.

The Magic Buses rolled out of Warsaw at 10.00am after making double sure that everyone had their phones. The journey took us along dual carriageways most of the way of the 4 hour journey. We stopped for a comfort break at a service station, where I took the opportunity to wish my mother a Happy Mother’s Day.

After checking in to the Hotel Scandic in Gdańsk, some people were going off to do their laundry. One of the girls, Irish Lindsey, later that afternoon sent her roommate Priscilla a photo of her and Justin Sullivan who she had just met in a local launderette. He even does his own washing!!

Lee, Priscilla, Lex, Ramon and I went off to explore Gdańsk Old Town. It was only a short walk, but it took much longer with Lee ambling along behind because of his multiple sclerosis.

The buildings in the Old Town were very quaint. We visited several churches, the Amber Quarter and then we arrived at the enormous St Mary’s Basilica. It was free entry to the Basilica and took quite awhile to walk around it. The highlight was its astronomical clock. Before leaving it was suggested that we climb the 400 steps to the top of its tower. There was no way that Lee was going to be able to do that, so I did the honourable thing and took him to a local bar for a beer.

We were joined by the others whilst on our 2nd beer in a very pleasant little cafe. Lex got up and said he was just popping out to the cannabis shop to buy a puffer for someone else in the group. Lee asked Lex to get him one as well. Upon Lex’s return, Lee started puffing on his newly acquired puffer, but moaned he couldn’t feel a high, so he kept on sucking. Apparently the puffer was supposed to have the relaxing qualities without the high.

By now we were all hungry & were looking forward to some traditional Polish food. We researched restaurants on our phones and chose GVARA a posh Polish restaurant. We all had the same starter, black pudding with caramelised pear, chokeberry sauce and bread which was delicious. For mains, Lex and I had braised beef cheek with port wine, homemade potato dumplings and caramelised beetroots. It was superb, the beef cheeks were so tender that they melted in the mouth. The others had wild boar, pork chops or stuffed dumplings.

The only drama occurred when Ramon leant over the table to taste Lex’s beef cheek, but accidentally knocked over Lee’s freshly poured glass of wine straight onto Lee’s dinner. His pork chops, potatoes and sauerkraut were swimming in red wine. The staff took his dinner away, but returned with his dinner now with a red tinge. Luckily Lee didn’t mention it again……..not. Ramon paid for Lee’s dinner including his wine.

After dinner, Lex and Ramon decided they were going to an Italian restaurant to meet up with some of our group who were celebrating a birthday with some other NMA fans that had following the tour separately.

The remaining 3 of us chose to return to the hotel. When we got outside the cold fresh air hit Lee and he suddenly became as high as a kite. He admitted that he had sucked way too much on his puffer. As a result it was a painfully slow walk back to the hotel with Lee shuffling along very slowly behind. I felt like his carer!!

After a quick nightcap in the hotel bar we called it a night.

Song of the Day - Mother by Danzig (Danzig is the German name for Gdańsk)

NMA Song of the Day - Nothing Touches by New Model Army.Read more