Toruń

Despite it being a late night, I still woke at just after 6.00am. Hotel Scandic in Gdańsk has had the best breakfast of the trip so far, so I indulged in a full English and amongst other things a panna cotta.

At 10.00am we boarded the Magic Bus listening to predominantly Ned’s Atomic Dustbin and Justin Sullivan on the stereo. After several hours we stopped at Toruń, considered to be the best example of a medieval gothic town. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. “The City of Angels”, as the locals call it, is also the birthplace of great Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, who made the crucial discovery that the Earth is not the center of the universe.

We had 75 minutes to do what we wanted to do, some chose to get lunch, whilst others including me chose to sightsee. The highlights included the Old Town hall, one of the most imposing in Northern Europe, the cathedral of SS John the Baptist and John the Evangelist which had a funeral service taking place. It didn’t stop us entering and taking a few photos.

Other highlights included the House under the Star and the fine brick Gothic house where the astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus was born and the Copernicus Chapel at St. James’s Church, where he was baptized. Toruń is also famous for its gingerbread, it even has a Gingerbread Museum, but alas time ran out to visit it or even buy any.

The detour to Toruń meant that it wasn’t until around 5.00pm, that we finally arrived at our Hotel Altus in the city centre. There was no time to relax and by 6.00pm, Lee, Priscilla and I were heading out into the pretty Old Town for dinner. We stopped at a Georgian restaurant called Chinkalnia Restaurant Gruzinska, for some rustic traditional Polish cuisine. (There are lots of Georgian Restaurants throughout Poland).

I chose the Pork Goulash with potatoes, beans and carrots. Lee had a beef stew and Priscilla had Khinkali, a dumpling that you pick up, bite into and suck out the broth. Lee and I were also able to have one each. This was accompanied by a large pizza sized bread covered in melted cheese and several beers. It was all very delicious and dirt cheap.

Without any dramas we caught an Uber to the venue, Tama in just enough time to drink one beer then get down the front before New Model Army came on stage. It wasn’t too busy so it was a good opportunity for us all to have a dance near the front. The set included 5 songs in Jack’s repertoire to get up on the shoulders of Red. I lifted and held Jack’s left leg for 4 of the songs including the 1st two songs of the encore ‘Where I Am’ and ‘Fate’.

It is absolutely knackering holding Jack in place, I was sweating buckets, so after the final encore song ‘Get Me Out’, I rushed to the bar to get a much needed beer. Annoyingly by the time I had bought my beer, the ‘family’ after gig photo had been taken. Note : on this tour, only 2 after gig ‘family’ photos have been posted on the Unofficial New Model Army Fan Group page on Facebook for the tour so far and I have not been in either despite only missing 3 of the after gig photos. Maybe they are trying to tell me something!!!

After the photo, we congregated in the foyer. Ceri and Michael came out to chat and I was now quite blasé about the whole thing. In fact as some of us headed back, Ceri was outside talking to a small group and smoking a joint. Presumably he had shared it around, because I was told it was good stuff and was I interested in trying it. I wasn’t and I didn’t.

Back at the hotel, we managed to get a final beer before the bar closed. A group of 7 or 8 of us chatted, reminiscing on the tour so far and future plans. It was really nice, because I got to know some of the group from the other Magic Bus better, particularly married couple, Stu and Jo.

I also learnt that at least some of the band read or are made aware of the content on the Unofficial New Model Army Fan Group on Facebook which predominantly features tales of the road from the Magic Bus or from others following the band around Europe. Apparently they have been asking questions about in-jokes etc. Maybe that is how Ceri heard about me leaving my phone behind!!

Song of the Day - Traffic by Ned’s Atomic Dustbin (Support band for NMA at the Roundhouse, London in May)

NMA Song of the Day - Tales of the Road by Justin Sullivan.Read more