Saturday, June 7, 2014

Gdynia, Poland

On day two we headed towards Gdynia Poland.  This wasn't a big pull for me on the cruise, but it stopped there on our way to Russia, which is the real reason we wanted to go on this cruise.


We started out our day with a little mini-golf session.  The kids had been wanting to play it since we arrived on the boat.  We were not porting in Gdynia until after lunch so up we went!  Michael decided he wanted to play pool mini golf and hit it more like a pool stick.


They had a great time!!   AJ hit it right most of the time, but I can't remember the last time we went mini-golfing.  The children decided that they didn't want to go into port.  I was fine with that because there really wasn't much there, and nothing really for the kids.  So we took them to the kids club and headed off the boat.  There ended up being a hop on hop off bus there, it had just started a few weeks prior to our arrival, so we were at least able to get a ride into town and a little history.  The first time the name "Gdynia" was mentioned was in 1253, when it was referred to as a Kashubian fishing village in the Duchy Pomerania. But it was not until after the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 that Gdynia, along with other cities of the former Polish Pomerania, became a part of the new Republic of Poland. Today the city of Gdynia is a port city located in northern Poland by the Baltic Sea. By itself Gdynia has about 250 000 inhabitants. However, Gdynia is a part of a conurbation with the city of Sopot, the city of Gdansk and suburban areas. Together they make a metropolitan area called Trójmiasto, or Tricity, and have a population of over one million people.


This is the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was built between 1957 and 1966.  It has a mosaic inside that we weren't able to see because it is under renovation now, but was told it is beautiful


This was on the side of the church, very cool artwork!


Then we walked down to their flea market.  The sold everything there from fruits, meats, cheese, to shoes, bags, clothes.  


I loved this sign, it was on the top of the bus to make sure we stayed sitting down.  :-)


Gydnia Fountain is located in their main square, Kosciuszki Square.



This is the Dar Pomarza which is now a museum.  It was built in 1909.  She has served as a sail training ship for the Polish Naval Academy in Germany, France and Poland.  In 1934-1935 she traveled around the world.



This is just a cool looking ship that I believe is a restaurant.


This sculpture is a monument dedicated to the famed Polish author Joseph Conrad.


This is a memorial dedicated to the Polish Seamen who lost their lives during WWII


This was a bunker they built next to the main building for the port back in WWII.


David and I in the port heading back to the ship.  It was a relaxing day in port and the kids had a wonderful time in kids club!  We only had about 3 1/2 hours there.  We headed to dinner when we arrived back on the boat.


After dinner we decided to go try the show again.  Well this one wasn't nearly as exciting for the kids.  It was a lot of opera and slow singing songs and that was about it.  We only made it through part of it and then decided to head back to the room for some games and sleep.  Another good day!

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