Day 11 - We were up and out of our Warsaw hotel by 8:45 today. We went directly to the Central Train Station here by taking two trams. We boarded the 9:30 ICC train to Gdańsk. I believe it is around 280 kilometers and our trains going and returning each took around two and a half hours.
Gdańsk is on the Baltic Sea and wasn't badly damaged during WWII. You may recall the name as the city was the birthplace of the Solidarity movement of Lech Walesa. However, its history goes back hundred and hundred of years.
We arrived at the station in the northern Polish city at 12:05 pm. The weather was cloudly and we saw just a few drops of rain once during our five-hour stay. By the time we were heading back to the station for a return train, the sun came out! We had a lunch there too, of course.
During our time we viewed the iconic Nepune Fountain and Gothic St. Mary's Church. We went in the Central Market and visited Artus Court. We crossed the Motlawa River and noticed amber for sale in many shops. We saw the Golden Gate building. We also saw a human crane which operated with men on what looked like very large hamster wheels!
And we had excellent cream cones. Mine was freshly-made blueberry.
Our train returned to Warsaw Central at around 7:45 pm. It's a trip I'm glad we made. I could see spending a month or more in Gdańsk.