It stopped working several years after being installed and it wasn't until the late 20th century when repairs were made - and electricity added. We walked down a street that showed what a typical street looked like in medieval times with the open porches.
One piece of history I learned was that in early 1945 the Germans finally left, realizing that they had lost the war. The Russians took over and "saved" the city. They did this by shelling and bombing most of the old city, leaving it in ruins. Why? Some say because Gdansk was considered a German city and they wanted to remove all instances of anything German. So there aren't too many original buildings left that were built prior to WWII.
Gdansk is also the birthplace of Fahrenheit!! Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit was born in Gdansk in 1686. Celsius wasn't yet a thing. Anders Celsius developed that scale in 1742. Fahrenheit invented the mercury thermometer in 1714 and developed the Fahrenheit scale in 1724, used primarily in the United States.
After our tour we had two and a half hours of free time. We had lunch at one of the best perogie restaurants in the city. We had pork, duck and smoked cheese perogies. Also potato pancakes with three sauces and stir fried cabbage.
All so good. My favorite was the duck with the cranberry sauce. And the potato pancakes were so crispy. My favorite sauce was the creamy mushroom.
After lunch we walked to a local distillery. They make all their spirits using produce from their own farms. We tried several including one that was aged in wine barrels. We got a tasting directly from the barrel!!
We were due to meet our tour at 1:30 so we walked down the main street. So many cafes and shops!! And of course I tried a soft serve!!
Headed back to the ship now. Tomorrow is a sea day and then Wednesday we'll dock in Copenhagen and disembark the ship. One night in Copenhagen and we'll fly to London and get ready for the next leg of this adventure.
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