Wednesday, September 4 – Woke up to another beautiful morning. Had to venture out to find a spot for my resistance workout. Located a little park nearby that suited the purpose—the old guys on the benches and the young guys in uniforms heading to school did not even blink at the old lady doing her tabata routine. Probably just thought it was safest to steer clear.

Another lovely hotel breakfast. Selection was similar to yesterday with the addition of a fruit granola & yogurt cup, which I tried (thumbs up) and pickled herring. I declined that option but was intrigued by the idea that there would be enough demand to warrant inclusion in the buffet.

Today, we decided to take a less common (we thought) day trip to the Hel Peninsula. Yes, we literally went to Hel.

We took the train in the AM and quickly discovered our idea, while relatively novel for those of us from the US, was quite common to Polish locals. The train was jammed, I have seen fewer people on the Green line after a game at Fenway! I believe Dan and I were the only English speakers in our car, so we were unique in that way. For once in my life, I was happy that I am not a particularly tall person. Those above 5’6″ found the seat configurations a bit too cozy for comfort–trust me, I heard all about it! Better yet, the train was on what we used to call a “milk route”– a stop every 5 minutes…delightful.

Arrived in Hel about 10 minutes late and had to rush to pier to get tickets for the ferry before office closed for lunch. We had come to the obvious conclusion that we didn’t want to return via the rail to Cartegena. We had 20 minutes, Google said it would take 18, and I made it in 8. Don’t tell me I walk too fast!

Having that resolved, we enjoyed a leisurely stroll through the woods to the other side of the peninsula, stopping to eat a lunch we had been smart enough to pack ahead of time.

The path took us to a beautiful beach and the Baltic Sea. We were able to walk along the water (Dan wearing his sneakers, he becomes more like his mother every day ) to a boardwalk that wound its way along the water and back to the harbor. It was sunny, with a nice breeze, absolutely perfect. The walk was made more interesting by the fact that it passed several 50s-era military objects left by the Soviets and a point that declared itself the beginning of Poland.

Back at the harbor, we rewarded ourselves with ice cream and a stroll along it’s boardwalk, before boarding the ferry back to Gdansk. The ferry was far more pleasant–not as crowded, and a breeze on deck, but that boat will not be breaking speed records anytime soon. Pretty sure Katie Ledecky passed on on a training run…

Despite the speed (or lack thereof), the second half of the ride was pretty interesting. We stopped at Sopot, a big beach resort with a long boardwalk–for you Philadelphians, like being “down the shore”. Then we passed through Westerplatte, former home of a big monument to the Polish soldiers who fought the Germans at the start of WWII in September 1939 (we are actually here during the 85th anniversary of the initiation of the war). We also got to see today’s Port of Gdansk in action, passing lots of freighters, grain silos, shipping containers and piles of coal being loaded and unloaded along the waterfront. Not a traditional tourist stop, but interesting nonetheless.

Finally got back to our hotel to shower off the sunscreen and sweat and to change into fresh clothes. Due to the hour and our fatigue, we just went back to the hotel bar for dinner (sorry Nancy, no food photos today).

While it was long and required a decent amount of travel time, we were both happy we took this road less traveled (well, at least by American tourists). Tomorrow is our final full day in Gdansk and we plan to stay local.

22,759 steps; 10.1 miles