Gdansk

Last week I travelled with my Polish club for my last competition of the year, an indoor rowing race in the city of Gdansk. The race was held on ergometers, machines used to mimic the rowing motion and the race was over the standard 2000 meter distance. The race itself was like most indoor rowing competitions: a line of ergs next to each other all connected to one another and to televisions so that the athletes, and the crowds, can monitor the progress of the race. However, the exciting and interesting element of the race was that in my event I was going to be racing the current or at one point world record holder for the fastest time on an erg over the 2k distance, Maciej Siekowski. After the race, I went up to him and talked with him for a few minutes and asked for a photo (below). He is a very nice man, wished me the best of luck in my own rowing career and hoped to see me in the future. He even asked for my full name so he could watch out for me. Besides encouraging, it was also a bit intimidating as Mr. Siekowski is a good head taller than me, and his head is the size of my torso, a giant of a man.

Following the competition, I did not return to Bydgoszcz with the team, but stayed behind in Gdansk. My dad has some friends who live there and asked that they take me in for a few days to show me around, since I have never been to this beautiful city before.

Gdansk is located on the northern coast of Poland where the Vistula River empties into the Baltic Sea. It received its official town charter in 998, so is well over 1000 years old. There is something remarkable walking through a city of that age, especially coming from the relatively young United States. Some of the things that mark its age are the giant crane and the old mill, both of which were at one point the largest in Medieval Europe.

Like most of the old cities of Poland (and Europe) there is the old town (stare miasto) around which the modern city has expanded. Gdansk, however, because of its age and its great former wealth and ranking as one of the greatest cities of Old Europe, has a gorgeous and rather large old town. The buildings are well maintained and there is something surreal about walking around and looking up at buildings that were housing people before the America’s were discovered. Along Long Street (Dluga), lies the famous Neptune Fountain, next to which the city had erected a giant, living Christmas Tree to welcome in the holidays.

I had a great time in Gdansk and would like to thank my hosts Pan Janek and Pani Jola.

(Neptue Fountain with the Christmas Tree and Stare Miasto in the background)