We left Warsaw in the rain after visiting the Chopin Museum and took a long, dreary drive north to Torun. Getting out of Warsaw isn't as easy as it sounds but once on the road things went smoothly. It's odd being behind the wheel again after three weeks off and our miniscule Suzuki lacks the luxury of our last ride. And the GPS! Much of Poland is farmland and the crops have already been harvested. Old women sit along the roadside selling all manner of mushrooms they have gathered from the woods. If only we had a kitchen!
Toruń is unique among the medieval trading cities we have visited in that its street plans and many of the buildings are original. It was a member of the Hanseatic League, with all that implies, but lies far inland from the Baltic on the Vistula River in the "Land of Chelmo" as it was known in past ages. The town's art and architecture show the influence of other Hanseatic trading cities like Bruges and Ghent.
Morning break with Copernicus ginger cookies
We hit the cobbled streets early, as usual, and explored Toruń while the shop keepers were still setting up for the day - the best way to get photos without other tourists in the frame. Not that there are many! Toruń hasn't yet made prime time, possibly because it is out of the way, 250 km from Warsaw and about the same from Gdansk, and not on a rail line. Better for us. Toruń's most famous (and heretical) son was Nicholas Copernicus and his name and likeness are found all over town, including on Torun's signature gingerbread cookies. They are hard and best dunked in hot coffee!
