We said farewell to lush, green, historic Warsaw and headed to pick up our rental car.
We headed north to Gdansk, Poland's largest shipping port on the Baltic Sea. Driving in Poland is not for the faint of heart. Poles, as with most Europeans, drive fast. We were going a little over 100 mph and plenty of cars zoomed right past us. And they merge into your lane inches in front of you. Intense, but pretty fun too. We stopped at a roadside rest stop for a snack and I was delighted to find fresh squeezed carrot & orange juice since my veggie intake has been low. We also found this funky cheese in the shape of fettuccine.
Next, we stopped in Torun, a charming medieval town (one of Poland's oldest). It's the home of Copernicus, a cute town square, and the coolest public restroom I've ever seen (more on that in a bit). We strolled the city, re-hydrated, and had some ice cream before getting back on the road. Oh, and we may have been stopped by the police because we were driving on a pedestrian-only street. The cops rolled their eyes, probably called us stupid Americans, and pointed us in the right direction. Oopsies....
We made it to Gdansk around dinnertime and I was instantly smitten. It's one of the cutest towns I've ever visited. Simply adorable.
Our dinner, sadly, was not so lovely. Lesson learned that travel book writers don't always share our same taste. It is one of the oldest restaurants in Gdansk, so it had that going for it, and they served a specialty vodka with gold flakes which was interesting (but tasted awful). We were both pretty underwhelmed by our dinners, including overcooked asparagus and cold salmon. We rectified the situation by grabbing a tasty dessert waffle on the way back to our Airbnb.
Highlight of the day: The Torun public restroom! When you flush, this contraption extends from the back of the toilet and the toilet seat rotates around (twice) and gets disinfected by the contraption. I was in awe. I should have taken a video. It was particularly cool because there was this fancy toilet underground and right above it was the remains of the original gate to the city. Not sure what I was more impressed with. Actually, yes I do. Don't judge. History is awesome, but the toilet seat rotated around and got disinfected - twice!
The toilet was under this