Greetings from Gdansk!

After a long flight, for me a long nap, we made it to Warsaw. The first thing we did upon arrival was to look up the church mission office. We took a cab there, and made good friends with the driver. He told us all about his country home and even drew pictures of it for us during the red lights. We left with his home address and phone number and an invitation to his home next time we come. He told his girlfriend on the phone that we were 'beautiful people' so that means he's my friend forever! We made it to the mission office and got to meet the president and his wife. They are from some nordic country that my husband and I can't agree on right now. He says Germany, or Austria but I say it's Denmark or the Netherlands or something like that. Anyway, they were nice, and loved the package the girls and I made for the Polish young women. One of the missionaries in the room we gave a ride home from church last time we were here. It was fun to see him again.

At 4 something in the morning, we took a train north to the Baltic sea! We walked this beach today. The water was pretty cold, but woo hoo, I actually went in. Up to my knees, which is more than I can say for my daring husband. He moistened his feet, nothing more. It was so beautiful! I did have a little trauma though, at the train station. See, I had to pee. I saw the sign for bathroom, and I dashed in and accomplished my task. On the way out, I met the potty nazi. She was a stern battle axe of a woman. Apparently, I was supposed to pay for the priviledge of using said toilet, and I was in the uncomfortable position of having no Polish money on me at all. She didn't speak English, and was in no mood for a ditzy American girl that had already peed. Luckily enough, I scrounged in my pockets and found a dollar bill that had been through the wash many times. I offered it to her with my most winning, humble and appologetic smile. She took it grumbling, and I made a break for the door. Whew!

We rode the train back to our hotel and crashed. We only meant to sleep for a half an hour, but we awoke long after that. I must have slept really hard because I emerged from sleep convinced that the man laying next to me was not my husband, and I was too embarrassed to get up and use the bathroom around him. After a while, I was awake enough to realize that it was indeed my husband next to me and then it was his turn to wake up kind of weird. He stumbled out of bed and called my attention to a major sleep wrinkle on his forehead. He stopped halfway though, realizing that is was useless to call attention to his face because he was invisible. Yeah, he had a dream where he was invisible and could fly. I assured him that I could indeed see him, and that his wrinkle was impressive. We've spent the evening prowling the old city of Gdansk, which during wwII was the German city of Danzig. It was so beautiful and amazing that it was almost overwhelming. I can't wait for tomorrow to go explore some more. We strolled down this street today, in front of this actual boat. I know, it's a lot to take in :) The architecture is very different than Warsaw, or even Krakow. We decided it has a lot more German influence. We stood at the foot of this statue of Neptune, and I want to reassure you all that this guy is tastefully covered. He has the good fortune of riding some sort of sea creature whose tail just happened to be covering him strategically. There's this amazing, massive cathedral here. We got to peek in the doors, but we won't be able to go in until tomorrow. We're cursing our mistake of leaving our camera charger back in Warsaw, and I'm hoping that we can work a little magic on the camera to squeak out a few more picture before we head back tomorrow afternoon. I hope to be able to post our real, actual photos from Warsaw. Until then, think of me as you're cooking, tending children and cleaning. Cause I'm not! Yeah, baby!