TRAVELLING WITH ADRIENNE

I Didn’t Go Looking for Dwarves

But I did find some

After replacing the rubber on my hiking pole, I found a sit-down cafe with a long line of customers waiting to be served. Four girls were working flat out behind the counter. So many delicious options – even pavlova! Having had a coffee on the way to the Mountain Shop, I ordered a mango, banana and ginger smoothie and a slice of cherry pie. Mmmm, delicious!

Revivified, I walked safely across the road avoiding bicycles, cars and trams to take a closer look at a statue of a man on a horse. It’s Bolesław I who inherited the principality of Great Poland from his father and is known as the first king of Poland.

I thought this “tree” was a very pretty arrangement of potted flowers. There was a young couple taking multiple photos in front of the tree. The girl was posing in instagrammable ways and her boyfriend kept taking photos. I never thought they’d move on. I asked the guy since he was such a good photographer if he wouldn’t mind taking one photo of me. Just normal. He laughed and said, “ Sure!”

The result was the top photo.

I couldn’t get into this church at all which was disappointing because the stained glass window looked unique from the outside. Looks like the church may have been built or renovated in 1696.

Next , I chanced upon the Opera House completely different to the Opera House in Bydgoszcz which is an ultra modern structure on the river.

Next discovery was the Teatr Lakek — I loved it. Children and their mothers were entering and exiting so maybe there was a special event today. It was Saturday. And right in front of the Teatr was a fountain. I wasn’t sure if this was part of the dwarf collection but sure enough, when I translated the plaque, the fountain was all about dwarves. This was a very lucky find because it was well away from the main tourist areas. The plaque said something along the lines of. “children, come in and splash about with the dwarves.”

Beside the theatre was a fenced park. I found an open gate and wandered through the park. I love trees and nature was showing me varieties I was unfamiliar with.

I have never seen so many couples out pushing their babies in prams. ( I didn’t take photos but I really wanted to.) It was interesting looking at their faces. Some were obviously blissfully happy to be out together as a family on this glorious sunny day; others looked like they were just about to have an argument. I don’t know which one was making the other come walking with the baby!

On the far side of the park was a gorgeous little carousel where older kids were lining up for a ride. I wanted to join them. Only 5 zloty for a ride!

Out of the park, I came to another section of the city moat which encouraged me that I was still on the “island”. Apart from that fact, I had no idea where I was so kept walking using my natural sense of direction rather then google maps. I know it’s let me down in the past, but if I get hopelessly lost, I’ll only have myself to blame, not those stupid maps!

Finally I came to a tram line street and saw a building numbered 67. I couldn’t see my hostel but had a feeling this was the same street.

The old and the new. Can you believe those spires belong to a carpark?

I almost missed the dwarf in the top photo and then spotted this little fellow. I was happy. My feet were sore. I’d walked 8.2 km.