Mostly Malbork-bork-bork

Jacobson's was ok for dinner, but almost the same price as the Wild Dumpling, we won't return. It certainly was a restaurant for Polish tourists, possibly because they could keep their bottle of vodka under the table. Zurek, farmer's pie, a deep-fried chicken roll and two beer came to about 70 PLN.

Thursday morning started badly: the Neptune Milk Bar, supposedly open at 7:30, wasn't. So it's off to the deli for more rolls and cheese and sausage. A decent coffee at the train station was 10 zł, surprisingly expensive. The train (23 złl return each) was 'milk run' stopping a dozen times before reaching the town of Malbork. I did spot a hawk landing in a field. There are no signs to the castle, but given its immensity, you couldn't get lost on the kilometre walk. It's 39.5zł each (about $14), including an iPod audio tour in English. If you speak Polish, you get a human guide. Both iPods were faulty but willingly exchanged.

As I said, the place is huge. Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malbork_Castle for details. After a couple of hours, we turned more rolls into lunch, supplemented with our little jars of mayonnaise and dijon mustard. All it needed was some wine. Two more hours (including a half-hour in the new Amber Exhibit and we were saturated with Teutonic history. We caught an earlier train back than planned and got a slightly different tour of the flat countryside. Just as Canada is ripping up its old railway lines and selling the land off for a song, Poland is expanding its rail system. Everywhere, new pairs of tracks are being laid and stations are being expanded.

 

An hour later, we're back at the Dumpling in the Wild for another feast. This time, we start with the salmon tartare (100g 18 zł) and bigos (cabbage and sausage bits) (300g 18 zł). Since we want dessert, we split an order of farmer's perogies (8 for 18 zł). Unbidden, the waitress brings them on two plates, each with a garnish of alfalfa sprouts and parsley. We washed it all down with three half-litres of Tyskie beer. A piece of warm cheese-cake (7 zł) rounded out a wonderful meal for 84 zł plus 10 for a tip. Looks like rain for tomorrow. We need to do laundry and laundromats seem nonexistent. The hotel will charge us over $100 for our 6 days of dirty clothes. We won't do that of course, but I really don't want to do them in the bathtub.

More on our laundry adventure in the next entry.