Rob has a Fitbit that calculates the number of steps that we are walking. (It also calculates the number of floors that we ascend…not descend.) We are keeping track of these steps and be interested in the final total.
This morning on our way to breakfast, Rob told me that he was charging his Fitbit while we were gone. This is most unfortunate because Rob is a hunter-gatherer at the breakfast buffet which is worth at least 300 steps!!! (Later, we went to a concert of Muniek and Friends at the beautiful Arthus Court where we made that up in clapping as the Fitbit measures that as steps!! When the Polish clap at the end of a performance in anticipation of an encore, it is in unison!)
Watch this video of some real guitar music.
We walked along the city wall and discovered a leaning tower. It is said if you have unconfessed sin, you will lose your balance when walking by.
Dovecote Tower is the tower used to exchange information between fortified cities by the use of doves. Passenger pigeons and rock doves were domesticated and used for this purpose.
This seems to be a good time to talk about pigeons. We have seen them almost every day on our trip.
Do pigeons have a natural habitat? (Surely it wasn’t originally the top of statue heads?)
What is their natural food source? (Surely it isn’t the crust of a McDonald’s hamburger) We saw several pigeons eating a chicken breast. Does that make them cannibals??
They are obviously city dwellers. Was that always the case?
My research began in Portugal. I found out the pigeons are actually feral rock doves. They live on the sides of rocks and mountains. We saw several when we were looking at rock formations along the ocean.
Humans try to either befriend the ubiquitous pigeons by feeding them bread crumbs or prevent them from landing on the widow ledges by installing long spikes. In one extreme case at one of the castles, a recording of a falcon which hunts pigeons can be heard every 30 minutes. This is supposed to scare them off. The pigeons did not pay any attention to it as they flew by. They would have better luck using a real falcon!!
There was a “Polish Western” filmed in Torún called Prawo i Pięść (1964). The good guy tries to prevent the bad guys from looting after WWII.
Our much anticipated activity was making gingerbread cookies at the Gingerbread museum. They called it pepper bread (Pierniki) since that is one of the main ingredients.
Rob and about 30 children were ready to go. When it comes to making cookies, we are ALL excited children!!
Other ingredients are: cloves, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, honey, flour (⅔ wheat @ ⅓ rye)
Not to call anybody out but some people were more interested in getting to the eating part and NOT the decorating part!!
After dark, the city puts on a fountain light show set to music. Not only did we pose for interesting silhouette pictures, we walked between the spigots and barely got wet. Some weren’t as lucky!!
You two are amazing! On the go EVERYDAY! You truly are having an adventure of a lifetime.
Thank you for share some of it with us. 💜