Let's See Who's Out & About on Christmas Morning in Gdansk

                                      Swans swimming in silvery water

   Under construction: future Museum of WWII, massive concrete block rising against the sun

                   Scotties waiting for owner to get off the phone & let them out of dog park

This man is very grateful to have a little sun on his face

                              Man & boy crossing a cobblestone bridge

                                 Perfect seagulls in straight little rows

                                   Man with out of control menagerie 

                                          Spiffy couple speaking German

These two men were in same exact spot having the same exact heated conversation when I passed once, then again 90 minutes later

                                    Baby learns about the waterfront

                     Santa Claus & family reenacting Hitchcock's "The Birds"

Christmas Clever Knitting Lesson

1. Go to Latvia.

2. Get inspired by ancient Latvian mitten knitting containing secret mythological code patterns.

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3. Find knitting store.

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4. Buy Latvian Mitten Knitting Kit.

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5. Travel to a different country.

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6. Come to realization that it is Christmas Eve, you know no one, don't speak the language, everything is closed, & the streets are deserted.

7. Decide this is a good time to start those mittens.

8. Come to realization that mythological knitting pattern is extremely complex.

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9. Come to realization that needles from kit are teeeennny tiiiiinnny double-pointed steel needles barely thicker than a sewing needle & that they stab you in the belly with the wrong ends when you try to use them.

10. Decide to make a decorative Christmas tree in hotel room using stabby double-pointed steel needles & candies thoughtfully provided by hotel staff.

11. Decide you will use yarn to knit something else, something easy yet useful...a shawl.

12. Find free pattern for said shawl on Internet. Download.

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13. Come to realization that teeeeennny tiiiiny needles are much too narrow for said shawl.

14. Come to realization that you are extremely clever to have packed a supply of duct tape.

15. Make double-thickness needles using duct tape.

16. Come to realization that said double-needles just cause yarn to split & are still too narrow.

17.  Decide you are a genius because you have other pointed objects in your suitcase...your souvenir pencils from the Kremlin Armory Museum in Moscow.

18. Begin shawl using souvenir pencils as knitting needles.

19. Decide you are extremely brilliant.

20. Express silent gratitude that yarn colors are dark, as pencil graphite is rubbing off on yarn.

21. Decide invention of Christmas Pencil Knitting warrants cocktail.

22. Using ingredients on hand, mix Fanta orange soda & Polish vodka, favored drink of sneaky 12-year-olds.

Happy Christmas Eve all!

* These pics are from the web.

Gdansk, You Really Know How To Make a Girl Fall in Love

Christmas lights make interesting abstractions as you pass by in an all-night bus.

I arrived in Gdansk at 6 AM, too early to check into my hotel, though they let me drop off my luggage. Though I did not realize it in advance, my hotel happens to be on one of the most beautiful, classic little alleyways in Europe -- Mariacka ul.

                        My street...atmospheric mystery from centuries past

I find a bakery, linger over coffee. Back to check into the hotel.... it's so different from all the others...so much better. A room with light, space & air!

                                 Little friends decorate a wall

          Entry into the bathroom...a medieval door

Dead tired, discombobulated from no sleep & 11 hours of jostling in an Eastern European bus, I wander out, just around the corner from my hotel, & this is what I see as the sky lightens.

             Neptune's Fountain

             Am I in Poland??...or Italy?

I've only been here a moment, but I'm already falling for Gdansk.

Bye Bye, Baltics

No fair...

The Baltic States have given me nothing but slate gray skies, fog, mist, & days of rain. Now, waiting at the bus station in Vilnius for travel to my next destination, the sun has deigned to sort of appear. For a full 3 minutes!

Themes of the Baltic States:

Mulled wine

Amazing things made of amber 

Whiskey + many fragments of amber + time in a dark room =

powerful medicinal potion. Two tablespoons/day & you will be

healthy the rest of your life. So the amber lady says.

Potholders made of linen

Socks

Rows of ladies buying socks

Little houses

Stuffed cabbage

Gingerbread cookies

Packs of girls taking selfies

Once Upon a Time I Chanced Upon a Fairytale Kingdom

Once I heard a tale of a faraway place from long, long ago. I wandered across many foreign lands in search of it, to see it for myself. Though I grew cold and weary, at last, at the base of a high hill, a narrow gate opened as I approached.

I came upon a berry bush and, hungry from the long journey, ate a handful. They were wet from the fog that shrouded everything about me, and sweet. Before long, I began to feel rather queer.

Up and up a winding path I went, past buildings that loomed high and seemed to lean in across the path, toward me.

Upon reaching the top of the hill, indeed I saw what had been foretold. A vast village of miniature houses, fairies' homes, as far as I could see.

On I went, deeper into the maze of paths, now not sure how I came in nor how I would get out. Thereupon I stopped in my tracks, for before me stood the giants of whom I'd heard, turned to stone for all eternity. So tall were they that I had to climb a tower just to see them.

I walked on a little further & by now felt so very sleepy. In a small hollow I saw a baby, also turned to stone. She seemed to invite me close with a sweet everlasting smile, so I curled up near her & fell asleep, dreaming about places that are one thing but seem like another.