My exploration today centered on the town of Toruń. Toruń, like Gdańsk and Malbork, was owned by the Teutonic knights. In fact, the town was founded by the knights who built their first fortification on the ruins of an older fort. This was eventually expanded and later the knights received permission to create a city.

My first sight of the morning was the ruins of the old Teutonic castle. While not very extensive, or intact, they had my favorite story of any site I’ve been to on this trip so far. Apparently, the knights were known for being ruthless and very heavy taxers. The burghers of the town got sick of this and decided to push them out. The cook in the castle was sympathetic and so waived his ladle out a window when the knights were busy entertaining guests at a dinner. The burghers rushed the castle and in the process of removing the knights brought in gunpowder to blow up the castle. Unfortunately, the cook was still inside when the powder went off. The explosion shot him out of the tower to land on one of the city gates where he remained until the end of the fighting. Supposedly, there is a statue commemorating him at the old town hall.

The castle was sort of lost because, as a final f’ you to the knights, the towns folk turned the castle into a rubbish dump. It wasn’t rediscovered until the 1960’s.

After the ruins, it was time for lunch. I had chosen today’s restaurant before I had even left the States. Pierogarnia Stary Melyn seems to be a small chain in Toruń and are know for their baked pierogi. I had to try them!

After a great lunch, I headed over to the house where Nicolaus Copernicus was born….they think. The museum was ok but a lot of the interactive screens didn’t seem to be working. As those were the only way to get info if you don’t speak Polish, I kinda sped through the museum. They can’t all be winners. They did have some interesting history on the uses of the building for the time and what the different rooms would have been used for.

On the way to my final museum of the day, I passed by a few locally famous statues and fountains.

My final stop was the Ethnographic Museum. This shows the life of the peoples of the area mostly around the turn of 18th-19th century. I love these museums as they give you a sense of what life was like for everyday people. Castles are cool but let’s be honest, most of us wouldn’t have been living in a castle.

The museum had two sections, one inside and one outside. The inside section was small but fit a lot of daily life information into a small area. The outside wasn’t huge but had multiple buildings from the late 1800’s into the early 1900’s. You could go partway into some of them. On the whole they had thatched roofs. Many were multigenerational homes. They made a point of showing that the grandparents were using older items and the next generation were using the more modern implements. This was showing that even in rural Poland, the rapid changes of the time were showing up in every household.

I did find a fun cafe while wandering through the city today.

Supposedly, tomorrow is going to be a cooler day. Here’s hoping!