Part VII - Frombork Cathedral

I was just reading through my old posts yesterday, and was appalled by the amount of typos I found. Oh, dear. Well, at least I found them.

The weather in London has been simply horrid for the last few days, and I love it. My heart sings whenever I see heavy grey clouds overhead. Of course, I only enjoy bad weather when I’m indoors. I also think that I’m drinking far too much coffee.

I did a teetotal of all the pictures that I have left, and I’ve got two entries left, including this one. I went to Frombork on the second day, the town where Nicolaus Copernicus did most of his work on astronomy, and where he was finally laid to rest.

I don’t think there’s a train to Frombork (not when I looked it up in London, anyway) but there was a direct route by bus. I had enquired at the bus station the day before, and they told me that there were two buses a day. I took the 9:50 one from Gdansk Glowny, and arrived there at around half past twelve. The journey cost 19 zloty, and was fairly enjoyable, as far as bus journeys go. I bought the tickets from the bus driver. Ha - when I remember my first sojourn to the Continent and all that meticulous planning and pre-booking, it seems all so distant to me now. Now I go along with the flow. I do think it’s a good idea to plan ahead where and when you want to go, or to have a general idea at the very least, but it’s not completely necessary to work it out to the last minute. And for some of these central and eastern countries, you really can’t do that, since they don’t have websites or other pre-booking facilities available. I miss travelling ever so much.

When I arrived in Frombork, the sun was still shining, but there was a patch of ominous grey looming up behind the cathedral. And, ah, the cathedral, where Copernicus is buried. The bus stopped right in front of it, and it’s huge. It’s on a hilltop. There’s no way you can miss it. Again, it was blown to smithereens during the Second World War, but restored to its former glory.

I know that this picture has endless blue skies, and yes, I cheated by putting a later picture up, because at this point, the clouds were seriously photobombing me. I decided to go to one of the restaurants right across from the cathedral and wait till the clouds had drifted away. And have lunch, in the meanwhile.

Not at all shabby, the restaurant.

And I was provided with a very good view of the cathedral.

The menu was Transylvania all over again - only this time, rather than Dracula steak, we have Astronomer’s dessert.

I ordered an iced espresso because travelling really takes the stuffing out of you.

And Polish meat rolls, which were very delicious. The sauce was cream of onion and very savoury.

In the meantime, the clouds descended upon Frombork and the skies split open, releasing a colossal deluge, the likes of which I haven’t seen ever since I left tropical Taiwan. The rain and thunder was terrific. Less amusing was the fact that it went on, and on, and on, effectively stranding me (and quite a few other tourists/patrons) in the restaurant. The wifi there was free, but it was starting to get very dull nonetheless, waiting for the rain to abate, which it did not. It was like waiting for a pot to boil, and we all know what happens when you watch that.

After around two hours of hiding in the restaurant, I decided that I was sick of being indoors, and that I would go outside nonetheless. I charged out resolutely, and made for the cathedral, and at first it was miserably freezing and wet, making me question my sanity and the wiseness (or lack of it) of my decision.

But then the sun broke through, and I saw this.

It was like finding an oasis in the desert, and I was able to gaze upon the full glory of Frombork Cathedral, in all its summer splendour.

I walked on, basking in the sun that comes after the rain, and the leafy shade of the trees. It was a very pleasant walk up to the cathedral.

The main entrance of the cathedral.

The main building of the cathedral.

The other side.

And I’m already beginning to see Copernicus all over the place.

The Planetarium which he worked in. This was also destroyed during WWII, and this is a modern reconstruction.

I enter the cathedral. There a large coffee machine adorned with the image of..Copernicus.

I paid (can’t remember the price but it certainly didn’t cost more than 5 zloty) and went in.

My view of the cathedral upon entrance:

And a majestic statue of Copernicus.

Further on in.

And finally, the moment I’d awaited.

The tombstone of the great astronomer himself.

It was quite daunting, and extremely thought-provoking. I stayed there for some time before leaving.

The statue of Copernicus that stands guard in the town he lived and died in.

I caught the 15:28 bus back to Gdansk, and arrived there at 17:00, but I’ll talk about that in my next and last entry. Till then, the final resting place of Copernicus seems a good place to leave you.