Town Hall and Flowers

Toruń comes alive in the summer with an array of dazzling colours. I know summer is pretty much near an end now...but Toruń is still very much alive. This photo taken in the morning shows the town hall tower. Lamps are currently decorated around town with hanging flower baskets.

The Towering Town Hall

Toruń's landmark - the Town Hall tower looms above these flats. The tower itself is open during summer. It's well-worth the many flights of stairs to get a breathtaking view of the old town.

LOOKING ABOVE: Town Hall Sightseeing

High above the streets of Toruń these tourists enjoy the view from the top of the Town Hall Tower. It's quite a few flights of narrow steps up there...but the view is for sure worth it!!

The Black Birds

Taking a break, high above the old city of Toruń...a pair of blackbirds begin to take flight...

A Blackbird Singing

It seems wrong that out of this bird,
Black, bold, a suggestion of dark
Places about it, there yet should come
Such rich music, as though the notes'
Ore were changed to a rare metal
At one touch of that bright bill.

You have heard it often, alone at your desk
In a green April, your mind drawn
Away from its work by sweet disturbance
Of the mild evening outside your room.

A slow singer, but loading each phrase
With history's overtones, love, joy
And grief learned by his dark tribe
In other orchards and passed on
Instinctively as they are now,
But fresh always with new tears.

by Ronald Stuart Thomas

Head to Head...from Above!

Big Brother is watching this pair chatting away. The photo was taken from high above in the Town Hall tower.

The Twin Towers of Toruń

Nestled in one corner of the New Town Square is the impressive Kościół pw. św. Jakuba (the Church of Saint Jacob) with its unique twin towers. What's even more impressive is that it's been standing there from 1350! One of the many joys of medieval Toruń.

Copernicus and Town Hall

We cannot have a website about Toruń without showing its most famous resident - Nicolaus Copernicus. After all, the astronomer, who discovered that the Sun (rather than the Earth) is at the centre of our solar system, was born here in Toruń back in 1473. Today, the city prides itself on this knowledge and many things are named after him (including the city's university, a renowned gingerbread factory and most recently a new shopping mall).

Here the statue of Copernicus (erected in the 19th Century) stands proudly this morning under the gothic splendour of the Town Hall tower. As you can see Spring is still here!!!