Author: Kevin McCartney

I am working towards the submittal of one of the two major papers that will results from this Fulbright Scholarship.  This paper includes description of two new species.  I do not generally describe new species, and these are only my second and third new species from the Cenozoic Era (I have described a variety of new species from the Cretaceous).  Basically, I describe a new species when I see something very different than anything previous known, otherwise I tend to describe new subspecies or varieties that are within the range of variation of an already described species.

The photo here is being described as a new species, Dictyocha castellum McCartney, Witkowski and Szaruga, from the early Eocene.  The species is unusual in that besides the usual four spines at the corners of the basal ring, there are eight secondary spines, two on the flanks of each corner.  Thus the overall appearance is similar to the old Medieval star fortresses, so that name is derived from the latin word for castle.

This is just a picture to show the international environment in which I work.  This is lunch, with the people here from (left to right): France, Turkey, Poland, US and China.  Everyone speaks English.

There are various museums at Malbork, and we were only able to visit a few of them in our circa 5 hours.  Here are two displays from the Amber Museum; both the necklace and altar piece are circa 16-1700s.

Some pictures from the main dining area inside.  Unfortunately the original furnishings and art were all lost during the war.  There is one chair, but what a chair!

Again, read the bricks to see what work has been done.  Note that the upper reaches of the walls are of newer brick and there are substantial repaired holes in the older brick that survives.  The picture of the courtyard in the castle interior shows more older brick in the lower areas, but note that the large watchtower has been completely rebuilt – the cost of this work much be enormous.

Malbork is perhaps the largest castle in all of Europe, originally built by the Teutonic Knights in the 1300s.  Much work was put into the conservation of this starting in the 1700s – one of the first such efforts of historic conservation – and the castle contained many museums and much original furnishings prior to World War II.  This was commonly visited by international VIPs, including Hitler.  Hitler, who claimed to have an appreciation of art and history, ordered this castle FORTIFIED and defended against the Russian advance.  The castle held out for two months – the German commander received an iron cross – against 20^th century armaments.  Essentially everything was destroyed.  The European community has spent decades in reconstruction of both the walls and museums; the church was just reopened last year.

Advice to visitors.  To begin: visit this place, but plan to spend at least a whole day.  Upon entering the castle area, you will be approached by people offering to give you a personal (and “better”) tour, for about $50.  Do not do this: the audio headphones that the castle will provide (for 50 złoty) are excellent, and will direct you from place to place and provide good general information.  The displays are comprehensive (I enjoyed the detailed exhibit on construction and use of quill pens and paper up to circa 1700s.)

Some pictures of the castle environment are shown here, but one cannot appreciate the general extent of this castle except from aerial view.

This is a view of the shipyard, seen from the train.  Those are ship hulls under construction.  Note also the graffiti on the near building, something that unfortunately occurs most everywhere.

 

Gsańsk has many donut (pączek, plural pączki; the ą is a “an” sound) shops in the train station.  Each morning in Gdańsk we buy four donuts and then these to a coffee shop.  The four donuts cost less (maybe $2 altogether) than the coffee.

I have previously shown pictures of the cobbled roads that are found throughout the old cities of Europe.  These must be hard on shoes, knees and tires (not to mention city budgets) but are absolutely beautiful to the eye.  These of course need to be maintained, and it is interesting to watch the people rebuilding these roads.  A lot of work here, where we would simply lay down another coat of asphault.

I am something of a connoisseur of hamburgers.  I can likely remember the ten best hamburgers I have ever had, and all of them have been in Europe.  My experience has been that any hamburger in any small restaurant in Germany or Poland beats basically anything you can find in the US, anywhere.  Here we are eating a hamburger at a small sort-of-hippyish restaurant in Gdańsk: not one of the ten best I have ever had, but OK.  Note, there is always beer served in European restaurants.