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toruń's damp embrace: a dancer's cold confession

@Eva Soler2/12/2026blog
toruń's damp embrace: a dancer's cold confession

i flew into toruń on a budget airline that smelled like stale coffee and regret. my phone buzzed with the timestamp: 1616454014-march 22, 2021, 14:46 utc-and the weather app screamed 1.16°c with 93% humidity. feels_like? also 1.16°c. no escape. i'm a pro dancer; my body is my instrument, and this damp air felt like it was tuning it to a sad, flat note.


toruń is all *brick and cobblestone, pretty in postcards but slick underfoot. i dragged my dance bag to my hostel on ulica żeglarska-room 310, which i guess ties to the mystery number 3102014-and immediately regretted not packing more thermals. the old town is cute, sure, but right now it's a ghost town masked in mist.

toruń historic buildings with many windows


i needed a studio. asked at a cafe-kawiarnia staromiejka-and a barista muttered something about studio pod farą in the church basement. "the floor is uneven," she said, "but the priest doesn't mind if you jump before noon." i went. it was a concrete box with a piano in the corner and a cross on the wall. danced until my knees ached from the cold seeping up from the floor.

someone on TripAdvisor's Toruń forum raved about pierogi at pierogarnia pod babcią, but i heard from a local at the market that they use frozen dough. "it's fine," he shrugged, "but for real pierogi, go to babcia on szeroka street." i went to both. the first was touristy, the second was closed because the owner had the flu. classic.

toruń city street with parked cars and buildings


the weather here is a character. pressure at 984 mb-stormy, they say-and humidity 93% means my leotards never fully dry. i hung them by the window and they stayed damp all night. a dancer friend back home joked, "at least it's not hot." not funny. i checked again: temp_min 0.07°c, temp_max 1.16°c. essentially, a refrigerator with better views.

if you tire of toruń's gloom, bydgoszcz is an hour away by train. i asked a conductor about it, and he said, "same weather, more canals." not exactly a selling point. but he mentioned a dance collective in bydgoszcz that does outdoor performances even in this mess. "they're crazy," he winked. i might check it out.

toruń brick buildings close together


overheard at pijalnia beer bar-my second home-a group of students from the university debating whether toruń gingerbread is any good. "it's spicy and dry," one said. "perfect with vodka," another countered. i tried it. it's dry, all right. like eating spiced sawdust. but with beer, it's...tolerable.

i've been scrolling Reddit's r/polandtravel for hidden studios. found a post about przystanek taniec near the train station. "no heat," the post warned, "but the sprung floor is legit." i went. it was freezing, but the floor did bounce. danced for two hours, forgot the cold, then remembered it when my fingers turned blue.

the neighbors here-i mean the buildings-lean in like they're sharing secrets. every alley feels like a dance move waiting to happen. but the wind off the vistula river? that's a partner that leads too hard. i slipped on a patch of ice yesterday, landed on my tailbone. still sore.

a chef at restauracja staromiejska told me the sea_level pressure affects the taste of food. "things taste flatter when it's low," he claimed. i believed him after a soup that tasted like warm water. but the bread was good, baked fresh that morning despite the grnd_level pressure of 975 mb. whatever that means.

so, toruń. it's not the vibrant city you see in brochures. it's damp, cold, and full of brick that soaks up the light. but in a basement studio with a piano and a cross, i found a rhythm that fits the mist. come visit, but bring your sweatpants and a sense of humor. and maybe ignore the weather app*-it's accurate, but who needs that kind of truth?

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About the author: Eva Soler

Lover of good books, bad puns, and deep conversations.

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