Food Fair

Friday, Aug. 15, 2014 (Assumption Day)--Wroclaw to Poznan

Our train wasn't scheduled to leave until 11:38, so we took our time this morning.  The tranquillity was marred somewhat by a message from AIRBNB that they are still having problems charging via my credit card.  I thought I had that straightened out over a week ago.  Apparently, I have to call the credit card company a THIRD time.  I'm beginning to wonder about the competency of Capital One!!!  The solution was to put our apartment here in Poznan on Wes' card.

On the way to the station, we detoured to have one last ice cream cone at the place we discovered yesterday.  Today, we each had a dip of dark chocolate and a dip of peanut butter ice cream.  UMMMMM!  It's a wonderful place.  I wish I had recipes for ice cream that delicious.

It was quiet as we were walking to the ice cream shop and then to the train station.  I checked my guidebook and discovered that it is Assumption Day.  Fortunately we had reserved seats on the train, so we didn't have to worry about not getting a seat.  As expected once we realized it was a holiday, the train was jam-packed with people!

We had no problem finding our way to the Cozy Place Near City Park which is an apartment we had reserved for ourselves.  We were met by Joanna who was so sweet and nice.  Because it is a holiday, she had bought some eggs, bread, and other items that we might need for today/tomorrow morning.  The apartment itself is my favorite of the ones we have rented on this trip.

We headed out to the city after getting settled.  We only have two nights here which means the last half of this afternoon and all of tomorrow.  And the city of Poznan is bigger than we expected.  It is a university city and a city popular with trade fairs and conferences, but it is also an old city with a large town square in the old town.  There is lots to see and do here.

This weekend, there is a food fair in the main square of the Old Town.  We wandered around the square seeing the items offered at all the stalls.  Many had either alcoholic drinks (wines, liquors, craft beers, etc.), cheeses, breads, etc.  Several had prepared food for sale.  We settled on one that had kiolbasa sausages and roasted small new potatoes with herbs. It was served with mustard.  It made a delicious dinner for us.

As we wandered some of the back streets around the square, we came upon a wedding that was ending at the Parish Church of St. Stanislaus.  A military guard rattled their sabres as the couple left the church.  As the crowd cleared, we entered.  It has a very elaborately decorated interior.

By about 18:30, rain was threatening, so we headed back to our apartment.  We bought beer to drink on our balcony overlooking the gardens of this building and two others.  The air is turning cooler these days, so we will probably be switching to long pants and pullovers.  But tonight we were still able to sit outside and drink our first beer which we shared.  Drizzle began, so we came inside to drink the second.

Note to friends about phone calls:  I updated my phone software a few days ago, and I am having troubles with it.  I should never had performed the upgrade.  For some reason, it is not connecting properly to wi-fi for phone calls.  It allows me to download data and do searches, but it won't let me do phone calls.  I've contacted Republic Wireless.  Until I either remove the update or find another solution, I won't be able to call US phone numbers or to receive voice mails on my mobile phone.