Into Beautiful Poznan

Friday, July 10. 2015

We shared the sleeper sofa and didn’t roll over on top of one another!  Of course sunrise is still around four a.m., so the morning comes pretty early.  We both manage to get up and dressed before the rest of the family is stirring, so we don’t inconvenience anyone with the use of the facilities.  The “flat” or condo has a living/dining room, kitchen, toilet, shower room and two bedrooms.  The boys have bunk beds and, of course, there’s the master bedroom.  It is a study in minimalism and yet it feels cozy and welcoming.

The weather is overcast and the cool breeze is most welcome.  I see a man crossing between the apartment buildings wearing shorts and a jacket.  What a welcome change from the heat wave we’ve been experiencing!

We put away all the bedding and our detritus so the table is clear for breakfast and the sofa is available for sitting.  Soon Slawek (Swavek is the pronunciation) is setting the table with purple place mats and adding sliced ham, a basket of bread and a plate with sliced cucumbers, tomatoes and cheese.  Anna brings in a bowl of scrambled eggs.  And there is coffee or tea or water.  It is quite a feast!  After a while the boys straggle in….not morning people! We later learn that the eggs were scrambled in rape-seed oil.  Rape is grown on the family farm and the field is a mass or brilliant yellow flowers.

Anna wants to make a special cake but it takes a little time, so she asks if that is all right!  Of course it is!  The cake has three layers of hardened meringue and the filling between each layer is whipped cream beaten with mascarpone and topped with sliced strawberries. Then it is refrigerated so the flavors can meld. It is hard to wait!  Anna and I have been chatting while she works;  she won’t let me help.  She does say that she can find something for me to do if that’s what I need!!  Marilyn has been busy blogging.

 Now we’re ready to go into the old town square.  We take both cars and find parking for both cars on the street!  Slawek is leading and finds a spot, he pulls into it to hold it until we get there!  Then he goes on to one of his own. We put some money in a machine across the street, get our ticket, put it on the dashboard  and we head off to be entranced by the most beautiful town square!!

The Back Stage Cafe

The Woman from Bamberce

The facades of all the buildings that face the square are not just different colors  but also decorated completely differently!  They are three stories tall but very narrow.  In the middle of the square there is an archeological dig.  Poznan was the capitol of Poland at one time;  now it is Warsaw and there is a lot of antagonism between the peoples of the two cities.

Anna and Slawek have made sure that we are back at the town hall in time to see the two goats butting heads.  “What?”  You ask!  The story goes that a young serf was tending a haunch of venison for a huge feast and got distracted, so the venison fell in the fire and burned to cinders.  He ran to the closest pasture and took two goats to replace the meat;  but the goars ran away and up the town hall;s tower where they proceeded to butt heads.  The mayor and guests were so entertained by the goats’ display that he didn’t punish the young man.  Thus began the tradition of the head-butting goats!  The mechanical goats come out every day at noon, after the trumpeter plays, and at five in the afternoon, or seventeen hundred.

Bam!

We continued to explore the square and Marilyn looked for postcards for her granddaughters, but so far she hasn’t found anything.  

We go a pipe-organ concert in a breath-taking church, the Basilica Minor! The family holds seats for us while we go nuts taking photos of this opulent creation! The concert is lovely and peaceful, and lasts about twenty minutes or so.  I find it interesting that two groups of adults leave before the group of children who are sitting in front of us!  Bartek and Mikhal are so well behaved and attentive!

 The boys are hungry and we stop at a fast-food restaurant, but it’s not like anything we have at home.  The primary meals are pasta with a choice of sides.  You can also get lasagna or one of several salads!  The boys get spaghetti and I have a tuna salad, thinking everyone was eating lunch.  Turns out none of the other adults are eating!  I feel foolish but the salad is delicious and I was hungry!

We may be running out of time on our parking ticket, so Anna and I go to add more money while the rest continue on to St. Francis Church.  When we get back I’m overwhelmed by the beauty and grandeur.  The Polish churches are magnificent!

When we’re pictured out we discuss what to do and decide to head home and leave the rest of downtown for another day.  First, though, we stop for Marilyn to buy her "doll" for her collection, which is actually a wooden model of the two goats butting heads! And she buys souvenirs for her two granddaughters.

When we get home Anna starts dinner and we spend just a few minutes playing on our computers before the urge to wander into the kitchen is irresistible for me!  Marilyn is talking family with her cousin and I am in the kitchen having a gab fest with Anna.  She is so intelligent and interesting to talk to! 

Dinner is served with many mixed vegetables, rice and baked fish which we think is flounder.  Whatever it is, it’s delicious!  The family tries to be observant and eat fish every Friday.  The boys don’t like fish and just have rice and vegetables. After dinner we have that magnificent meringue cake and boiled coffee which tastes a lot like espresso and is supposed to be better for you.  All through the meal the conversation is wide-ranging and the boys contribute freely!  It is a delight to listen to them volunteering information on so many different topics!

 We all clear the table and Marilyn and I chat with Anna about psychics!  There’s no telling where our conversations will go!  Marilyn has caught a cold and Anna makes her a cup of tea with lemon and honey and we begin discussing honey!  Marilyn takes her tea back into the living room with Slawek and I stay in kitchen where Anna tells me more about her school and the difficulties with her principal.  We also talk about raising teenage boys.  Each of her kids, in turn, comes in asking for another piece of cake!  They are told that if they have another piece today, they won’t get one tomorrow when every body else is eat it.  They both decide to wait and Bartek has some plain yogurt with mini-chocolate chips instead.

When the dishes are done we join the rest of the family in the living room where the Poznon-Warsaw football match is playing.  This is an intense rivalry and the Warsaw fans are amazing.  At one point they are all jumping up and down in unison!  Despite their support our team scores first!! And second!! And third!!  If the game had only gone the regulation ninety minutes it would have been three-nil.  However, some of the fans had set of so many fireworks during the game, that the play was halted until the smoke cleared.  Those extra five minutes allowed Warsaw to score, but only once, so we were the winners!

During the game Bartek and Slawek blew up an air mattress for Marilyn.  She is thinking that it will help her back.  As soon as the game is over we can reclaim our bedroom and by the time I get back from my shower Marilyn is asleep.  I’m glad that I had set up my computer before I left so that I could turn out the light and let her rest while I blog!

Tomorrow we go to the family farm!  There are bulls and hens and three dogs and seven cats!  And several different crops including potatoes, field corn and rape.  Anna and Slawek have the use of part of the land to grow their own vegetables and Anna hopes they can harvest some beans for dinner!