Off to Meet the Family!

Thursday, July 9, 2015

We’ll be off to Poznan as soon as we’ve had breakfast and done all the last-minute stuff to the house and for the critters.  I have to bring the cat down from his perch in “The Rat Room” but maybe he’ll be happy to have his cave back under Marilyn’s bed.

Mr. Chatterbox

The rat who nibbles toes

The rat who likes to crawl on my lap

Hanna's room and the cat's favorite perch

We’ve been wondering about parking and transportation in Wroclow, our half –way point and after spending a lot of time on Google Maps, we decide it’s not worth it.  We’ll just take the ring road and head straight to Poznan.

By the time we’ve packed lunch and cleaned up breakfast and bagged the trash, it’s nearly twelve and we’re out the door.  We know our way to S7 and to A4/E40m so the beginning of the five-hour drive is pretty simple. Actually, we’re doing really well!

Passing scenery

It really leans like that!

We saw five different families parked along the interstate watching...whatever!

Clever use of the side/edge of the billboard!

We stop at a rest area for a potty break, to stretch our legs and to have our lunch of lettuce, tomato, sliced ham and an HBE.  Tummy filled we’re back on the road.  

Look at the little sink for little ones!

With hardly a stumble we are in Poznan and have put gas in the car.  We also stop at a Tesco grocery store and by a lovely orchid as a hostess gift. We find a hotel with an Italian restaurant and stop for dinner before we call for final directions.

Marilyn has a Tuscan salad and I have an Italian one with goat cheese, which just might be my favorite cheese.  The charming little waitress brings us “starters” which consist of marinated vegetables and olives with two kinds of bread and olive oil.  The salads are accompanied by more bread ,and butter balls, two of which are green and very flavorful!  We share a large bottle of still water and when the bill comes the water is almost as expensive as a salad!

From the parking lot we call Slawomir for directions and he sends us to a PB station where he will meet us.  When we arrive he and his beautiful wife Anya are already there!  His English is pretty darn good and she is an English teacher!!  And we were worried about communicating!

 We follow them home and up the stairs to their third floor flat which they share with their two sons, Michael, 12, and Bart, 9.  Their English is pretty good, too!  They go to a private international school where Anya teaches.  Most of the teachers are British.  We have a wonderful, freewheeling conversation with Marilyn talking with Slawomir and the boys while I talk with Anya about school and families and such. Then we all get involved in a discussion of how dreadful life was in Poland under the rule of the Soviet Union.

We get the tour of the facilities and Anya sets up our bed, which is the sofa in the living room/dining room. We get the WiFi password and say our goodnights.  I hope Marilyn can sleep!  She is so excited!  What a wonderful family!!  Our host has taken tomorrow off from his job as director of sales for an exporter, so he can introduce Marilyn to his family and show her the family sites! They are all so kind and charming!  Lovely people!