A Week in Poland

Monday night we visited a mall for a little different view of the world. And to be out of the rather bitter cold that arrived. The grocery store has 2 main sections: vodka and deli meat counter.



Everything else is almost a rounding error in the scale of things. It was impressive to see an entire aisle of olives.



I really enjoyed the personal touches found everywhere. Breakfast buffet included a cute stuffed otter.



The arrival of colder weather and snow brought focus on garments and practices. Coat closets are real and used. My shoes were covered in snow from the walk to work. Entry doors have extra floor mats and frequently someone mops up the wet foot prints. Some folks seem to have shoes for the office and shoes for the commute. I felt guilty tracking water around :(.



Yep, cold arrived evidenced by cicles forming on signs.



I awoke the next morning to a fresh coating of snow



And enjoyed exploring the winter wonderland on the walk to work.



Parks look great with fresh coat of white.



Nice inviting bench, or not.



Can't say I've seen this display before.



More snow pics because it's new in general and especially new in contrast to the first few days.






Cyclist barely visible in this pic. Krakow has an active cycling community. People biked to work on the coldest days of my visit. Local news articles praised the easy cycling commute with the mild winter. One article said riding is the easy part; slipping only begins when you stop and attempt to put your feet down.



Krakow was full of construction. There were several construction cranes in the skyline. Pretty interesting to watch them pumping concrete into a building.


On the residential side of the river the water front is a bit more rural. A few taxis parked here to nap.



Walking home in the dark the lights on bridges are delightful. I really enjoy how light displays and Christmas decorations stay up through the cold of January and come down on Feb 2.


Lots of good desserts. I found the apple pie with ice cream disappointing. It seemed a traditional dessert. It certainly wasn't "mom's apple pie" as we know it in the US. Chocolate cake and crapes were great!



Friday? was a particularly cold walk into the office. I was shivering in my layers while birds chilled in the river. It was 9 degrees F.



Appetizers, soups, and desserts were generally smaller portions. In the local culture lunch is the large meal. All meals are very hardy with heavy vegetables and lots of meat. I'm not a fan of cabbage anywhere else but the cabbage and sauerkraut in PL was quite tasty. My favorite is still the Hunter's Stew.



Patricia helped us navigate a dinner menu written only in Polish. It was a good chance to test our recognition of words. We mostly recognized the words similar to English. Patricia sounds much more elegant with Polish enunciation. After a few questions about the menu we figured out that Italian didn't really come through in Polish.