Gra o Tron.

As it was a school/work day, I went on another meandering adventure through Poznań.

I went to Stary Rynek again, this time to see the goat clock at the aforementioned/photographed/closed on Mondays Historical Museum, realising when I got there that I didn’t have my camera’s SD card. The detail on these camera phones shots? Not so great. And I had been so proud of not needing to consult a map and for taking a tram by myself. (For one stop, but it was a ten minute ride between them, okay?)

Anyway, check out this 17th century clock.

Check out the goats that start creeping out after the bells at noon.

Goat peek
Then they have at it and butt heads twelve times.

Nice, huh?

I then wandered to Cathedral Island (again without a map, ’cause I knew it was East of Centrum and, y’know, had spires), which is where Poznan was founded in the 10th century. The Cathedral looks pretty shiny and new, because it, like so many churches, has been knocked down and rebuilt many times. There were a few wars here. A couple of them in the last century were pretty damned devastating.

Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul. As this is a Catholic church, Mary was there too.

Due to darkness and camera phoneness, photos from inside did not work so well. Adding to the problem? The lady selling tickets didn’t speak English (the only words she said to me were shouted (“KRYPTA! KRYPTA!” as she pointed downstairs)), so I couldn’t ask about, y’know, being allowed to take photos. Sneaky photos on a camera phone are pretty awful.

I I love a lounging tomb occupant, hanging out with the heavenly.

This ceiling was amazing and it's a bastard that I couldn't get a better shot.

JPII, looking like a superhero. (His face is, not terribly surprisingly, all over the place here. Me: "He's not even the Pope anymore!" Piotr: "Sssshhhh. Don't tell the locals.")

Then I wandered vaguely towards food, taking some time to look at my choices of international cuisine.

I don't know why I'm so fascinated by this. Why shouldn't there be souvlaki or won ton soup here?

Ultimately, though, I was getting frustrated about not being able to read most things, so I headed to Sweet Surrender, a cafe on a major road named after FDR that is frequented by students (many foreign) and runs an English club. More or less as soon as I looked around dazedly, they asked if I needed an English menu. I very nearly said “Well, DUH.” They make an awfully nice soup and an even better cheesecake. Also, they have something called a ‘winter coffee’, which is aeropressed coffee with dried orange and cloves. Good lord, it was delicious.

Chelsea called on my Polska phone (P&C keep an extra for out-of-country guests) and mentioned she was going to the downtown Empik after talking to a prof, so I headed vaguely in that direction, knowing it was near this Soviet-era building being turned into luxury flats, checking my phone to find out exactly where it was. Still, for me to only have to consult a map once in a day is borderline miraculous.

I love taking photos in Empik. A Song of Ice and Fire books are frickin’ huge here.

George Martin's making a killing here. As is, apparently Bear Grylls. (Also in the top 20? Sophie Dahl's cookbook. WTF.)

As is Le Petit Nicholas. I mean, Przygody Mikołajka.

Some of the most fought over books at school (in French).

As I mentioned, we actually did go out for Chinese-Vietnamese food tonight at the Bar Orient Express. I don’t really have pictures of this (it was tasty and came with the apparently mandatory cabbage-dill salad (I can’t remember its name in Polish), but I did snap this one of a billboard advertising some kind of Canadian-developed Garnier miracle product.