Poznan

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  Poznan, Poland
Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Once we land in Poznan, we take the bus to passport control/baggage claim. Apparently noone on the plane has gone through passport control before because once everyone on the bus saw the passport control booth's they all froze and had no idea what to do. I use this brief moment to position myself as the first in line for non-EU/all other passports line. I start wondering to myself if this was a good idea because the guy in the booth is taking quite some time to get himself together. Finally he calls me up and I present my passport. As in other times, even thou I have an American passport once they see my name and where I'm born, I get grilled in Polish as to why I'm trying to come to Poland. I feel like they test me and my "polish-ness". I don't really feel like going into great detail with him (mostly because I'm pretty sure I'll confuse him) about the reason why I'm coming to Poland and I tell him.. I'm here on vacation. He than asks me if I know anyone here. Damn, is he nosey. I tell him that my dad is here along with my aunt, uncle and a bunch of cousins. He seems to be warming up to me now. He really is taking forever with this passport thing. Normally it's the once over, scan of the barcode on passport, entry or exit stamp and we'll see you later. This guy.. not so much.. He than says oh, you won't be staying in hotels here. I quickly respond no and further tell him I'm excited to get some home food. I score major points with the guy as he chcuckles to my statement. He finally stamps my passport and I now have the pleasure of waiting for my luggage. I am actually in no hurry b/c my dad said he won't be in Poznan until ~noon. I had no idea but it's a 6 hour drive from Warszawa.

On an aside, Poznan is where my dad grew up and where his sister and family lived.

As I wait for my bags, I am first amused by all the olive motif's in baggage claim. I mean no really. Work with me people. You know when you go to the airport baggage claim, you have a carousel and a tunnel from where the baggage is deposited. That tunnel was covered in an olive print. The inside of the tunnell was red as to look like a pimento olive. In addition there were stuffed olive cushions lying around. I really have no idea why. When did Poznan become an olive capital?? I am soooo confused. As I wait an incredibly long time for my bags, my dad gives me a call and says he's already in Poznan. Bonus! I tell him not to rush because I still haven't even got my bags. I continue to wait and wait and wait. I can tell people are irritated and finally this airport worker guy shows up and from what I overhear is that last night they installed some new baggabge system and there are apparently some serious kinks in the system. Once this guy fiddles with the bags in the tunnel, we are all overwhelmed with the amount of new luggage introduced to the carousel. One of the bags ends up being mine. Yay!! I throw Big Red on the luggage cart and wander out to the rest of the airport.

Okay apparently there is something going on with Spain, Poznan and olives. Once I leave baggage claim, I see ~6 women either holding a plate of spanish olives or stuffed cushion type olives. I am so amused, and just start chuckling. I even take a pic of all the olive chicks wearing olive velvet dress's. This just cracks me up. Even so, I still don't understand. Shouldn't I be greeted with pierogi's?? I go outside and after a bit I realize that the main drop off/pick up is around the corner. I look around for dad and no dice. I go back inside and buy some water. It's 2.50. Hmm is it euro or zloty. Not knowing I ask the woman and she laugh's. Zloty is the answer, sweet. Sweet on many levels, the most important being exchange rate. I still have zloty from last time and I enjoy my woda gasawona (soda water). I than notice that there are camera crews associated with the olive girls. I go back over there and find out more information about the olive conection. Apparently the flight I was on was the first Barcelona - Poznan flight. Ahhhh.. now it at least makes a little sense.

I also find a tourist information desk and I get some 411 on Poznan. Afterwards, I go outide and 15 minutes later dad appears!! YAY!!! Tatusz!!!!!! It's so good to see daddy waddy and at this point in my travels a familiar face. Lots of hugs and kiss's are involved and we go to the car.

We leave the airport and go to Poznan city centre. There is no rest for the wicked. We find parking and walk to city hall, where at noon 2 mechanical rams butt heads 12 times. This apparently is the highligh of the town b/c by the time we figure out we are facing the wrong direction of city hall, a huge mass of people has come together to watch said ram head butting. After the head butting, dad and I got to tourist information where we ask about a bar mleczna's. For people not in the know. Bar mleczna's where a product of the communist government. They believed that all people should have acces to dairy based foods such as pierogi's (mleczna = milk). After the fall of communism, many started to shut down but also people realized the importance of the bar mleczna's and since than added meat dish's and other yummies. These days, a bar mleczna is home food for REALLY cheap. The food here 90% of the time is super!! Once in a while you'll get something that was overcooked or not properly seasone but for the price.. damn!! It's worth the gamble.

We go to the bar mleczna that the tourist information guide recommends. It's just ouside the old town. We get our yummies. Ohh I am sooooo happy... I get soup and golabki (stuffed cabbage). Giddy giddy giddy. To top it all off we get a ponczek (stuffed donought). Apparently they are a day old and we get them for 50grosz each. Sweet. And no really they are very tasty..

After all that we go to Bydgoscz for the night

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