The sun rises at 7:30am in Poland at this time of year, much earlier than our previous two countries. We got dressed and set out to find the old town. We stopped at Loft for a bite to eat and some beers. Here we had our first Polish pierogi of the trip (yours are still better Babcia), filled with cheese and potato, served without sour cream and when we asked they said they don’t have any!

The temperature was about 6 degrees but there was a biting wind that made it feel much colder. We found the old town quite easily (no thanks to Michele, who tried to convince us it was in the opposite direction). There are a lot of pop-up outdoor museums along the way informing us of various historical events, and there are also constant glittering Christmas installations decorating the streets.

We walked into the old town square and admired more markets. All of this was apparently was completely destroyed by bombs during World War II but now restored. We bought Irene some Oscypek from a street vendor to try, which is smoked salty cheese served hot, delicious! We continued exploring the historical streets and walked home, via a quick espresso martini pit stop, as the dark set in at around 3:30pm.

We were really keen to have an authentic Polish meal for dinner, and luckily there was a restaurant just around the corner. Kuźnia Smaku was a dimly lit, inviting place and we were the first guests to arrive. Robert was out waiter who made us feel very welcome, even bringing us complimentary sparkling rosé when he found out that it was Irene’s birthday (well, in Australia anyway, it’s to be a looong one this year). We shared two types of pierogi: goose, and veal, served with a cup of sour borsh, which was divine. We also shared a plate of gołompki (cabbage rolls), which were just as delicious (but still nothing on yours Babcia!). We washed this down with shots of Zubrowka and called it a night. On the short walk home we encountered a severely drunk man who was trying desperately to stand up but kept falling on his head on the hard concrete. We tried to help him and told him to sit down but he refused. Luckily a young lady saw the commotion and spoke to him in Polish. She said that he was telling us to leave him and she would call the police from afar. We thanked her and set off home for bed.

We are catching a bus to see the Polish family tomorrow so we may not have Wifi to post for a couple of days. We will be sure to tell you about it once we are back on line. Until then, dobranoc!