With a weekend that included a wine tasting, and international gathering, and the Poznan Cricket Club, how do I categorize this post? Daily life? An interesting daily life. 🙂
We stopped by Mine Wine at Galeria Malta Friday evening for a wine tasting. We tried some very nice wines from Czech Republic, but what stuck in my mind from the evening was the tidbit that the average annual wine consumption in Poland is three liters per person. I’m afraid it’s a little more than that at our home.
After the wine tasting, we stopped by an informal gathering of expats in Poznan at one of the hostels, an interesting mix of people and an example of how our perceptions differ. I was talking with my Israeli friend and a Polish woman who has been teaching in the International School System with a recent assignment in Dehli. As she talked about the driving she’d witnessed in India, my friend said something like, ” . . . and Polish drivers are so polite.”
I had to take her by the arm, look her square in the eye, and ask, “you think Polish drivers are polite?!!” It’s all relative, I guess! Apparently compared to drivers in the Middle East, Poles are polite and predictable. Compared to the United States, not so much. I won’t go into all of the details, but I will quote another American’s post on How to Drive in Warsaw. “1. Get in your car, take a deep breath, and call on your inner aggression.”
Also at the expat meet-up, were members of the Poznan Cricket Club. We’ve been wanting to stop by the Cytadela Park and watch them play. When we found out they were meeting the next day at noon, we made that part of our bike ride on Sunday. I still don’t understand the sport. I’m temped to call it genteel, but Queen Anne is reported to have said, “Cricket is not illegal, for it’s a manly game.” Again, it all depends on where you come from. I think next time, watching cricket will call for a picnic.
That brings me to the question: what deserves to be in a picnic basket (or in our case bicycle pannier) for cricket? My British friend, Caroline, was kind enough to suggest Pimms. I had to google it, so I hope we can find it here, blackberry elderflower and lemonade. That just says summer doesn’t it? It’s just the thing. For noshing, maybe sausage rolls, hummus, brie?
What do you suggest?
An accountant by trade and a food blogger since 2009, Lois Britton fell in love with Polish cuisine during the years she lived in Poznań, Poland. As the creator of PolishHousewife.com, she loves connecting readers with traditional Polish recipes. Lois has a graduate certificate in Food Writing and Photography from the University of South Florida. She is the author of The Polish Housewife Cookbook, available on Amazon and on her website.
Lori
When Americans ask me about traveling in Poland and renting a car, I tell them to forget it. First, they don’t know really how to drive in Poland, and secondly, since usually they want to visit the large cities, do they want to pay to park a car? And I tell them public transportation is just fine.
But on my way from the airport in Budapest to my new home in Pecs, I thought, “I can drive in Hungary!” It’s just like home.
polishhousewife
Lori, you’re right! Parking can be so difficult. There is no guarantee that there will be parking where you’re going, and it can be expensive. I think New York City and the Bay Area are the only places in the US where I thought about whether or not a hotel would have parking and how much it would cost. Lots of wide open space and big parking lots in AZ.