Poland, because I can

After a successful meeting with Jean, my German tandem partner, in an Irish pub it was a little bit difficult getting up on Friday morning but I managed it because that day, I was heading to Stettin (Szezecin) in Poland for the day.

The journey went without a hiccup (incredible). I dozed off for a few minutes and when I woke, freaked out because I couldn't figure out why I couldn't understand any signs out of the window, before realising that the signs were in Polish....

I helped myself to a map from the tourist info (later realising I had the Polish version) and picked up the tourist trail outside the station. I gotta give it to the place, they'd painted a  red lined track through the city for tourists to follow, and at every attraction, there was a number on the floor (corresponding to the map) and an information board in Polish, German and English.

one of the stained-glass windows in one of the like, 8 churches

I was walking for at least an hour before I realised I was starving, so chose a restaurant advertising 'polskie smaki', and ordered spinach pancakes and a homemade apple pie, that had apparently been freshly baked in some woman's house. The apple pie was curious, as it was cold, and with the first spoonful I was sure that a crime against my British palette had been committed until I ate some more and decided it was bloody delicious. The restaurant was great, and the handsome (yes, handsome) waiter spoke excellent English. It was strange being in a place and not knowing the language, and I felt bad at first before sternly reminding myself that I could not learn every language on earth and that it was quite fun to feel like a real tourist. The only downside to this restaurant was their insistence on a George Michael playlist. All the usual, including some dodgy techno remix of Last Christmas.

My whole meal (meal, drink, dessert) came to 35 zloty= £6.93!!

Catherine the Great was born here!!

The trams were just adorable

I walked for another hour or so, before I decided I wanted a coffee so I left the tourist trail and headed roughly back to the centre. I found a huge shopping centre and got a coffee at a kiosk. All was well until I greedily decided I wanted chocolate sprinkles. The lid fell off and chocolate went EVERYWHERE. I cleaned up as best I could, apologising profusely, laughing nervously and, with half the container of chocolate in my coffee, got the hell outta there.

It was then I remembered that I'd missed the Pioneer Cinema, the oldest working cinema in the world, so with the help of the map and my nose, I walked back and found it. Though I did ask a woman if I was definitely going the right way, to which she looked at my map, looked at me for what felt like a whole minute before giving a very firm nod. Okay then.

I'd only seen one tourist shop and that was by the train station, so I headed back there for the sake of my mother's magnet collection and took the other fork of the tourist trail. This trail led me to the town hall, the river, the Pomeranian Dukes' castle and some excellent graffiti.

I'm still laughing at this

It was getting dark so I walked back to where I'd spied some nice looking restaurants. I was quite happy with my choice, deciding on Ghoulasch soup with 'wild sausage' and definitely avoiding the soup with 'two species of fish'. It was, however, a little unnerving when the waiter looked me in the eyes and said 'You need to undress' and holding out his hands. Of course, he just wanted to take my coat etc but still.

Candlelit supper (soup, beer and dessert) for £6.54

There were two English blokes on the table opposite me, who smirked when I tried to order a dessert and the waiter went off to the kitchen looking very confused. They said' Good luck' to me and although it was light-hearted, it did annoy me slightly. The usual attitude you know? They didn't speak a word of Polish but it's okay to mock the Polish waiter with a limited but good knowledge of English? Anyway.

It was pretty much hometime by then, so I headed back to the station, had a coffee and hopped back on the train to Berlin. 

Chenquieh, Poland, for a nice day. With the amount of zlotys I have left, I'm sure I'll be back!

Only photo I took of myself, are you surprised?