Poznan, Poland

Monday, October 15, 2012

We drove east this morning, headed back into Poland, and arriving in Poznan at noon.  Our apartment is right in the Old Town, on a pedestrian street just around the corner from the Stary Rynek, or market square.  I don’t know how we would have found it, or our designated parking lot, without our GPS.  As it has throughout this trip, it performed flawlessly finding each destination, and estimating our travel times accurately. 

We spent the afternoon walking through the Old Town, with its very pretty market square, home to the impressive town hall, the colorful  arcades of the fish sellers’ houses, and a beautiful array of decorated facades. 

 A short walk brought us to the Cathedral Island, the ecclesiastical district, bordered by two rivers.  Just a couple of doors down the street from our apartment is the parish church, originally founded by the Jesuits.  It’s over-the-top baroque interior could well be the definition of ornate.

Before I close for the day, I must write another paean to technology.  When we arrived in Poland two weeks ago, we switched out the SIM cards in our phones for inexpensive (about two dollars each!) cards for a Polish mobile network.  Thanks to them, we’ve been able to communicate via call and text with our landlords to arrange check-in times and procedures; we’ve also been tethered to each other, in case we became separated.  They even worked in Germany, which wasn’t supposed to happen – all in all, a great boon to smooth sailing.