The Leaning Tower of Torun

Try standing with your feet
against the wall...

Tonight I went for a meal in Torun's  Krzywa Wieża, aka, the leaning tower.  It was built towards the beginning of the 14th century making up part of Torun's defensive castle wall, but it started to lean soon after it was built because of the lack of stability in the ground.  But it's a great feature and it's now home to a really nice restaurant; thankfully tonight it seemed stable enough. 

Inside the restaurant

It's strange being inside as the floor is straight but the walls around them are all slanted and walking around felt almost like everything was moving, or maybe that was the wine?  Tonight I had a very traditional 'Torun goulash in gingerbread sauce', it was sweet and therefore strange but really tasty.  Would recommend. 

How old?

I recently learnt that when you ask a Polish person how old they are they will tell you the age that they will turn this year, rather than their age based on their birthday.  For me that's pretty strange, as it means every Pole gets a year older on the 1st of Jan every year and the day and month they were born doesn't factor.

I'm still clinging on to the fact that I am 25 for a few more months, but every Pole with my birthday is already 26.  We translate the Polish 'ile masz lat?' to 'how old are you?', but I guess the literal 'how many years do you have?' is actually more appropriate.  Weird how we do such things differently!

Spring has sprung

The last few days have been absolutely beautiful.  The sun is shining, the grass is slowly returning to a nice green colour and I have officially retired my winter coat - it was 15 degrees yesterday, the old town was really busy and so it seemed were the ice cream parlours.  I really enjoyed winter but I'm also very excited to see that spring is in the air.  I'm looking forward to the nights getting longer so I can enjoy a bit more of Torun after working hours.

Ive heard that you know it's spring in Poland when you keep stepping in dog poo; people don't pick it up and as the snow melts it gets all over the pavements.  Hopefully because we had the long thaw in January and very little snow since it won't be too bad this year, I don't want to make a mess of my new boots!  It's also known for being particularly beautiful and rapid, it isn't a gradual transition from winter to spring, the flowers and trees literally burst with colour overnight.  Spring is literally a breath of fresh air, I love it.

Sępólno Krajeńskie

I've spent the weekend visiting a friend in Sępólno Krajeńskie, a tiny little town with only 9000 people a few hours away from Torun.  A lot of Poles live in little villages like this one, although I was told it isn't a village, it's a small town - it's so small that it only takes 20 minutes to walk around the whole place.  Outside of the big cities Poland is really quite sparse, full of forests and fields with sporadic collections of colourful houses along the roadside.

In Sępólno I was surprised to see that the lake was still frozen solid in mid-March; the residents took advantage by fishing, dog walking and even cycling on it.  I've heard of a man walking on water before but cycling?

Dominika's family were lovely and they made me feel very welcome in their home.  Polish hospitality is truly second to none.  It was great for me to see a Polish family at home and enjoy some home cooked food, which was all fantastic; we had a full continental spread for both breakfast and supper as well as cooked food and cakes too.  I get the impression that family meal times are very important and I think Polish women in general are excellent cooks; it seems to be something they do often and take pride in.  I don't know if Polish men cook at all, it definitely seems to be the woman's job but a wise choice going by the food.  A big thanks to Dominika and her parents for letting me stay, I hope to see you again soon.

Ladies Day :)

Happy Ladies Day to all the ladies of Poland!  Today us girls had a lovely surprise at work.  We were called in for a very suspicious meeting in the office and left wondering what we had done wrong until Romek, our boss, and all the men at work presented us with a huge cake and a round of applause.  It was really unexpected and a lovely gesture, great for staff morale.  The cake was a very rich chocolate and cherry cake, of course I felt sick after a slice but still managed to sneak a bit more a few hours later.

I nipped into the Old Town before classes and saw so many people with flowers and gifts, the Poles really go all out for their ladies!  It's nice to be appreciated.

There are so many holidays in Poland it's difficult to keep up with them all, but I did remember that today was Shrove Tuesday, and therefore pancake day in England.  Unfortunately my pancakes were a disaster, I'll have to stick to Polish cuisine in future.

Tłusty czwartek

An excellent day here in Poland, on 'greasy Thursday' the Poles eat doughnuts from breakfast until supper. Tłusty czwartek marks the end of the carnival period in Poland. Next Thursday will fall into Lent, which is traditionally a far more solemn and sombre time in which Poles remember (as do many people all over the world) Jesus' suffering for 40 days and 40 nights.

I only ate 2 doughnuts today, a pitiful show. One of the lads in my class had already had 10+ by 5pm and he didn't intend to stop there. I think I prefer the English tradition of pancake Tuesday before Lent begins, but I guess everyday is pancake day in Poland.