Number of tie wraps: 49 (holding steady)
Countdown: 7713 miles down, 872 to go
Yesterday afternoon and evening, we walked around the waterfront and the town center in Gdansk to view the architecture and check out the cuisine. About 90 percent of the buildings in Gdansk were destroyed during World War II, but most of them have been restored to their original condition.
Typical street scene in Gdansk (Eileen Bjorkman photo)
Before dinner, we took a whirlwind golf cart tour of the city and then tried some Goldwasser, a vodka liqueur which is made in Gdansk and contains flakes of 23 karat gold. Everyone agreed it was thicker than normal vodka and it went down much smoother. I thought swallowing gold flakes sounded a little weird, but we were all still alive this morning.
Goldwasser vodka liqueur (Eileen Bjorkman photo)
After the Goldwasser, we went to the Velevetka restaurant, where we had a tasty traditional Polish dinner, including Leo’s pig’s knuckle.
Pig’s knuckle, traditional Polish dish (Eileen Bjorkman photo)
Today we had a nice drive to Poznan on a combination of four-lane highways and back country roads, although even the back roads were in excellent shape. We were at our hotel in Poznan by 3 p.m., early enough to do some exploring. Poznan isn’t nearly as big a tourist attraction as Gdansk, but it still has beautiful architecture, tasty sidewalk cafes, and even surprises on the menu.
Street in the old town portion of Poznan (Eileen Bjorkman photo)
One of the many sidewalk cafes we saw in Poznan (Eileen Bjorkman photo)
Café window in Poznan (Eileen Bjorkman photo)
Bar food menu in Poznan — I think gzik and awanturka would be surprises, too! (Eileen Bjorkman photo)
Tomorrow we drive to Berlin, Germany, a distance of 281 km. We’ll be in Berlin on Monday for some exploration and then on to Hanover on Tuesday.
