Wow, what an exceptionally comfortable bed! I’m surprised to find out it is actually memory foam. My memory of memory foam (from 15 years go or so!) is that you sink into it and can hardly move and it bakes you alive all night. They have definitely come a long way.
It’s another sunny and warm day here in Poznan. So after 22000 steps yesterday, a blister, and a complaining achy body, we decide to take another walk, hahaha! We have a bit of an issue charging our phones as the European adapter that we have doesn’t fit the plug sockets here as they have a strange little metal spike sticking out. So we are charging using a USB from the television which seems to take all eternity. So we leave my phone plugged in to the TV and pop out for a walk nearby and to get some snacks for an hour to wait to charge up. We had an interesting trip to Aldi. There was a little old woman shopping who took great offence to our presence. Glaring at us as soon as she heard us speaking English and standing in the way on purpose. Everyone else that we met here has been really lovely and it was quite an amusing experience and not really a problem. We picked up some fresh bread, some soft cheese, and a beetroot salad, plus some bananas. Next, we went on the hunt of the famous croissants that they do here. we took them back to the apartment and give them a solid 6 out of 10. To me, they didn’t taste like the freshest so perhaps they gave us ones from the day before. They had a pistachio/nutty kind of filling similar to some pastries we often have in Baden called schneke (snail) pastries.
We took an hour walk to Malta Lake, and could hear a cuckoo! I couldn’t see it but then again, I’m actually not sure what they look like! We spent a while trying to find an open lavatory, eventually finding one in an ‘adrenaline’ ride complex. The ride was a bit like a rollercoaster but it seemed to be mainly self-propelled, winching the unsuspecting victim up to the top, and then allowing gravity to whiz the little cart around some tracks and each cart had its own breaks! We also saw a track that was next to it that looked like the skeleton, where you go ahead first, but we didn’t see anyone stupid enough to do that one. After, we found some steps to park up on, and sat and had our lunch of some fresh bread rolls, chive cream cheese and the beetroot salad. Leon seemed to manage to get this all over himself and the steps. Then we walked all the way back! We stopped at a café halfway back to relieve my feet, and grabbed a juice/coffee, but it was so unbearably hot in there we couldn’t stay for too long. Had to choose between the devil and the deep blue sea. About halfway we came across the tram stops but it was 25 minutes to do the remaining walk or 15 minutes to go by tram and 10 of that was walking. The trams were really packed so we chose to just suck it up and walk.
When we got back, I needed to raise my legs up again as they had decided to swell a bit, and Leon went back to Malta Lake where the thermal spas and sauna was located, while I rested up for a few hours. He took the tram though. Leon tells me that the sauna was extremely hot and very dark. To the point that you could only see people when you were literally upon them, which is a bit awkward when you were naked. Also, Leon noticed a rather wonderful fashion item in the sauna of a strange gnome shaped hat made out of wool. He looked it up afterwards and apparently it helps regulate your temperature despite looking extremely daft.
He made it back to the apartment without the aid of satnav as his phone had died. We went to an extremely local restaurant called Wok up. We had a very quiet and nervous waiter, but very sweet. He brought us the English menus but because Leon has a German flag on his phone case, he thought that he might be able to talk to us in German. He was more confident speaking German as he had lived there for three years. I had some Vietnamese fried chicken with a very light batter and proper juicy chicken breast inside. And oh my gosh, how much chicken?!! I could manage about 3 pieces, I gave 3 to Leon and we brought 4 back to the apartment in the cutest and most efficient takeaway box I have ever seen. So for two Vietnamese iced coffees, a fresh Vietnamese coconut water, 2 spring roll starters, and two huge mains… £26!! Amazing! We were both stuffed so had a little bit of a walk around to ease the digestion. And then we went in search of the local cherry brandy that we have heard is delicious. The bars nearest didn’t seem to have it so we went into a 6-23 store, and purchased a tiny bottle 90ml and it was about the equivalent of £2. I would say it tastes a bit like a cherry halls soother. 12000 steps today, that’s a bit more reasonable.
