Gophers in Warsaw

Our hosts left us a key to their apartment so that we wouldn't have to leave at 0745 when they did and could take it easier in the morning. That was very generous and trusting of them, and even though we woke up about when they left, we showered in the morning and lazed around almost until 1000 with their cat, Garfield. He is the friendliest cat, and very cuddly. He climbed up on me and woke us up by jumping on the bed and meowing at us. The bed was kind of hard and the blanket was thick but someone stole it: we both woke up with sore throats and stuffy noses. Leia plans ahead and brought throat lozenges. I only brought three packets of tissues and burned through them all the first day.

First we went to exchange some euros for zloty at a place our host recommended to us, which is located in the middle of a strip of sex shops. We peeked into one but there was nothing too interesting, except a weird smell. Across the street we spied a Bao shop: if you don't remember bao are a big puffy style of dim sum. We craved breakfast and waited until 1100 for them to open. The menu was all in Polish, with pictures showing the cross-section of the bao, but it may as well have been Chinese. They were described as "Chiniski Pierogi." The girl there didn't speak English, Russian, or German but recommended the chicken bao, and we got her to tell us which one was pork, so we shared a dish of small bao, 4 of either kind. A nice touch is that they steam vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots) in with the dim sum as separators. Leia had a ginger tea that was literally just powdered ginger. I didn't order tea but the waitress brought me good loose-leaf Jasmine tea free, so I tipped more than enough to cover it.

We tried to find the tourist information that's located in a tall Soviet-built building near the center of town. The central station is built under a huge intersection (the new main streets are many lanes wide) with no way to cross it above-ground, so while we could see the building, we had to cross the street through the station. Each time we crossed a street and poked our heads up above ground to orient ourselves, so by the third time we felt like gophers. The tourist information was harder to find in that building than it maybe should have been. We got another map and took a bus to the old town. Even though it's the "old town", it's really rebuilt from the '50s or so after Warsaw was flattened, with many of the buildings rebuilt in an old style. That was being decorated for Christmas and we had a pleasant stroll through those neighborhoods until meeting our friend Kasia at her university. She showed us around there, including the impressive library. They have a rooftop garden, but it was closed for the winter. any of those university buildings are in the popular neo-classical style, and she complained that the rich law faculty always get the nicest buildings.

Kasia took us to her parents' place for pierogi, tea, and delicious homemade muffins. We enjoyed the pierogi even though they are not like what I would normally eat; mashed potatos and cheese, or sauerkraut, onions, and mushrooms. Having worked at a tea shop she is a real tea gourmand, and let us try some black teas with chocolate or caramel that tasted like candy. She also bought Leia a mug and some tea for her birthday. She baked chocolate muffins and apple-cinnamon muffins with a "Christmas spice blend" (I believe cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and/or allspice.) After stuffing us Kasia took us for a walk around her neighborhood and told us all about Warsaw, then the two girls chatted about girl things that didn't interest me.

We had reservations for 1900 to a bar that was the highlight of our day. It was crowded even then so we only had our table near the door, and the girls gave dirty looks and stern words to anyone who left it open too long. They have a selection of a dozen beers, which they change every couple of weeks so there is always something new to try, and they offer a tasting tray of four small cups of the four beers you choose. Kasia was impressed with my knowledge as a beer gourmand. My hit was a Lambic Gueuze, a light, bubbly, fruity beer made by blending and refermenting young and aged Belgian beers fermented with wild yeast. Leia and I ordered another 1/2 liter of that when we finished our tasters. Besides that we had a Pacific Pale Ale that was also surprisingly light and peachy-flavored, a strong Belgian abbey ale reminiscent of Maredsous, and a dark lager that's a fair representation of the style (which I don't particularly like.) I noticed some nice whiskies were represented as well: this place had Caol Ila, and the Japanese restaurant we went to in Berlin had my longtime favorite Laphroig Quarter Cask.

One of our hosts was in bed and the other was in the shower when we returned, but he talked to us for a little while before going to bed too. They seem like very nice and interesting people, I bet we'd find we had a lot in common if I got to talk to him more. Their Garfield sat on my lap the whole time.