Poland in a day

Tuesday, Mar 17: We drove towards Poland, stopping at a truly terrible roadside restroom - it was a small bare room with a hole in the floor. No door to close or seat to sit on, and of course no paper. But by then we knew to bring little packs of kleenex with us everywhere.

We passed an old airplane which had been converted into a bar, then crossed into Poland where there were long, curvy roads and snow. In the first Polish town we came to, we exchanged $100 for 1,300,000 zlotys. I was driving at that point, and I accidentally drove on the sidewalk, trying to get back to the highway. But we made it out OK, and went to a larger town called Wroclaw to look around and shop. They run some old street cars in town. I'm not sure if these are supposed to be historic, or if they are the latest technology here...

I later learned this big yellow building belongs to an insurance company. I wish we could have seen the sign in the dark - it has a little neon burgler sneaking up from the right.

 We passed the Renoma Shopping Mall, which could use some work. 

In one store I admired the local round fur hats, but couldn't imagine a time or place to wear them. Like Hawaiian leis, they don't translate well to the Midwest. I did buy a couple of rings and Randy bought a watch. We felt comfortable walking around, but couldn't find much to do!

We bought a map and used it to find a "big" store, 3 stories high. In the store's downstairs, there was more aisle space than products. We walked through the whole thing; there were several meat departments, plus clothing and utensils. Lunch was a not-so-good Polish sausage and a hard roll. They had unisex bathrooms. We learned we were not allowed to take zlotys out of the country, nor could we convert them into any other currency. So we had to spend them! We bought a crystal bowl, a coffee mill and a big backpack.

On the drive back, we passed two enormous draft horses pulling a wagon on the road.

Back in Prague, we had dinner at the same restaurant as the previous night.