Duncan headed off to Poland this Christmas to spend 3 weeks visiting with his friend Veronika. He told me I could post his photos for anyone who wants to follow the adventure. So.... let me start with our selfies at the airport as he is leaving.
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| My photo of us... |
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| Duncan's photos of us. |
So... while Duncan has been something of a world traveller, it has usually involved travelling with others. Not this time. Footloose and fancy free!
Duncan did have plans to also grab a few small bottles of maple syrup at the airport to take with him. It was an adventure trying to get those bottles through Canadian, then American, then British, then Polish border control.
He sent us an audio track telling us what happened. I can't figure out how to drop it into this space, so here is a screenshot of the audio transcript (AIgenerated, warts and all)!
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| Flying into Warsaw |
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Duncan's friend Veronika
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And so Duncan arrived in time for the decorating of the tree (and we all know that Duncan is a Christmas-superfan!)
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| before... |
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| ...and after! |
And then there was time to wander off to a Christmas Fair
And of course, there had to be pizza. Dominoes in Poland?
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| Same Dominos, different menu? |
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| ah thge warm rosy glow of pizza |
I am not sure, but think maybe Veronika is working at the Barbican? And is Duncan being the delivery person?Duncan closed their report on the first night saying: "Many nuts, apple kompot is on the itinerary today and then we are off to the grandparents."
The next day involved a trip to grandmother's house (yes, feel free to start singing from Into the Woods if you wish!). Duncan's text stream said, "Travel to the grandma's house today. And what a greeting it was. Trainrides, gingerbread, and a night of cooking and song. I cannot fathom complaining!"
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huh? is that a bear in the distance?!
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He continued, "Candied orange, whisky raisins, apple compote, soaked poppy seeds with milk, and a ton of things I could not begin to name.
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| the amazing gingerbread |
Duncan was truly in heaven. Their text summarized it: "I got to make some perogies!" This is truly a grandmother of the gods (as we all know that perogies are Duncan's favourite meal in the world)
With the next batch of photos, Duncan said: "We all preparing for the Christmas eve dinner and it is kinda scary hahaha. Amazing though."
"Amazing night thus far, and I see it getting even more intense! Though language barriers are tough, people are very patient with me so i am having a great time!
Duncan's texts continued:
"People are still eating and bringing out new dishes, it's after 12 hahah."
"I can't keep up, but there is cake at the end so....
"Side note, i just decided to eat everything so I have been enjoyig harren salad, mushroom borsh and perogies, I think it might be a matter of will, but my tastebuds might be dying who knows."
[editorial note: Duncan is well known for having a very narrow palate, ie. 'bun-burger-bun'. I used to tell him when he was young that, as he grew up, his tastebuds would start to die, and then a whole bunch of flavours would become more interesting to him lol]
"The ginger bread and apple compote are on a different level."
"For reference, this is the leftovers from a party of 12..... and now we start dessert?!"And thus ends the first report from Poland. As Duncan said it, "Hope you all have a good Christmas as well."
Come on.... come on now. I'll be reading this post seven or eight times. Maybe ate times. What sharing Duncan. What a wonderful photo record of a spectacular trip to poland. I'll have to wait for post 2 and 3 until I've fully digested this one. Wow.
ReplyDeletePart 2 and 3 will be on there way once I have time to sit and talk. Breaking down what happened each day will take some effort. Haha.
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