Poznań gets the award for having one of the most charming old town squares I've seen in all of Poland. Stary Rynek is the old Main Market Square where the town hall and several other buildings stand. The Market Square is literally a big square, the outline of which is made up of quaint little pubs, cafes, and shops. Among the particularly well-known sights are the merchant houses, charming, colorful little houses dating from the 16th century which neighbor the town hall.
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| Market Square |
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| Especially charming in the snow |
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| The merchant houses |
I spent a night in Poznań and then explored the city for a day before heading back to Elblag. I walked around sightseeing until I felt numb from the cold and then popped into Poznań's art museum to sightsee inside where it was warm!
I was in Poznań on January 6th, Epiphany, which happens to be a national holiday in Poland. According to my Polish friends, the holiday is relatively new, only three or four years old, although it was actually brought back from before the Communist period. Many of the shops and restaurants were closed (so I resorted to McDonald's for lunch), but there seemed to be a lot going on in town for the holiday. A stage was set up in the town square for entertainment, and on all the corners around the old town, people were giving out little paper crowns. Everyone from little kids to grandmas and grandpas were wearing the paper crowns and walking about town, and I couldn't help smiling at how cute it was!
At noon, I gathered with a little crowd in the town square to see the fighting goats. As the clock in the town square strikes twelve, two little mechanical goats come out of the tower and butt heads. Why goats? Well according to a town legend, during a large banquet held at the town hall, the cook burnt the main course, a large roast deer which was to be the centerpiece of the meal. Nervous he would be fired if anyone found out, he attempted to replace the deer with two goats which he stole from a nearby meadow. But before he could cook them up, the goats escaped from him and ran up to the town hall's tower where they began fighting and butting heads, attracting the attention of all the townspeople and visiting dignitaries, who thought it great entertainment. Rather than being upset, the voivode pardoned the cook (and the goats) in appreciation for the amusement that they provided. Later, the goats were added to the town hall's clock tower, becoming a major symbol of the town.
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| The goats are still fighting several centuries later |
I left Poznań later that afternoon, barely catching my train thanks to some heavy snow that made it difficult to get to the train station. My boss was sweet enough to pick me up at the train station that evening, where she brought me to her house and served me dinner so I wouldn't have to worry about finding food with all the shops closed for the holiay. We talked for a bit, and I watched the end of one of the Star Wars prequels in Polish with her son, whom I tutor at the school. Then I got back to my apartment where I had just enough energy to unpack my clothes (and the boxes of Kraft macaroni I brought back from home) before going right to sleep!
