Day 10 - Poznan

Ania, the wife of our cousin Piotr, and her 4 (almost 5) month old Czeslaw, arrived at our hotel at 10:30 am and we didn't return until 6 pm. It was a wonderful day do walking up and down the streets of Poznan, visiting several small museums and immense churches, many monuments, a few squares, and one very large park. 

We saw:

- the university building where Piotr teaches law

- the philharmonic and the music school

- a theater built by Polish residents for themselves when the area was German

- the opera house

- the palace of Kaiser Wilhelm II which today houses a cultural center

- St. Francis church (Ania's favorite)

- the magnificent town hall and the historical museum of Poznan inside

- St. Stanislaw Church, commonly known as Fara, the parish church of Poznan

- a former Catholic Church now used by Greek Catholics

- St. Wojciecha, the oldest church in Poland and reported to be where St. Wojciech (Adalbert) first brought the Catholic faith to Poland

- the Church of the Carmelites

- Adam Miczkiewicz monument

- Plac Wolnisci

- Monument to the victims of Katyn

- Monument to the June 1956 uprising

- a musical instruments museum, although unusual it was very interesting

- the Bamber girl statue

- the remnants of the Poznan defense walls

- Makiety Poznan (Model of Poznan) , a narrated diorama of the history of Poznan

- the Citadel Park, including the Polish, British and Russian cemeteries, the Army Museum, and Abakanowicz sculpture of headless people (very much like the one in Chicago but larger), and the Peace Bell

I've probably left out a monument or church from our whirlwind tour.  We had a lovely lunch of pumpkin soup and pierogi in the garden area of a restaurant on a side street that I couldn't find again if my life depended on it. We were so "walked-out" that we had dinner in the hotel restaurant. But we decided to try the traditional duck of Wielkopolska, a Polish dish we haven't had yet on our travels in Poland. 

Our hotel room is supposed to have WiFi, but it hasn't worked since we've been here. Fortunately, it does work in the restaurants so we can catch up during breakfast. When the hotel couldn't get it working, they gave us a complimentary bottle of wine.