The Polish Adventure Has Begun

We arrived in Poland yesterday morning after a 9 1/2 hour flight.  There are twelve people in our party, all cousins and all Polish!  Even though our plane was a Boeing 767, which is like an old DC10, the seats were unbelievable close.  Dan and I had to sit a little sideways because our legs didn't fit.  You can imagine how great we felt at the end of the flight. 

At the airport, we were met by a van and taken to our hotel.  We all checked in and then, even though it was 10:30 am in Warsaw and 3:30am in Minnesota, we decided that it was 5pm somewhere and everyone headed to the bar for some Polish beer.  I must confess that I couldn't bring myself to join in, so I ordered lasagna!  I was starving and they did not serve breakfast. 

We all slept in the afternoon and our tour officially began last night at 6pm with a dinner.  While we were on the bus driving to the restaurant, our guide was going over the usual housekeeping details.  She asked if anyone on the tour had any "conditions", like food allergies, diabetes or vegetarianism.  So, we have been officially diagnosed! 

We had dinner at a very quaint, rustic little restaurant last night.  Meals in Poland consist of three courses, soup, a main dish and a dessert.  In between courses, we were entertained by two young couples who performed Polish folk dances and music,  It was all very charming.

For our first course, everyone else had chicken soup and we had borscht soup which I found out is beet soup.  It was not bad, except it had the biggest kidney beans in it that I have ever seen.  They reminded me of a delicacies that Andrew Zimmerman was eating on one of his shows.  He was scrounging inside rotted tree trunks for giant beetles that he and his host family fried  and ate.  These beans looked just like those beetles.  I have to admit that I might have been a little freaked out about those beans, but my mom would have been proud of me, because I just ate them and tried not to think about the beetles.

I think that food might prove to be an adventure in itself, especially when one has the condition of vegetarianism!  more on that later.

Comments

[Tracy]

I wonder if that condition is contagious?? That is too funny. Sounds like you are having a blast so far!

[Jobin Hume]

I had borscht in Russia and I had been dreading it, but finally had to partake out of politeness. It was great! Turns out, it is made with about 25% beets and 75% cream. No beans in Novosibirsk, so who knows what else is different

Can't wait to read more!