One... two... three days in Poznan!

One February weekend, when the snow was about to start melting on the streets, I went to visit my cousins - Ela and Ula - in Poznan.

Not many things have changed since we've seen each other during Christmas but entirely new were 2 board games that Ela bought few days before I got there. The 1st one - Power Grid - was the game which I already knew from the board games night in Porto and which I liked and kept on talking about so much that Ela didn't hesitate while ordering it. As Ela's set contained 4 different boards/maps, we've tried them all - Benelux, USA, Germany and Central Europe. I'm still looking forward to play on different maps that were published, such as Iberian Peninsula, Brazil, Nordic Countries or Italy.

Meanwhile, we also had to eat something so we did shopping in a nearby shop where we found something that totally surprised me - pasteis de nata - my favourite portuguese pastry!

The process of baking them is extremely simple (actually the Polish translation on the box says that the proper temperature is 275*C, while in English, German and Portuguese it says 250*C haha), the price is similar to those in Portuguese bakeries and what is the most important, they are as tasty as they should be!

If you were following my blog carefully during the last year, you should already know where the best Pasteis de Nata are being served - in Belem, close to Lisbon.

The 2nd board game was The Fury of Dracula - 2 players were vampire hunters trying to catch the 3rd player - Dracula, who was hiding and running away from them around Europe. At first the rules were very confusing for me. After Ela and Ula were Draculas in each game, it was my turn and we started kidding that probably I will ask them where should I hide my Dracula from them. It turned out that I was much better as the Dracula than I expected and I'm looking forward to play it again, even though I didn't like the game at the beginning.

How to make it YZY not ZYZ?

Does it sometimes happen to you that somehow instead of "yzyzyz", which you are typing,
the thing that is coming out is opposite - "zyzyzy"? And that's also one of those times, when you're getting totally mad, while you are trying to ":)" you aren't able to do so coz you get this "Ł=" .

Here is the cure (which is exactly the same as the source) for this terrible disease:
press CTRL +SHIFT once in the same time

Yzy, isn't it? ;)

P.S. I'm sure that this tip is useful for the users of Windows XP in Polish. No idea about the rest ;)

Fat Thursday

If I were to choose the sweetest Polish tradition, it would be today's holiday - the Fat Thursday (Tłusty Czwartek). In Christian tradition, the Fat Thursday is the last chance to eat as much as possible before the 40day lent followed by Easter holidays. On the last Thursday of Carnival, each Pole has to eat at least one pączek, which is a kind of a donut with random fillings. The most classical one has rose jelly filling inside and is being covered with sweet glaze sprinkled with pieces of dried orange.
This time I had 2 pączki - regular one with jelly rose filling and the other one with advocat and powdered sugar on the top.

1 pączek (pon-check)

2 pączki (ponch-ki)

The best place to try pączki in Warsaw is "Cukiernia Pawłowicz " at 13 Chmielna street, where they serve them fresh and still hot!
Can you imagine something better than such a sweet donut covered in a paper bag warming up your hands and mouth when it's snowing all around you? I don't think so!

Wetlina - to hike or not to hike?

This year, was the first time I've ever made all the long way to the Bieszczady in winter time.
The main reason of this trip was collecting some sources for my master thesis. Somehow I also wanted to take at least one nice hike. Choosing the hiking route was simple, I've picked probably the least risky one - Polonina Wetlinska, where I could stop for a while in the only mountain shelter in the Bieszczady located in the higher mountain parts - Chatka Puchatka (the Pooh's Hut).

Obviously, before starting the hike I didn't forget to call the Bieszczady Mountain Rescue Volunteers (tel. +48 603-449-516) to ask about the weather conditions. The snow layer wasn't very thick and it wasn't windy at all, what made the hike even better. Luckily, there were 4 guys clearing the trail in front of me, so I didn't need to worry too much about falling into some hidden cave.
As the air was very transparent, due to the inversion, the Tatra mountains located over 200 km away were visible (look at top left in the pic below)!

The hike started at 9:30 from Przełęcz Wyżne and ended at 16:00 in Chata Wędrowca (the Wanderer's Hut) - the best place to eat in Wetlina.

It's important to mention that access to the Bieszczady, especially to Wetlina, is really bad in winter. If not some friendly local people I wouldn't have a chance to get to the starting point of the trail. Last but not least, I did all the hike with my Mum who keeps on saying "It was my last hike!" after every hike we do.

The Polonina Wetlinska view from the Wetlina village.