Poland

Czesc from Poland!

We woke up early in Berlin and headed towards the border of Poland, about a 2 hour drive. We cruised along, thoroughly enjoying driving in Germany. I can’t remember the last time I said I actually enjoyed driving.

We were a little nervous about crossing the border into a new country since we’ve only entered new countries via planes, trains, and boats. I had all of our identification and car paperwork ready to go. We were driving down two lane streets in the middle of nowhere for what seemed like forever. Everything is so green here. California is a pretty brown place, so I am thoroughly enjoying seeing some color.

Our GPS said the border was coming up any second now. In the middle of nowhere? We drove right by the sign that said “Poland” without even noticing it. I had no idea you could just drive into another country. No border patrol, not even a security guard. Just a tiny little sign that said “Republik Polan”. That was it. The end. I’m not sure why this got us so jazzed. I thought for sure we would have to answer a million questions about why we were trying to enter the country, but no! Smooth sailing. We were so excited to continue on this trip! 

The Motherland

We initially decided to drive out of our way into Poland so I could say I’ve been to my “mother land”. My grandpa was a transplant from Poland. My grandma would make him some traditional Polish dishes, like duck blood soup. Yuck. But mostly there were Polish sweets around the house. Paczki (basically powdered jelly donuts) and polish Chrusciki (a thin fried dough covered in powdered sugar) were regularly available in the Marks’ household. The Polish apparently love their powdered sugar! The town I grew up in was made up of mostly Polish people. As I got older I realized everyone must be related somehow. Good thing I didn’t date anyone there.

Gas Station Eats in Poland

We drove about 45 min into Poland and stopped at a gas station to fill up, and ended up finding some really good food! We had been planning on finding an actual restaurant to eat some authentic Polish food, but when we stopped here and got out, the smell in the air was too good to pass us. In the back of the gas station was.. well, a little gas station restaurant. They had a good selection. Sandwiches made to order or pre-made, salads, different pasta dishes, pierogies, and these hot dogs, that instead of being served in a traditional bun, it was like it was sealed in a flatbread. They looked and smelled amazing! And they completely reinvented the hotdog for me. It was so much easier and cleaner to eat this way! 

After our meal in the beautiful countryside of Poland, we were ready to get on with our road trip. I wish we had more time here (I’m sensing a pattern here. I wonder how many more times I will say that?!). The few little towns we passed were so picturesque with big, old looking churches right in the middle. So dreamy. Also, I have noticed that the squirrels here look different. I assumed a squirrel is a squirrel. If you’ve seen one you’ve seen them all kind of deal. NOPE. The squirrels we saw were beautiful. Majestic little creatures. I will now be on the lookout for them everywhere we go!

We have one more country on our list before we have to head back into Germany, so let’s get on the road!