Today was a bit more subdued than yesterday. It started off relatively the same. I found my little nook in the lobby of the hotel to do blogging.
Then I went to breakfast. I know you probably think I'm obsessing a little over breakfast, but I am telling you this is the breakfast oasis of my dreams. I had to take pictures to share. This first one is the left side of the breakfast buffet (notice the chef - he's cooking up fresh pancakes, omelettes and crepes). There are numerous cereals, oatmeals, fruit, yogurt and toppings. At the end are the hash browns, bread puddings (yes, there are multiple kinds), eggs and other warm dishes.
Here is the right side of the buffet, where you have more traditional pastries, assorted fresh fish and meats and salads, roasted tomatoes, potatoes and other pickled vegetables. Plus all those heated containers at the far end that I have not even explored yet!!
Had Norwegian salmon for breakfast today!
The dining room with my colleagues enjoying being up early after last night. :)
The harp player - see I did not make this up!
And freshly squeezed carrot juice. However you "squeeze" carrots, I have no idea but it was tasty!
Another long day in the office but I'm starting to get a feel for how this company works and the people here are fantastic. I will have to take more pictures of them. Here is a snapshot of the office and of the owner's car (a Mustang Shelby 500) which i got to ride in yesterday when he took us to lunch. He is a racer so he drove with the pedal to the metal the whole way around town, like most other Polish people I've met. I don't even want to know how fast we were going.
Also, we were joined by our colleagues from InstiCom - a European PR agency that we work with. Hans and Antoine are fantastic and joined us for the rest of the day and evening activities. It's so great when you can meet people you've been working with for 2 years but never met face to face! They are from Belgium, so of course they are very stylish.
Went to the central mall called Arkadia for lunch. Had a traditional Polish buffet meal that I didn't get pics of, but was of course amazing. Tried the apple pie pastry for dessert which is my new favorite!
After work, we went exploring in the other local mall by our hotel. It was huge and four stories high and very beautiful. Lots of great European fashion stores to look around and admire. I started to notice a trend in the Polish styles that I was seeing (beyond just the tight jeans). They are for the most part very European dressers and it was very difficult to find any stores that would be considered "Polish fashion".
You see a lot of half shaved heads, dyed hair (blue is the favorite I'm seeing), 80's grunge fashion combined with warm cozy knit scarves, sweaters and other fun layers. And really tall boots! Hard to describe, but more what I would have expected to see in London. i think Poland is very in tune with their European counterparts.
Pull and Bear is a great store that I think embodies the extent of fashion I was seeing.
Apparently it's a running joke that Polish young people have a new hair style every few weeks. Hence the crazy assymentrical works of art that I was seeing. Gotta keep it fresh!
After shopping, we took a stroll over to a nearby restaurant called Na ZielNej - a classy Polish restaurant where there were all kinds of crazy things on the menu: venison, wild boar, guinea fowl, and bison to name a few.
Very cool ambiance - exposed brick walls with velvet curtains and funky lights. We had the place to ourselves the whole time. Probably because we were eating dinner at 9:30 again. :)
Here's a sampling of what we tried (sorry for the poor quality photos!):
Pumpkin cream soup with lime foam
Guinea fowl over a layering of thinly sliced potatoes and gravy (kind of layered like lasanga), and assorted roasted veggies. Soooooo good.
Shared several desserts: This one is a pistachio cream with raspberry sauce.
Some undescribable version of apple pie in a bowl with brown sugar and cream and a side of raspberry white cream sauce that you were supposed to suck out with a straw and pass around. Ummm.... But it was incredibly tasty!
Blueberry Dizziness - blueberry ice cream with chocolate cake and caramel and blackberries
Chocolate cheesecake with cranberries and mocha ice cream
Ok, so clearly I'm eating well here. :) Was going to hit the gym but decided to get some sleep instead. Tomorrow is going to be another long day and night.
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