There is a small grocery just 270 meters around the corner from my apartment, and a mega market less than 850 meters beyond that. I have to come up with reasons to go out for nice long walks, which are not anywhere as compelling as being hungry. I know of a website that maps out several walking tours of the city. Rather than taking one of the tours in its entirety I have been walking back and forth to just one site at a time. Previously I walked to the Barbican and on another day to the mermaid statue. On the nineteenth I decided to walk down to the monument of Adam Mickiewicz, polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator, professor of Slavic literature, and political activist.
Along my way, I just enjoyed walking in the city. One of the memorial monuments I walked past was covered in spotted bugs busy making more spotted bugs.
Beyond the bugs, I really didn’t seem much to attract my camera, until I came to the statue.
The statue is fenced in by a wrought iron fence, to keep the tourist out. The fence wasn’t just a generic fence, but was worked in elaborate imagery of the many things that Adam Mickiewicz was famous for. (and some really cool sunflowers)
After snapping a few photos of the statue, I headed back to go grocery shopping at the huge supermarket near my place. As I wandered around the market buffeted by the crowds, I promised myself to check Google to find out what times of day are not so busy.
One of the things that I haven’t tried to do yet is to weigh produce. On my first shopping trip to the big market, I had taken some carrots up to the checkout only to find that you have weigh and price mark them yourself. I was a little embarrassed by that. Since them I have been lucky enough to find pre-weighed packets of produce.
With being overwhelmed by the crowds, I haven’t been brave enough to try buying the loose produce again. I have been watching other people doing it. You are to bag your produce, take it to a scale and weigh it. I am not sure quite what happens at this point. I think you have to key in the type of produce and the scale prints out the price sticker.
I will have to try to get a better view of what people are doing before trying it myself. I have noticed that in areas of the store that are less crowded, like the candy area, there are scales that are in less demand. That might be a good place for me to try it myself for the first time. It would be a good excuse to buy candy.
I thought I was going to have to brave the produce scales ahead of my schedule. I needed to purchase some cucumbers. I had onions and tomatoes at home, which needed to be used and I thought a cucumber salad would be nice. As I was looking around the produce section, I found a lone container with two cucumbers, which was price marked. It looked as if some one had weighed it up and changed their mind. It was just what I needed.
I got changed in american dollars again. Some day I am going to have to learn how to get them to charge me in złotys. I have been told that if they charge you in American Dollars it is a worse exchange rate than you get from your credit card company. Maybe when it is less crowded and the casheers are less hairried, I can ask one of them for help.
On my way out of the shopping mall where the market is located, I walked past a home goods store, and saw the light below. It reminded me of my friend in Honolulu, so I texted the photo to her as as soon as I got home.
Leave a Reply