Poznan Archives • Folksy Travel by Bill Smale

February 27, 2026February 27, 2026

Germany to Poznan

In December I started my trip from Cologne Germany where I had tickets to see Rod Stewart and continued on east through Poland and then up through the Baltic states. Here are just a few memories.

Good pizza Germany to Poznan — The pizza was pretty good. You can tell it’s salami on cheese

Subway station Germany to Poznan — A beautiful subway station

Kaiser Wilhelm Tower Germany to Poznan — Kaiser Wilhelm Tower in Cologne

Good health Bill Smale — It’s nice to see they’re doing something about GESUNDHEIT

Circus ad Bill Smale — It looks like advertising for a circus which I did not go see

Saint Andrews Cathedral Bill Smale — A stained glass window in Saint Andrews Cathedral cologne

Baby bike Bill Smale — Wow! €5000 for a baby transporter bike

Poke — The Hawaiians are taking over the world with poke

Rod Stewart concert — I wore my Scotland hat from the euro cup to the Rod Stewart concert. This hat was given to me by a fellow I met in Scotland at a bar.

Rod Stewart — And he still had a lot of energy

Forever young — Yes, forever young

Dinner — This was a lot of food.

Celtic symbol — At the cathedral this door has panels, the second ones from the top, which are very similar to the Japanese simple in a Shinto temple and also an old Celtic symbol in Ireland

Beautiful Art — Nice to have this kind of art on the side of a gray building in Frankfurt (oder). This is the other Frankfurt on the border with Poland.

Spain pilgrimage path — This is a pilgrimage path that leads into Spain

Markers of people — These you see very often in Germany and Poland where people were taken and never came back during the second world war

Ukrainian food specialties — In a restaurant in Poland, a map showing the different specialties of Ukrainian food and where they are located

Famous person marker — In Poznan the marker for a famous person

Downtown Poznan — In the city Of Poznan

Lecturing kids — Giving a lecture concerning history to kids at a famous statue

Melting ice festival — They had a nice festival but it melted

Street Art — This doesn’t require explanation

December 19, 2025December 19, 2025

Poznan, Poland in winter

Poznan in winter is still a small town. But it’s almost halfway from the German border to Warsaw so it seemed like a good place to stop over for a few days, see how the trains work and cut the trip to Warsaw in half.

Good food Poznan in winter — This was a very delicious pork with potatoes and sauerkraut with cheese on top and a few tomatoes

Ukrainian food Poznan in winter — This was in a Ukrainian restaurant and that shows the different specialties in different parts of Ukraine

Japanese pronunciation Poznan in winter — “Recycling“ in Polish looks like the same pronunciation as Japaneseリサイクリング

Street decoration Poznan in winter — Just some decorations to light up the street

Poké bowl — Hawaiian Poké bowl is now universal but it’s not really poke. It’s kind of like somebody from Vietnam trying to create Japanese food. In Europe Poké bowl seems to be anything that’s in a bowl and on top of rice.

Old car — It’s nice to see this old Citro end

Sculpture — Sculpture in the main park

Tower of peace — The tower of peace in the park

Peace — Declaring Poland as a peaceful country

Old buildings — Beautiful older buildings

Main cathedral — The main cathedral is absolutely beautiful inside

Ballet school entrance — The entranceway to a ballet school

Ice festival — Time for the ice festival but this year it’s very warm and so the ice is melting

Ice sculpture — Ice sculpture sponsored by a Canadian and a Spaniard

Art deco — It was interesting to see some art deco architecture

Music entertainment — This was a little music entertainment for the kids