Poland, NFL, and other stuff

Busy weekend. I went to a scenic little town in Poland called Poznan. It has an Old City center with a neat square and a really cool-looking town hall. I´ll try and post some pictures later. Poznan is about two and half to three hours by train from Berlin, and is perfect for a trip of a day or two. I have a crick(sp) in my neck and am getting slightly nauseous from a coworker prattling on and on in a thick British accent...normally I like the British accent, but something about this one is too sugary or something...a similar thing happens with the southern accent--really great up to a point, but when poured on too much, it can grate. But I digress. Where was I? Oh, yes, Poland. I rolled into town on Saturday, and had dinner in the Old City square at western steakhouse/disco called Sioux City. The food was ok, steak was tougher than a Waffle House steak though. The disco was packed, as was the entire square. Seemed like a good mix of locals and Polish and German tourists. On the train ride over, I sat next to a couple of Polish doctors who did not like the Polish healthcare system, mainly because it didn´t pay enough. That´s how I feel about the American journalism system. I´m kidding about that. I think most "journalists", even at meager wages, are probably overpaid. It seems like rich people never think they are rich. This is not just an American phenomenon. No matter who you are(Bill Gates notwithstanding), you can always look around and find someone with more than you. Hey, that´s life, brother. Might as well get used to it, and don´t let´s be bitter about it, especially when there are a lot of people with less than you that you could look at in an effort to feel better about your station in life. Anyway, Poland was neat, and on Sunday afternoon in the square there was a marching band, and singers, and handsome cabs lapping the square, and bored teens slowly pedaling bikes pulling plywood billboards for cell phone companies, and old women selling balloons to excited kids, and on Saturday night there were fire twirlers, and groups of teens and couples on dates, and tourists, etc. Very festive atmosphere. I´m reading a James Bond book now, and in Poland, I felt a little like Jason Bourne. It is fun to travel alone to a strange place, but I felt myself at first more on guard than normal. Pretty soon I grew more comfortable, and I was happy that I didn´t have to bring out the nunchuks. Another thing about the train--there´s nothing like the rythm of the rails to soothe and relax, esp. if you´re in a quiet car and the seat next to you and across from you is empty, so you can stretch out. Poland reminds me for some reason of the summer I spent helping my uncle restore an old Tuscan Villa. Which is weird, because Poland and Tuscany are nothing alike. Oh, those were good times. Bella Toscana! Anyway, I got back Sunday afternoon, and then it was time to go to the Ceili House, an Irish/English pub where they show NFL football. This was great because I was really happy to finally see some real football. The place is pretty cool, and they had free wings and ribs and chips, so that was cool. I met up with a couple of Burns peeps, and watched the Falcons beat the Panthers, and the Jaguars beat the Cowboys, and got to see the US Open final to boot, so it was a good time. I met this bloke from England who is a big 49ers fan, so much so that he has the dvd´s of the games sent to him in England. The only thing is I think he thought he knew more about football than I do. Now, that´s just silly. It seemed like he was trying to prove his knowledge by naming players and deconstructing the Cover 3, like he recently read ``Football For Dummies´´ or something. Nice guy, but a little cocky in his knowledge, like if I tried to tell him about English soccer. There were some nice folks there, but it was a little depressing because of some of the expats who have a kind of conceit about living abroad. Berlin is a very cool town, but I think some Americans move here because they can´t hack it in the States. Most of the people there were pretty cool, though. Anyway, the football was great to watch, even though my starting fantasy QB, Trent Green, got drilled and went out of the game. I´m down a point, but I have three players yet to play this week. I feel like I´m leaving out a lot, but I´ve gone on pretty long here and so will wrap it up. I´ll try to get some pics up tonight, and I´ll post again if I think of anything.