Home Away from Home
All set to go to Berlin with friends, her husband tacks two days in Poznań on to the trip. Poznań? Poland, right? Yes, a city she's never been to, in a country she knows little about with a language she knows even less. He's going there for work, so she is going to be on her own for most of those two days. And she knows nobody. Sounds a little daunting, one might say. Intimidating, even.
She researches a bit. Finds out that it is a thriving commercial and university town with quite a bit of history. She also reads about a little coffee shop, getting buzz for its sophisticated coffee, excellent baked goods and innovative sandwiches. It is called Bigfoot Coffee. Bigfoot? As in Sasquatch, the mythical creature that roams the woods of the Northwestern US? Could this Bigfoot Coffee have a connection with Seattle, her home town? She resolves to find out.
The morning after their arrival, once the hotel buffet breakfast, with its so-so coffee is consumed and her husband has headed up the tower next door to work, she sets off for this Bigfoot place. After a few wrong turns and about a half-mile of extra steps, she finally finds it, down a quiet alley called Pasaz Apollo, merely a few blocks from her hotel.
There is a dark-haired man behind the counter, speaking Polish, helping customers ahead of her. Her turn arrives and he speaks,
"Cześć. Witaj, co chcesz?" or something similarly Polish and altogether unfamiliar to her.
"I am so sorry, I don't speak Polish..." She says, cursing herself for not having memorized a phrase or two.
"Oh, no problem," he says. "Where are you from?"
She tells him she is from the U.S., in town for husband's work, etc., and quickly gets to the burning question,
"So, Bigfoot, is that as in 'Sasquatch?' Are you from the Northwest?"
"I am from Seattle," he says.
"Me too!" she replies with a shout.
She ends up spending at at least a couple of hours there that day, learning the proprietor's story, meeting the regulars, drinking the excellent coffee, talking about his experiences opening the shop, adjusting to life in Poland, the shared Seattle of their youth (they are the same age) and how much it has changed since.
Suddenly she feels more at home in what had been a bit of an intimidating town. Off she goes to take a closer look.
She heads down in to the old town square, a beautifully restored town center filled with college kids from the several universities, and restaurants and bars and a neat old town hall with its famous clock tower, known for its two goats that butt heads at noon.
That night she tells her husband all about the coffee shop run by the guy from Seattle who knew all of the same hangouts and all of the same happenings of her youth. She tells him of the students she met at the coffee shop, who were thrilled to speak English with another native speaker, and ready to answer her questions about where they were from and what life was like in Poznań.
The next morning was a repeat - spending a few hours at Bigfoot Coffee Shop, Poznań, chatting, drinking coffee, making jokes, then heading out to explore more of the town. This time it was a trip to the Archcathedral Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul, one of the oldest churches in Poland and another well restored building. She buys sweets from the nuns. It is a lovely day for a walk.
Throughout her walking, she notices the street art, not unusual for a European city and nothing compared to Berlin, but pretty creative nonetheless. One piece of street art keeps re-appearing. It appears to be some kind of periscope-type creature, showing up in different guises throughout the city. She wonders where she noticed it first, and it comes to her: at the Bigfoot Coffee Shop, enjoying a cup of Seattle-style coffee. It's seems to be the unofficial mascot of the city - its own Bigfoot perhaps?
Despite a late, late last night in Poznań, she is able to take her husband to Bigfoot before heading to the train for Berlin. They hang out a while, enjoying some remarkably good coffee and watching a wedding party getting its caffeine fix at what is clearly the town's best coffee shop. Her husband agrees - stepping into Bigfoot Coffee Shop is like stepping into Seattle.
More detail about Bigfoot Coffee Shop:
It is owned and operated by Seattle-ite Erik Witsoe, who happens to be as famous for his photography of Poznan as he is for his great Pacific Northwest-style brew. It is open Monday through Saturday in the Pasaz Apollo, just a stone's throw from Stary Browar and the Hotel Andersia.
