Souvenir Shopping

Today so far has been less exciting.  It seemed like a good day to do some souvenir shopping, which occupied a good amount of the day.  Although I've walked past all the souvenir shops many times, I hadn't really gone into any of them with serious intent until today.  Those of you who know me well know that I don't make purchases on a whim (or even after a reasonable few moments of consideration).  It took me a couple passes through a few areas to get a good handle on what I wanted.  After a few dead ends as far as ideas for specialty shops, I found more success with the general touristy places.  In the end, I came away with some good things.

The only other notable event today was that we ran to Błonia this morning, which was exciting for me to see it and the football (soccer) stadiums around it.

Our dinner last night was far more remarkable.  We were in the mood for Italian.  The first outdoor cafe we tried told us we had to switch tables because two people were evidently not allowed to occupy a four-seat table, even though most cafes let you pick your seating.  The manner of the restaurant employee was very off-putting, so we decided to move on to better venues. 

Irony reigned supreme by the end of the evening.  We found La Campana Trattoria, a beautiful Italian restaurant with wonderful atmosphere (and much better customer service).  When we first got there, we were seated inside because the staff told us we would need a reservation to sit outside in the inner courtyard.  However, before we were served our food, our waitress came to tell us a table had opened up outside for us!  Quite a different request about switching tables!

The courtyard was just beautiful, and the food was exquisite.  It was also in a reasonable portion, unlike many American restaurants (Casa's came to mind...).  All this atmosphere and service, and well, let's just say the price was VERY reasonable.  We would have paid about three times as much for such a meal in the U.S.

 inside

outside in the courtyard