Act Like A Vegetarian Day ;)

... or vegan/pescaterian depending on what is consumed (dairy/no dairy/fish as only animal, etc.). ;) I tend to be pescaterian or vegetarian most of the time, so today I made sure not to have any poultry (since I don't go into red meat, pork, or anything else other than occasional chicken and turkey and seafood in terms of animals; animal-related products that are a bit more difficult to give up include yogurt/fro yo and honey and eggs/egg whites or anything else that happens to have some milk or any aforementioned items in it). But, it is a Friday during Lent (Wielki Post), so that means no consumption of animals who lived with Jesus (or, simply put, you can have seafood/fish and dairy, but lay off other meat and poultry on Fridays, please).

The Browns are now on THREE continents! I am here in Europe, my Dad's over in Asia, I have a lot of family on the East coast of the US, while Jenn is reppin' West Side over in sunny LA. ;)

Today, some people on my program had to be up VERY early to ride a train or bus to Zakopane. Others are in Lublin and Prague. I, instead, went out to lunch at VEGA, a vegatarian place on my foodie hitlist:
http://www.vega-warszawa.pl/
I had some vegan soup (called red lentil flavour, but also called dhal soup, so curry/Indian-like ;) ) and some different salads - one was boiled shredded carrots with coconut flakes and raisins, another was shredded beets (not sure what other flavors), and the last had chickpeas, kidney/dark beans, peas, and green beans in some kind of brown sauce. I especially liked the chickpea salad. There were a couple of other salads I thought of trying, but the plate looked fine with those three (as the server placed them). I would go back again since the price was not bad at all and the place is cute (plus there are more foods to sample). The food is healthy, Polish-meets-Indian-meets-typical-Vegetarian. I liked it. :)

I choose BEET over MEAT ;)

After lunch, I went to the Jewish Historical Institute, but for some reason I was told it was closed? (The sign said 4 PM...) and I was even encouraged to come on Sunday, when it is free. :-P I then explained that I was mainly interested in genealogy. I was told that I had to go to an adjacent building for this office (which is also at the site of the former Great Synagogue and now is maybe an office building or bank). I had to wait a bit and then, unfortunately, I experienced some fierce genealogists. :-P I gave them the info I had, but I was told it was not enough and I could contact them when I had more. Maybe next time. :-/

Then I considered going to the Copernicus Science Center, but when I looked at nearby buses from where I was I recognized one of the bus numbers and later realized I had recalled it because... it goes to a mall I wanted to check out sometime. :-P So that is where I went!
http://www.wolapark.pl/index,2.dhtml

I bought some leggings and a new cotton dress at C&A: http://www.c-and-a.com/uk/en/corporate/fashion/

and then I checked out Auchan.

I had not been to one since 2005 in Legnica. It was similar to the other big hiper/supermarkets I have seen here so far (TESCO, Carrefour). Each place has postives and negatives. Not sure why I am going on a search to find the "best" or "perfect" grocery store [will always be Wegmans to me, and not all of those are even created equal! Whole Foods is also quite nice and Trader Joe's has its moments. :-P] since I don't mind the European way of shopping - going to separate stores such as the meat deli and the bakery and then the fruit and vegetable store, etc. But, I still keep trying out several. :-P This place is probably one of the better places I have been to, but not good enough to become my exclusive grocer. It had free bags (! just in case I need them. ;) ) and self-checkout (TESCO has the former, while some Carrefours have the latter). Also, there was a large selection of just about everything, but I did not see sweet potatoes (did not look too hard) or my new faves - EKO apple chipsy (basically crunchy organic apple slices that were dried with nothing added, except sunshine and Magic). As nice as this mall is, I think going to an easier to access one is fine as well since most of the other places are available closer, except this grocery store (there are H&Ms, Zaras, Camaeius, C&As, Sephoras, Empiks, Green Ways, etc.). It was a good mall. I think it is easier by tram versus bus next time. I enjoyed just walking around since only the grocery store was busy. The travel back took so long that I did not have a chance to go to see the science center today since I would not have enough time to make it there (I made it back to the dorm at almost 5 PM and the center closes at 6 today). So, I will do that tomorrow or Sunday. Now, I am waiting on laundry. I think that's all for now. :) I thought it was supposed to rain today, but I am glad it did not. I enjoyed the teeny bit of sunshine, but not the crazy wind.

Photos are updated at: http://twitpic.com/photos/kab1221