Positively Poznan

At the heart of Poznan is the "old town" - a large square built around the old town hall.  It does all look convincingly old, although in fact much of it was destroyed or badly damaged during the war and what is seen today is mostly reconstruction.

On my first evening in Poznan I joined other conference delegates for a short tour of the main sights.  We saw the brightly painted fish merchants' houses - some curiously thin, as permission was only given to build them to the original width of each merchant's stall. 
 

We were shown the town's whipping post (once the main source of entertainment for townspeople, and still a popular meeting place).  We were introduced to a little German girl, representing a long-established German population in the city.

The old city hall is rather magnificent, decorated with depictions of Greek gods, saints and Polish kings.  Its clock tower has a unique feature - when the clock strikes midday, two mechanical goats appear and butt horns twelve times.  The goats have become the symbol of the city and can be found in other forms here and there (including on souvenir T-shirts, which has made the goat-loving Girl very happy).