First night/day in Poland! Wroclaw

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So I am sure most of you know that for the past two summers I've worked in the Outer Banks, NC at the beach.. A lot of Eastern and Central Europeans go there for work during the touristy season to make money, go to the States, and travel.. So I met a lot of Russians and Polish kids which has been a lot of fun! We take turns having parties, they cook polish/russian food for us, they make us drink their vodka, etc.. So now I am lucky to have friends in Poland and Russia! So, Tomek picked me up at the bus station in Wroclaw at 2:00am (I felt bad). At first I didn't recognize him because I hadn't seen him in two years.. he had dread locks then, but now they are pretty long! I got off the bus and it was FREEZING! He was shocked when I didn't have a coat, but when I left Prague, It was 65 and in Poland it was low 40's! His sister's flat was only a five minute walk. It was really cool to see how they live in Poland instead of staying in a hostel!

So we pretty much went to bed right away since it was 230 am.. the next morning, Tomek went to the train station to pick up our friends (more polish friends from the OBX), Tomek and Magda (yeah-two tomeks..confusing). In the OBX, we called the Tomek with dreads Rasta. We all ahd breakfast and coffee together. And their breakfast is definitely more my style than American! We had bread with cheese and cold cuts.. but the cheese was delicious. It was spreadable chive flavored cheese.. delicious!

After breakfast, we started to walk around Wroclaw.. Rasta told me that Germany used to inhabit that part of Poland, so there is a lot of German architecture. On our way to the town square, we came across these statues of a crowd of people walking underground.. and on the other side of the road they were coming back up.. I thought then that it was just that- people going under the road.. My friends didn't say anything about what it really meant until later that day. So, we crossed the bridge and entered the town square. We went into some old churches (they are everywhere in poland), and climbed the tower of St. John the Baptist's Cathedral.. actually, I lied, we climbed like 20 steps and took the elevator. But the view was really amazing because you could see different parts of the city had different architecture.

We went to lunch at a Polish place in the mall because it was cheap, but I wanted to try Polish food! I had a traditional Polish meal with wild mushrooms, sausage, and cabbage. I also had Borsh Soup (made from beats).. Very good 😊 We took the tram to another part of the city to see this really cool exhibit. It was a Panorama oil painting of the Battle of Racławice. It was an incredible piece of art. It was painted so that it felt real because of its three dimensional appearance. As we walked around, they gave a briefing on the battle itself and the history of the panorama.

Next, we went to Hala Ludowa which was very close to the panorama.. It is a huge round pyramid like building. It was built in Wroclaw around WWII for Hitler to speak at. It was one of the first cement buildings in Wroclaw.. Today its used for media events.. Near Hala Ludowa was the Japanese Garden. It was a refreshing change from the rest of the city. People were studying and reading.. It is definitely where I would want to study if I were going to school in Wroclaw.

We took some pictures and then took the tram back to the center of the city where we had our first beer. If you go to Wroclaw, you have to go to this specific beer stand because its brewed and sold only in Wroclaw. Tomek told me to try the white beer..it was a yellowish cloudy color, but pretty good.. Next, we went to a pub that is kind of hidden from the general public.

It was very dark inside, a candle lit on every table. The tables were actually old sewing machine tables. Here I tried beer with ginger syrup. This is a popular Polish thing to do.. Oh, and girls drink beer with straws! We talked for a couple hours here.. we talked about differences between Poland and the US. We also had some political arguments.. but friendly ones.. This was when they told me about the significance of the statues that went underground and came back up. A few different times in Polish history,
Poland stopped existing because it was constantly being taken over.. but through underground movements, it came back and became a sovereign country once again.

After the pub we called it a night... because we had to wake up at 630 the next morning to catch the 745 train to Krakow! it was a great first day in Poland!

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Photos

Tomek and a Wroclaw Dwarf
The dwarfs are hiding everywhere in the city.. Its fun to spot them!

A University Cafe
Pretty nice reflection..

St. John the Baptist Cathedral
Later, were up the right tower!

Italian car
these little cars are everywhere and they are like 20 yrs old but still chuggin

View from St. John the Baptist Cathedral
Rasta said that Wroclaw is one of Europe's cities with the most bridges.

Wroclaw Memorial
these are the statues I was talking about in my blog..

Comments

[Jeff]

Great photos and blog
Hi Tori, Your blog is awesome. You are a great writer and photographer! I wish I could see Poland someday.