Winter travels in Eastern Europe – Visiting Dear Friends in Wroclaw, Poland

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Winter travels in Eastern Europe – Dear Friends in Wroclaw, Poland

We drove our car 3,300 km from Minsk, Belarus where we are teaching to see the cities, Christmas markets and quiet snow covered countryside of Belarus, Poland, Czech Republic and eastern Germany.



We ended our trip in Wroclaw, Poland (pronounced Vrotslav) and spent two nights with good friends Andrey and Ola. Their new apartment is cozy with a great view of the city skyline. (We stayed with them twice when they lived in Vilnius.) They cook good meals and taught us to play a game called Lines that helps people understand how difficult it was to get goods in soviet times. Ola went with us on a Free Walking Tour of the old town. It was freezing! But such a beautiful old town and many amazing sculptures everywhere. We stopped at a church that proudly displayed hundreds of nativity scenes with moving parts and many garish lights that filled an entire room. We were with a fun group from Northern Ireland. We ended up at the pub afterward with them for a few locally crafted beers.

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Photos

Wroclaw, Poland
Bundled up, but still cold. We were happy to get to the pub.

Wroclaw, Poland sculpture
On both sides of the street and facing the same direction, these ordinary people are descending on one side and ascending on the other. It represents the period during and after communist martial law.

Wroclaw, Poland
Their version of the crosswalk man.

Wroclaw, Poland
A play on words (in Polish) dwarf sounds like red which I understood to mean that the people could not be kept under the thumb of the communist regime.

Wroclaw, Poland City Hall
In the basement is one of the oldest eating establishments in Europe, but with an inept staff, so we left.

Wroclaw, Poland Dwarves
This charming dwarf was one of dozens around the city. They were fun to find while walking.

Wroclaw, Poland Old Town
Rebuilt after World War II destruction.

Wroclaw, Poland
Nativity galore.