Wroclaw, Poland

"I don't know where to begin..."  - Death Cab for Cutie

I know I've mentioned this before, but Grant has been begging to go to Poland.  We aren't entirely sure where he got this idea, or what he even knows about Poland, but none of us have ever been to Poland so we went there for a combination Grant's birthday/11th wedding anniversary celebration!

I have SO, SO, SO, SO much to say about Wroclaw, Poland.  It was seriously one of the quirkiest places we have been.  We drove the 5 hours (ahem, 6 hours with children) to Wroclaw on Thursday, leaving around noon but not arriving until around 6.  We had heard a lot of bad things about the roads in Poland... that they were the most dangerous and deadly in all of Europe, but the highway roads themselves were comparable to Germany.  Easy driving and no potholes, but with speed limits!  Of course, all of that changed as we approached Wroclaw during evening rush hour in the evening in the rain and light snow... there were accidents on the highway outside of Wroclaw, and Google Maps was telling us we were going to be delayed by an hour or so... but what does Google Maps know in Wroclaw?  Not much!  We sailed right through. We finally arrived in the city and THAT is when the fun began.  The roads were super confusing, there were many one way roads and incredibly uneven cobblestone streets, and the city had absolutely no street parking in the area we were staying!  I had to drive around while Todd checked in, and THAT was an adventure.  Google Maps didn't know where to send me because of the crazy one way streets.  I must have drove around for a half hour before I was finally able to get back to the apartment and park the car in their garage. WHEW!

Coincidentally, we had Italian food downstairs that was pretty good.  I think by the time dinner was over, we had said the phrase, "Because... Poland" about a dozen times.  The kids ordered some penne with butter and it came without butter, and there were only about 20 penne pieces in their bowls!  Because... Poland. 

And let's talk about our apartment.  Ok, first and foremost, it met ALL of our major requirements.  It must be clean, in a safe neighborhood, central to all that we want to see and within our price range.  It met or exceeded all of that.  After that, it was a total spaz.  The website says, "We speak your language!" Yet no one spoke English.  Because... Poland.  The apartment only had one small trash can in the bathroom.  Because... Poland. The apartment "kitchen" had a nice set of pots and pans.  But no stove or range.  Because... Poland.  The bathroom didn't have any bath towel hooks or places to hang hand towels or a toiletry bag.  Because... Poland.  The apartment didn't have a SINGLE decoration on the walls or on the tables or anything.  I mean, this isn't a game changer by any means but, because... Poland. 

Here is the weird front door to our apartment.  Like a conference room door... only, it actually might have been at one time since there was an actual conference room with the same doors across the hall.

The elevator was stuck when we first arrived and the woman working the front desk couldn't get it to come down from the second floor.  So a bit later, after we had unpacked, these clowns thought it would be fun (?) to try to take the elevator down.  It promptly got stuck AGAIN before I thought to hit the request button at the bottom and they were able to come down.  Because... Poland!

But Wroclaw itself is AMAZING.  One of the COOLEST things about Wroclaw are the little dwarfs that are hidden (in plain sight!) all over the city.  It kind of became my obsession over the long weekend to find as many as I could.  Forget sightseeing, I need to find these dwarfs!  It just so happened that two of the 300 or so dwarfs were RIGHT outside of our apartment!  Each dwarf represents the building they reside next to.  In our building, there was an Italian restaurant (see the dwarf by Natalie rolling the dough) and an ice cream shop.  Love that he's eating ice cream on a skateboard!

Directly across the street from our apartment was the old city prison.  It was likely built in the late 1300s, but it wasn't until the 1680s that it looked like this. Interestingly, this was kind of like the Super Max prison of it's day. Today, a pub houses what formerly was the interrogation chamber.  Unfortunately every time we came by, it was either closed (morning hours) or... we had kids with us. 

But look who hangs out in one of the windows of the prison!  Nobody knows the trouble I've seen...

As we walked to the Market Square on our first morning in Wroclaw, we passed this sign and I felt like with the recent Trump election as President of the United States, this sign had a lot of meaning.  Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, life is a bitch and coffee's a must. 

It was a very gray and low cloudy day in Wroclaw when we approached the Market Square.  Wroclaw is the fourth largest city in Poland, but it has one of the largest town squares in all of Europe.  It was built between 1214-1232.  The town and the area itself has been a part of many empires over the years.  In 1871, it became a part of the German Empire and was known as the city of Breslau.  It was even capital of the Free State of Prussia (within Germany after the German Empire fell) but the area was returned to Poland after WWII at the Potsdam Conference and the city name was changed back to Wroclaw.  

We didn't know this, but on our very own Veteran's Day, it was the Polish Independence Day.  Although the Kingdom of Poland was established in 1025, Polish Independence Day is celebrated on November 11th for it's independence gained from Germany after World War I.  On this date though, people celebrated with speeches, parades and military presentations.

Natalie checking out the Polish military marching in formation during the Independence Day celebrations.

Many children (and some adults!) sang and danced for the crowds in traditional Polish costumes.

Wroclaw's Market Square is definitely one of the more colorful squares I've seen, even on a gray day!

This is my semi crooked picture of the Wroclaw Old Town Hall.  It was built around 1300, and has largely been unchanged since about 1560 although renovations and refurbishments have occurred often since.   It suffered only minor damage in World War II. 

Since it was Polish Independence Day, a woman was passing out little paper Polish flags and we grabbed a few.  Here's the fam with their flags with one of the Wroclaw dwarfs.  This one is known as Withdrawer, as he is at a bank!

The architecture, which I know nothing about beyond my own opinions, is incredible in this square.

Here are some of our favorite dwarfs of Wroclaw.  The deaf, blind and disabled dwarfs are right outside of the city hall.  The fella carrying the water jugs is also in Market Square.  I really loved the tourist dwarf with his camera and map in the bottom left.  He was at the tourist information office!  And lastly we have me taking a picture of a dwarf, taking a picture of an even smaller dwarf!

Polish flags at the Independence Day celebrations.  Please notice the 1976 sign in the bottom right corner.  This is a reminder sign of the uprisings in 1976 over an increase in basic food prices.  After many demonstrations, riots and factory worker strikes, the Polish government at the request of Moscow reestablished the original prices and peace was restored.

My boys at Piwnica Swidnicka.  The website of this restaurant claims that they are the "oldest restaurant in Europe."  Many other restaurants dispute that claim of course, but it has been around since 1273.  It's actually located in the basement of the town hall.  (I couldn't help but think of Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel when I think of this!! HA!)

The Breslau Bear is licking Todd's hand!  This is actually a copy of the original, which was lost.  The only true copy (cast by the original sculptor, Ernest Geyger) is actually at Brown University in Rhode Island!  T.F. Green, who donated the statue at Brown had studied in Breslau and believed they should have a statue, and that their mascot should be the bears.  Small world!

This is the opposite side of the old city hall (opposite side of the building of the clock tower).

Wroclaw's Market Square with it's colorful buildings.

Zloty Pies (or "Golden Dog") restaurant has a dwarf saying "Prost!" to their mascot... a dog!

Blue and pink building that housed a Spanish company.  I love this building!!!!

There's a LOT of graffiti in Wroclaw.  Some of it is the usual crap graffiti.  Some is actually pretty decent and sends a message.

We headed back to Market Square to enjoy more of the Polish Independence Day festivities.

The military men were all lined up.  Lots of flags.  Lots of signs.  (Also: I loved these buildings in the background!)

My assumption is that this man was a veteran.  I liked his military style.

My scratch off food map said I had to eat pierogis in Poland.  So we were on our way to Pierogarnia when we spotted this woman.  With a skunk.  On a leash.  We've already seen a chicken on a leash... why not a skunk, too!?  Because... Poland.

Pierogis and horseradish sauce.  This restaurant was delicious but they didn't serve beer! Go figure!

The bill came in a cute little wooden box though!  Because... Poland.

After lunch, we spotted the Polish Independence Day parade.  Completely sober, we all decided to start walking IN the parade with our flags.  Because... Griswolds.  Remember that time we joined in the Polish Independence Day parade!? 

These guys were right behind us in the parade.  They played drums and were a lot of fun.  Their sign translates to, "Englishman with Partynice Solidarity with Arabs of Janow."  Partynice is a horse racecourse and they just started racing Arab horses.  Go figure! 

When you forget you can see Stolpersteine's in every city... you find a few in Wroclaw.  It always hurts a little more when you find one with your name on it.

This is one of the most interesting statues I have seen in Europe.  You can see across the street that the people are starting to walk underground and they emerge on this side of the street.  Completed by Jerzy Kalina and known as Przejście or "The Anonymous Pedestrians," these statues represent the people who back in 1981 when martial law was introduced, simply disappeared (and likely were killed).  In 1983, when it was lifted, the people rose again.  You see the contrast between people descending and ascending here. 

I love colorful cows.  It somehow reminds me of my cousin Danny's wedding in Chicago in 1999 when the colorful cows were all around the city.  Totally random thought there!

The kids really liked this massive wall of graffiti art.  They thought it was weird that the trains were falling off of the elevated tracks!

Grant, a massive concrete elephant and some not-so pretty graffiti.

Why hello there, George.  Fancy meeting you here, drinking your coffee on a big old wall in Wroclaw, Poland.

The Sky Tower is the largest building in Wroclaw.  There is a fantastic view from the top, but not on Polish Independence Day.  Boo.  Next time!

You can find art in the strangest of places in Poland.  Like on a fence.  In the middle of a giant, grassy yard where they will soon put another high rise.

Minus the V and the L, this is a reproduction of Sal_ador Dali's Profi_e of Time.  This is right outside of the Sky Tower, which of course, was closed.

This little area is known as the Hansel and Gretel houses, or locally known as Jaś i Małgosia.  They're called this because the archway in between makes many people think that they are holding hands.  The area behind it used to be the cemetery of St. Elizabeth's church (the tower of which you can see behind them).  The archway has the inscription, "Death is the gate to life."

Wroclaw, despite it's beauty is still a former member of the Communist regime.  It's still pretty evident from some of it's bland buildings. I particularly liked (!!!) that it appears to have aluminum fencing protecting people from falling off of the balconies. 

Gray and bland Communist era buildings.

You don't want to limit your search for dwarfs to the ground only... some of them are up on the walls above doorways.  Prost!

The one in the upper left shows two dwarfs trying to steal some goodies from the confectionary shop!

Nightfall in Market Square.

The stained glass at St. Elizabeth's was incredibly beautiful and more unique than any other I had seen at a Catholic church! 

The church of St. Elizabeth's itself was closing and we couldn't go in, but the tower was still open.  I've climbed a lot of towers in Europe... but this one was the hardest tower I have climbed.  But the views were totally worth it!

Market Square lit up at night.

Seriously, how pretty is this city in the late evening!

This was pretty high up there.  Here we are looking down at  Hansel and Gretel and the rest of Market Square.  The tower itself is 91.5 meters, but fire had destroyed the original 130 meter tower in 1976.  I can't even imagine having to climb up an additional nearly 40 meters!!!!!

Grant sitting on a light, checking out the city of Wroclaw before.

The ridiculously narrow and steep, winding steps of the St. Elizabeth's tower.

Grant said, "Is this tower taller than the Freedom Tower?"  No.  But it felt like it was.

More of our favorite dwarfs. 

Back down in Market Square, the city hall was lit up at night.

The kids chased bubbles around Market Square near the city hall.

We knew this parade was going to happen, and we tried to avoid it but we ran into it anyway as we searched for dwarfs. The NOP is the National Revival of Poland, a disgusting, far-right, white supremacist group who currently holds no seats in Parliament.  They don't like foreigners, so we quietly watched from afar. I felt my blood boiling as they marched by.

Man taking a nap at a Starbucks.  Because... Poland.  (Pardon the blurry picture. I was trying to be stealth like in my photography!)

Phew.  At least someone here has a rational thought!

The next morning, we went out for some pastries, as we always do.  They were already setting up for the Christmas markets in Market Square!  Hooray!

Not only are all of the dwarfs so fun, some people like to dress them up!  There's actually a little contest going on right now for best dressed dwarf!

Grant particularly loved the pigeon dwarf.  He's obsessed with chasing pigeons. Also, you almost didn't see the one with the big stuffed bear!

Our last full day in Wroclaw took us to the Wroclaw Zoo and Afrikarium.  It's the oldest and largest zoo in Poland.

My kids are impressed by the silliest of things.  Outside of the Afrikarium is a large, shallow pool with a rock bottom. Fascinating.

Fishiesies and rays. I love how the top of the water acts like a mirror.

This is how short people and children often see animals at the zoo.

The baby hippo was probably my favorite!  How cute is he!?!  His name is Zumba and he's here with his mama Rumba!

A waterfall inside of the Afrikarium.

CHARKS!

No need for an indoor place for the penguins to swim since it's cold enough in Poland in the winter to let them swim around outside!

Thank you, Wroclaw Zoo!!!  I could not have been more excited about this!

For most of the exhibits in the Afrikarium, you could see the animals from both above, and below.  Here is one of the penguins zooming past us!

Whaaaat?  This is the coolest fish ever!

This was really funny.  The seals were swimming around having fun, and we had just read their bios downstairs (yes, the seals have bios).  This is Nelson.  He's the alpha male, and apparently he LOVES attention.  He actually got out of the water to pose for some pictures that people up above were taking of him!

More of the inside of the Afrikarium.  It was very warm in here, and we were grateful for that since it was chilly outside!

Manatees!!!  I reminded the kids that we saw one of these endangered cuties when we were in Florida over the summer, out on Uncle Dave's boat.

What's up wolf.  Say hello to your mutha for me.

As we walked around outside, we encountered the underside of the sea lion area.  They were showing off!

Hello there Emu.  Please don't eat my fingers off.

A random silly face sign sponsored by the Wroclaw airport.  Silly kids!

Remnants of summer.  Please come back!  We miss you!

This isn't a very good picture because I had to take it really quick before they spotted me.  But this is proof that sometimes they like each other and are friends!  Also hard to see:  they are holding hands!

In case you wanted to see a few more dwarfs, here you go.  The bottom right looks like me when I used to work.  Feet up.  Computer.  Coffee. 

Todd liked this beer simply because it had a giant buffalo (or is this a bison?) on the side of the can.  I also like the random likeness of Kevin Costner on the beer to the left.

We will save that beer for later.  For now, we need dinner!  We went back to Piwnica Swidnicka for dinner.  Here's my husband of 11 years enjoying some wine with me!  How fun to go to the *disputed* oldest restaurant in Europe for our anniversary dinner!

Me eating Bigos.  Meat.  Cabbage.  Mushrooms.  Scratch it off of the scratch off food map of Europe! 

We had a couple of hours before we were going to drive home on Sunday to explore more of the old town area and search for dwarfs.  Here is the pretty Wroclaw city hall with blue sky behind it.  (Blue sky!!!!)

The upper left is Papa Smurf.  He's kind of the granddaddy of them all. 

The guy in the upper left passed out from eating too much pizza!  I love that the skateboarding, ice cream loving dwarf in front of our apartment had been giving a half empty beer. 

All of the city, if you look up, you will notice dwarfs hanging on the light poles.  Too darn funny!

A perfect example of a dwarf who epitomizes the business he sits in front of.  This guy is playing the trumpet in front of the jazz club.  Notice my humans have been placed here for scale.

I'm not sure if the bottom left constitutes official dwarfs, but they were interesting nonetheless, and situated outside of the theater hall.  I also loved the firefighters that Natalie was posing with.

One thing I love about Europe are the interesting manhole covers!  This is the crest of Wroclaw.

Oh Wroclaw.  You amuse me with your funny dressed up dog statues in the antique shop.

Proudly displaying the Polish flag beneath a rare, autumn blue sky.

Pretty gold and blue in the sunlight.  Surrounded by drab gray buildings.  Juxtapositions such as this were all over the place.

Mister Dwarf, as much as we would like to come into your coffee shop, we have to be going.  It's time to head back to Germany!

As we were leaving Wroclaw, we noticed that the street lights have a count down clock!  WHAT?  This is genius!  They have the countdown on green lights, as well as red lights.  Because.... Poland.

Seriously, this country was so interesting, I am really looking forward to coming back!  Until next time, Wroclaw!