Poland: September 2. At Wroclaw

We started this day with a guided walking tour of the city. Our hotel is very near the Old Market Square. Wroclaw is known for its medieval origins, colorful architecture, and gnomes. There are over 1000 gnomes throughout the city; originally a sly protest of the communist regime, they have now popped up everywhere. The red brick building with a tower is the old town hall, from medieval times, while the blond building is the new town hall built in 1863 and still in use.

Wroclaw was bombed extensively during World War 2, but the Market Square has been rebuilt as it was before the war. This is true throughout the city.

The flower market in the square is open 24 hours a day.

Our guide took us to Malarska Street, where in medieval times meat was bought and sold. Below is a memorial to all the animals slaughtered her through the ages.

Above, the Hansel and Gretel houses.

St. Elisabeth Church, below, was almost destroyed in a fire. It was saved by firefighters and reconsecrated by Pope John Paul 2 in 1997. This event is commemorated with 2 firefighter gnomes and a stained glass window depicting flames.

There is a jail here, built in the middle of the 14th century and used as a prison until about 1900. There is only a gnome imprisoned there now... It was notorious in its time for housing the most dangerous criminals, and its interrogation rooms were the stuff of nightmares.

We walked to Wroclaw University. Established in 1702 it is the oldest of 27 universities in the city. The double photograph shows the university after the bombing during World War 2 and after being restored.

We went inside the science auditorium which is lavishly decorated with paintings depicting the arts and sciences, with a little religion thrown in because this was once a Jesuit institution.

Many of us climbed to the observation deck to get a sweeping view of the city. There are 130 bridges in the city. There were once 2 moats for protection; only one remains.

The building below, built in the 17th century, was originally the home of the Order of Crusaders of the Red Star. It is now the Library of Count Ossolinski, opened in 1817, and houses the largest and most important manuscript collection in Poland.

We walked to Cathedral Island where we went to the St. John the Baptist Cathedral, established in 1025 and celebrating 1000 years! The main altar is made of silver; the stained glass windows were damaged during World War 2 and rebuilt.

This island is still lit by gas lamps every evening by a lamplighter, so of course there is a lamplighter gnome!

After lunch we had a scavenger hunt which required us to go shopping for very specific items, while speaking Polish. we also were required to go to the tallest building in the city, so my team went up to the Sky Tower building observation deck. We rode the trams to get around the city, ending at the statue of Fryderyk Chopin in Poludniowy Park (Southern Park). By then it was raining.

We also had to find "a sculpture by a famous artist". It was a Dali sculpture, part of his Profile of Time series. Our team consists of (left to right) Jeff, Maureen, me, Kris, and Krystian.

 

We had dinner in a restaurant adjacent to the park and took the tram back to the hotel.

Poland: September 1.

We left Zielona Gora and were driven to Boleslawiec, an area known for its pottery and ceramics. There are many factories here and we toured the Manufaktura w Boleslawcu. There they make the pieces using local clay, for which this region is famous. We walked through the entire process, from wet raw clay to finished ceramic.

The pieces are molded, go through a first firing, then they are hand painted; the designs are added with small shaped sponges dipped into the paint.  Then they are fired a second time. The process takes about 12 days from start to finish.

As part of our tour we were each allowed to paint a piece. I chose a spoon rest. Our creations will

be shipped to Dorena in  a couple of weeks.

We visited the gift shop, and ate our bagged lunch at the picnic area outside of the pottery factory.

The drive to Wroclaw was a couple of hours. We checked into our hotel and then went to the Pierogi place straight away. A table was set up with appetizers and wine, and they kept the wine carafes full! We were split into teams and given instructions how to make pierogis. We made a huge amout of pierogis! 



Agatha was our hostess, and it was a lot of fun. I was on the "green team" making vegetarian peirogis, and the red team made meat-filled pierogis. There was a competition to see which team made the best presentation, and then we had a feast!