June 24, Wroclaw Poland

Last Day in Wroclaw. And, owwwwww. Today my knees made themselves known. I'm scheduled for a total knee replacement in a few months, and a trip like this is about the worst possible thing I could be doing--let alone climbing up and down Cathedral stairs.  But, as I told the doctor, I'm going on this trip, and I fully intend to do what I want--the knees are just going to have to come along for the ride. He rolled his eyes and gave me some heavy painkillers. But I was tough, and just took the regular painkillers--stronger than tylenol but not narcotic like the big daddys.  Then we walked somewhat slowly to meet Carolyn and Bella at Cafe Central for breakfast. This place is famous for breakfast, especially for pancakes. One of the things I loved best about Poland is that everywhere I looked were pretty scenes like this. The restaurant was on the ground floor of one of these buildings.

Oh yes! Bacon in between the layers. Great idea.

FIRST TIME EVER.  You know how people will talk about being unable to finish some kind of food because it's just "too rich"?  I've never understood that. I have never, and I mean NEVER found any kind of cake, fudge or whatever that was too rich for me to not eat a huge piece of it until now. This hot sipping chocolate was TOO RICH for me! It was delicious, but I couldn't possibly have finished it.

This is the door of the White Stork Synagogue, at the top of my to do list. By miracle, this building was relatively undamaged during Krystal Nacht. The square in front is where Jews were rounded up to be deported.

Roughly translated this sign says, "From this place from 1941-1944 the Breslauer Jews were deported by the National Socialists.  We never want to forget."

There were exhibits around the hall, and an accordion player was preparing for an big event that night.



Our next stop was the National Museum. Kudos to Carolyn, we had seen this building during our wanderings yesterday,but I could never have found it again myself. She is a first class navigator.




Pretty ceiling in the main hall.



A wood cut that I liked (description of it below). As we were soon to discover, one does not simply roam aimlessly around in a Polish museum. If you enter a wing of the museum, you are making a commitment to SEE that wing. And you will see every bit of art in that wing, and you will not backtrack if you want to take another look. Catherine and I had no idea that this was the case, and accidentally turned the wrong direction. This made the attendant very unhappy, but we couldn't figure out what we did wrong. Soon, we were at a juncture, and this time accidentally turned the correct direction--this won us smiles and applause from the attendant. She must have called ahead to all the other guards in the area to warn them of our coming. Thereafter, we were shepherded from room to room with no chance of making a mistake. Once out of a wing you were allowed to go up or down or rest or whatever, but if you decide to view say, pottery. Then that is what you will view. Each and every pot.






I like art and I enjoyed much of what I saw. To my great irritation, I was forced to sit down more than I would have liked, but still---with the prodding of the museum staff--saw pretty much all of it. I wonder what they would have done if I really couldn't have continued? Would they have let me limp away a hallway unseen? Just as well I didn't put them to the test.






In the park across the street from the museum, were these irresistible fat stone chairs. They were quite uncomfortable, but you had to sit in them. Human nature is just that way. We had no choice.

Bella

Carolyn

Catherine

Dave

Me

Dave wanted to take a closer look at some ruins we had passed by while he was at the conference. 

Nifty model of the old city walls. 

I liked this hidden relief work of a frog rescue. 

The park and the river had a "promenade." Being the "Venice" of Poland, the city encourages walkers. Accordingly, we promenaded ourselves by the river and through the park.  A biker took a fall right at Dave's feet. I really don't think it was Dave's fault, but he felt bad for the guy.

So pretty.



Random palatial building.



This statue was moving. I added the descriptive plaque below.







Moving from the poignant to the silly--this was an awesome fountain.

Terrific playground.



Darn it! The puppet show was closed. This is what we were hoping to see. Judging by the magnificence of the theater, it must be quite a show.



One of the puppet props.



Dave liked this ad.



This was fun. We walked what felt like miles (and probably was) back toward home and did some shopping in the little stalls. As we were shopping, a parade come by---



Complete with brass band. No idea what the parade was for, so we will assume it was in our honor.


Taking a well-earned lody break. One of the rare times I passed on the ice-cream. I was still sweeted out from the morning chocolate.



We went home to rest and pack. And then met at Humberto's for dinner. Service took forever as usual, I had fried camembert, fries and a carrot salad. I felt very full of cheese---you didn't think I went past all those stalls without indulging in some major cheese?

This time, when we got home, I gave in and took a scary pill. If the drunks were singing in the alley, I didn't hear it.