Wandering around Wrocław (19 pictures)

Wrocław is a city with an interesting background.  At various times in the past it has been part of Poland, Bohemia, Prussia, Germany, and the Austrian Empire.  The city is built on both sides of the River Oder, as well as on some islands in the river.  It is known for a large number of bridges.

Under German rule, the city was known as Breslau and it was a stronghold of the Nazi's during the war, with the city's population of 10,000 Jews being nearly entirely wiped out.  Speaking Polish in public was made a crime and there were nearly 10,000 Allied prisoners and 51,000 slave laborers (mostly Polish) based around the city in forced labor camps. 

The city was besieged by the Soviets towards the end of World War II and nearly half of it was destroyed.  In August 1945 the city had a German population of 189,500, and a Polish population of 17,000.  Almost all of the German inhabitants fled or were forcibly expelled between 1945 and 1949 and were settled in Allied Occupation Zones in Germany.

Now the city is becoming fairly international again, with large presences by companies like IBM, HP, Google, 3M, Microsoft, and a large number of other firms as well (such as Siemens, SAP, Cargill, and Dolby Labs to name a few).  It's not the hotbed for young people that Warsaw and Krakow are, but it's probably 3rd on the list. 

I rode down from Poznań in my friend Paweł's car with his wife Iga gracing us with her presence (thank you again Iga for letting me take the passenger seat).  :)

Once we got to the city we met up with our friend Kryz and spent the rest of that Saturday and the first half of Sunday wandering around.

The picture below is of the Sky Tower (either currently, or recently was the largest residential tower in the EU, although it only partially residential) looking down a canal.

Being me, I had to stick my head into as many churches as possible.  Unfortunately, since it was a June in Poland on a Saturday they were nearly all busy with weddings.  Luckily, we were able to quietly sneak into the back in most of them and I managed to get a few pictures.

This church (next 4 pictures) was one I really wanted to get a better look at.  But the wedding was in full flight.  It looked really beautiful with some amazing detail everywhere you looked.
 

This church was actually undergoing renovations, which is why it wasn't booked with a wedding.  This picture was taken by sticking the lens of camera through the fence at the rear of the church.

There is a bridge in Wrocław where it is considered good luck (or something like that) for newlyweds to place a lock inscribed with their names onto the bridge.  As you can see from the picture below, the rails are completely lined with locks.

Paweł said that weight of the locks got to be so much that the city had to come through and cut some of them off as the weight was exceeding the bridges designed capacity.  As you can see, there are so many locks that people run of out space on the actual bridge and attach their locks to other peoples locks.

Here's a better shot of one of the locks.  I hope Sylwia and Kuba don't mind.  :)

Later on that night we went to this restaurant in the middle of the old town square, directly below the old town hall.  This is supposed to be the oldest restaurant in all of Europe and is something like 700 years old if I remember what Paweł was telling me correctly.  At one time this was the only place you could legally buy beer in the city and the different rooms below were segregated for the different trade guilds in the city.

 Here's a glimpse of the inside.  I have to say though, I don't recommend the place at all.  The food wasn't that great, but the service was terrible.  I think we had been seated for nearly and hour and a half by the time our food was delivered.  So, it's a cool place to visit.  Skip the dining experience.

And here is picture of myself and Kryz while waiting for our meals. 

By the time we finished dinner it was dark and as you can see, the square is a hub of activity at night.

 Here is a slight better picture of the Sky Tower from across the street from our hotel.

Lastly, here are some pictures of myself and my friends. 

We stopped on the way to Wrocław for gas and drinks and this statue of a bison was by the roadside.   So here is a rare picture of me.

And here are Paweł and Iga.

 This one is Paweł goofing off with the statue of the bear by the town hall.

And lastly we have a picture of Kryz during our visit to the modern art museum.  It was a free admission day, but most of the exhibits were closed off.

All in all, it was a great trip.  I had lots of fun seeing Kryz again and traveling with Paweł and Iga.  If you are going to Poland I recommend a visit to Wrocław, although I am told that Krakow is the "must see" city if you are going anywhere.  So start there, then head up to Wrocław.  :)

Have a great day!