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| little gnome sculptures are scattered throughout wroclaw |
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| with aunt milusia at our fave cafe |
just great to see my fabulous family here in poland. they are all happy, healthy and just a joy to be around. my aunt milusia and uncle wladek are a ferociously energetic bunch taking us to numerous cafes, bars, churches and the international film festival which was in town (note to self stay away from 'european experimental short films' and movies about twitching hemaphrodites) and teaching us how to make sensational berry-filled pierogies. my cousin pawel is just a superstar. sadly we skipped the great city of krakow on this visit to poland, but wroclaw (pronounced vrots-wahf...thank you pawel) proved to be one of our favorite little cities in europe. wroclaw, home to the recent euro 2012 cup, is a grown up little city with solid beer gardens, terrific little central town-square, and a self-aware determined vibe in the air. along with the likes of the economies of turkey and australia, poland looks like it's doing quite well for itself. i am surely a bit less than objective than most since i cannot say a bad word about my parents homeland but it made me quite happy to see all the progress and the energy this country is exuding. i look forward to seeing my tremendous family again soon.
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| laurel really got in to the gnomes |
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| overlooking wroclaw |
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| in the main square |
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| day drinking with milusia |
polska is really on a roll. the economy is booming and people are shaking off the soviet era and soaking up their new lives. new malls are popping up, real estate is on fire and cute new restaurants and cafes are spring up all over the place. it is a significantly different energy to our last visit here just 3 years ago. after so many years of tough times, it is refreshing to see poland in such a good place. and it was wonderful to see emil's family. i am so proud of them and the life they have created in wroclaw, a hip little university town in western poland. milusia, emil's aunt whom i absolutely adore, kept us busy with a tour of the city, multiple movies at the international film festival, a visit to the botanical gardens, a fantastic concert and some fab beers from the local mico-brewery. and in between she managed to whip up several delicious meals including my personal favorite perogies! thank you to emil's family for the gracious hospitality. team polska!
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| emil the proud pole |
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| at the botanical gardens with the fam |
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| beer garden in the main square |
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| milusia with her famous berry perogies |
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| pawel and milusia see us off at the airport |
Small portion of local patriotism: Wroclaw is the fourth largest city in Poland, almost as big as Amsterdam and slightly bigger then Lisbon :-)
ReplyDeleteBut first of all Wroclaw will remember your great visit for a long time and wait for the next one! Thank you and take care!