Sights and Sounds of Wroclaw

With the May Day long weekend here, I finally had time to check out my host city. It felt good to shift my focus away from teaching and to something a little bit more relaxed, albeit though for just a couple of days. Enjoy!

All of Wroclaw is connected by a very sketchy tram network. Every so often, you see a Bombardier space-train roll by, but for the most part, its one of the most glaring relics of the Cold War

The Church of Our Savior Jesus. Jaw-dropping even for us heathens

It's all shot-up on the outside.

More beautiful religiousocities

Apparently Wroclaw is world renowned for the sheer number of naked dude statues this town has. They're riding horses, having sword fights, shoeing mules... you name it!

This is this weird abandoned ampitheater/plaza/restaurant just outside the main square. Its known for its amazing views of the city, but when I was there, all I saw were dirty punk-rockers doing dirty punk-rocker things.

A Nazi bunker converted into a disco!!! Astounding! This is where I am going to spend my last night in Wroclaw.

Probably the best piece of public art I have ever seen. Off in the background, they are sinking into the pavement, representing the descent into communism. Then they pop up on the other side, representing the rebirth of Poland. Fantastic!

I don't know about you, but there is no way I would drop 399 Zlot on a humidifier being sold by this guy....

This was something I was really interested in seeing! Here we have some Roma hustling tourists down in the Rynek! The men strolled around from patio to patio, playing songs like 'La Cucaracha' and other nice Roma tunes. The women and children however were running a very different type of scam. They would send the kids onto a patio screaming and making a raucous, pinching tourists and tossing around chairs. Then the older ladies and teenage girls would follow behind them screaming and shouting pretending to be trying to catch the little scamps to give 'em a good backhanding for upsetting us nice foreign-folk. The sucker tourists, feeling bad for the little kid about to get a whooping, were to pay-off the irate grandmas to show that no harm was done and that the little rascals meant nothing by it. But the ruse was pretty weak, and most tourist just stared at them like they were all crazy as the day is long. I only saw one person fall for it. The best part was the whole family would regroup right outside the patio they just finished working to consult each other before moving onto the next one. I love it! Talk about most interesting people watching imaginable!