wanderlust: poland!

So once we got back from the Cinque Terre, we had one night in Rome before flying to Poland to see Magda, our Polish sister. Because we ate so much at that lovely trattoria, we wanted to bring Mikey there too. And this time we took pictures.

The awesome waiter wanted a picture with the 'boss.'

And the digestives...

The next morning we woke up super early (yuck!) and went to the airport. Yay! On our way to Magda! Two hours (ish) later we landed in Wroclaw! Note: this is pronounced Vrots-waf. Not at all like it looks. Wroclaw is a fabulous city in southwestern Poland in the historic region of Silesia. It's the fourth largest city in Poland, with maybe like 600,000 people.
When we got into the airport, the first thing we saw was Magda jumping up and down outside behind a fence! Yay!!! We found her and her dad, Wieslaw and headed to our Polish home for the next few days. Magda's family was incredible and let all five of us stay in their house. And fed us extremely well. And drove us all over. It was the best time ever.
So, we all got to the Latka's house, where Magda's mom Barbara fed us the first of many amazing meals, and then they brought us to the market square (Rynek, Wikipedia tells me) for an amazing town tour.
The square is gorgeous, as you can see!

It's a cool city.

One of my favorite sites is all of the flower stands...lots of beautiful blooms for not much money!

On our fun little tour train. Magda's brother Przemek is on the left, Magda on the right, and Barbara is next to mom. Wieslaw is next to me and not on in the picture!

The boys got cold!

Now Magda is going to have to help me with what I took pictures of...I really liked the pretty church. I just can't remember the name of it...

Out for Polish beer that night!

The Latka house.

The next day we went to see the Ksiaz Castle, which is about 70 km from Wroclaw and is the third largest castle in Poland.
The grounds include the Ksiaz State Stallion Stud. At one time this used to be the stables and carriage house of the castle. Now it's a big ole indoor riding stable, which my mom is coveting. They apparently hold international driving and dressage competitions and have horse auctions.
Marty gazing at the beautiful horses.

Funny kids! Everyone took a turn...

But this is my favorite picture!

The horses love each other.

Magda's so pretty!

The grounds have lots of gardens, where we saw some wedding photos being taken. And here's a headless lady in the heart garden.

The castle is built on a steep rock by the side of the Pelcznica River. It was originally made for fortification, by Prince of Swinica and Jawor Bolko I, but was converted into a place by the Hochberg family in the 17th century.
The castle is HUGE and has 400 chambers and over 200 fireplaces. And it's just beautiful. Back in the 40s the Nazis stole it and were using it, and also built all kinds of tunnels and passageways underneath.

More pretty grounds.

The happy family, including Przemek's girlfriend and friend!

So this was totally cool. Wroclaw has this multimedia fountain near the People's Hall that dances to music several times a day, but at night, it has great lights too. On big occasions, it also has pictures that get projected on a big ball of water.

Josh jumping through the little light fountain. He got wet. Then I jumped in, and Mike went in, and Magda went in. We all got wet.

This big ole sculpture thing originally had mirrors all over it, but I thnk it got hit with lightening and then there were broken mirrors everywhere. Two climbers volunteered to remove it all, so now it's a big silver stick.

Time for more beer!

Cute kids.

Then we got tired.

This was the sign that Magda and Wieslaw had for us at the airport, which I forgot to take a picture of then...so we got one a few days later!

Mom and Mart had to fly out of Krakow on Sunday, while the rest of us got to fly out of Wroclaw on Monday. So on Mom's agenda for the Saturday was to drive to Częstochowa then to Auschwitz and then to Krakow. And so we packed it all in!
Częstochowa is know for the famous Pauline monastery of Jasna Gora, and is the home of the Black Madonna painting (legend has it that it was painted by St Luke), which is a shrine to the Virgin Mary. Every year, millions of pilgrims from all over the world come to Częstochowa to see it. Magda had just been here about a year ago, as it's tradition for students to go and pray for their final exams.

The painting that you can't really see in the center of the picture is the Black Madonna, and this was where we walked on our knees around the alter...

Here's a cool statue of the beloved John Paul II.

And then we went to Auschwitz, where we had a fantastic tour guide and learned a lot. There's not a lot to say about such an event..but it was very powerful to be there.

Here's Mart eating his traditional Polish dinner of pig's foot. Yum.

Krakow has a kielbasa van. It's awesome. The two peeps just grill big ole kielbasas over a wood fire and give you a big sausage, a dollop of mustard, and a bun all for under $2!

On the streets of Krakow...

Magda, are you lonely all the way on the other side of the street?

After dropping off Mom and Mart, we wandered around Krakow for the afternoon--this store had all these cute little music boxes to play.

We had coffee and dessert at the oldest restaurant in Krakow, dating to 1364. Seriously. And they had lovely lovely drinks and coffee and desserts.

This is the Pope's cream cake!

I loved the colors and shapes of the furniture.

Josh and Magda sleeping...not a surprising thing to anyone who knows these two. But look at this couch! I want one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Magda's friend Kuba's dad has a clothing company, which is very successful in Poland. He had brought my bother Dan a sweatshirt when he visited, and I wanted to look for another one to bring back to him. So I asked Magda, who asked Kuba, who called his uncle, who called his wife, who called Magda. I expected that we were going to a store to buy things...but we actually went to the warehouse!
The boys were excited about their purchases.

Our last day in Wroclaw...we went gnome hunting! Wroclaw is a very cool city--it's been attacked and taken over by a million different peoples, and was under communist rule until 1989, and was mostly destroyed in WWII. So the gnome story... (from a city guidebook)...

Under communism gnomes became the absurdist calling card of the 'Orange Alternative' movement – an underground protest movement that used absurdity and nonsense to stage peaceful, yet subversive protests. Led by Waldemar ‘Major’ Fydrych, an art and art history student at Wrocław University, the Orange Alternative wasn’t interested in politcal ideology as much as buffoonery. During communism, any anti-establishment graffiti or public art was quickly painted over by the militia; upon seeing fresh daubs of paint, the pranksters of the Orange Alternative painted over them again with...gnomes. From there gnomes became inexorably linked with the Orange Alternative and Wrocław, though they began appearing in other major cities in Poland also. Detained in a Łódz police station for graffiti, Major Fydrych was happy to explain the gnomes to state authorities in academic terms: “The thesis is the anti-regime slogan. The anti-thesis is the spot and the synthesis is the gnome.” Spoken like a true art history student. As the Orange Alternative graduated to more happenings, gnomes began to appear in demonstrations as well: International Children’s Day on June 1, 1988, was celebrated in Wrocław by dozens of locals dressed as gnomes and smurfs, complete with red hats and handkerchiefs, while an anti-Chernobyl protest saw Major Fydrych handing out gnome-like headwear to passing pedestrians.

So there are currently over 100 gnomes (if not more) all over the city.
This guy is the Papa Krasnal.

The movie gnome

Gnome who likes to hand out money

Sisyphus-type gnomies.

Bancomat gnome. (I won! I won! Money's coming out of the machine!)

Little gnomes who can't hear...can't see...and one in a wicked cool wheelchair. You can see the wind blowing through his hair.

Had to stop and BE gnomes as well...

Why didn't someone tell me to move my leg???

Super happy sunflower carrying gnome!

I'm super sad that I'm in jail gnome.

Ok, isn't this the strangest thing ever? Those are real mushrooms (pretty ones, of course), on top of real moss, with a horse that looks like a unicorn (only because of the string). Hmm.

This is a tribute to the street that used to have all the butchers on it. So there are the animals that were butchered. But they look alive, which is much better than if they would have made slabs of meat hanging from meat hooks. Don't you agree?