November 27, 2017

Wroclaw

I've changed my address at least once per year since 2011. I moved once again, and now I call home Poland.

It started as a failure — I was rejected from a university due to my "lack of talent". Now I know it was one of the best things that could happen to me, as it pointed me to a world of possibilities I couldn't even imagine. After experiencing people and places across the US, EU, and recently China, I opted to keep the wheel spinning, and after a few layovers across countries, I was sitting in a bus heading to Poland.

Suddenly, we got lost somewhere in Germany, and I thought, "We are reaching an age where even a toilet paper holder has a GPS receiver, but a big bus company can't manage to drive through a city?! How hard could it be?" But no bother: headphones projecting decibels of Joy Division didn't allow any distressing state of mind.

"A change of speed, a change of style, a change of scene, with no regrets..."

"Oh yeah, it is not my fight that we just entered a one-way street in the wrong direction," I concluded. "I am excited. Properly excited. I scored a place in Poland through the Erasmus+ programme for student mobility, which paid me to come and learn new stuff in the city of Wroclaw. "How cool is that! There is yet another chapter of life ahead of me, and I feel keen to experience it." A sense of freedom soaked my mind, balanced the universe; all was good in my world. Wroclaw, here I come!


So aye. I've been here a bit, and without a surprise, I took some pics. Here's the first batch..

Downtown

Wroclaw is...

...the fourth-largest city in Poland, with a population of ~700 000.

It's almost becoming a pattern; prior to this, I stayed in the 4th largest city of the Netherlands and Scotland.

...with a neat city center

13th-century city hall on the main square.

...A place with many landmarks

Sky Tower (2012), the tallest building in Poland by the height to the roof.

As the second tallest building in the city is more than 100m shorter, the Sky Tower dominates the skyline like no other.

Another set of good orientation points are local church spires.

The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, also with roots from the 13th century, is one of over 70 churches the city has.

Church of the Garrison, as seen through the gate of "Hansel and Gretel" houses.

city's power station. Another landmark.

...Atmospheric

Jewish cemetery

...colorful...

...also as grey as it gets, every now and then. That's not a complaint tho.

Students' dorms "Crayon,"  the second tallest building in Wroclaw.

Grunwaldzki bridge

..cool to walk through

..a city with many interesting corners to explore

...in motion.

..a fine place to be.


Thanks for reading! If you liked this post, you can check out more photos from Poland, or visit my Blog Archives for different places and topics.

Published by: Jakub Stepanovic in Collections, Stories

 

    Comments

    Lesli Bremer
    February 10, 2018 at 16:21

    You brought Wroclaw to Missouri, enjoyed reading and viewing.

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