Meyricke Serjeantson

Dec 26
Olesnica to Wroclaw

The morning dawned with some gentle snow falling. I balanced my alarm clock, which has a thermometer attached, on the balcony and it soon showed a temperature of -6. Feeling thus encouraged, I put on all of my heavy clothes and packed the rest into my suitcase. Checking out was very easy and the cost was £35 a night. Whilst the stale tobacco smell was annoying, it was pretty good value.

	Outside the hotel, the pavements didn't appear to have been sanded, salted or gritted. Within a minute, however, I encountered a lady in a high visibility jacket, scattering sand out of a bucket with a trowel. By the time I had dropped my case and readied my camera, she had vanished behind a block of flats. On the other side of the road, however, a Land Rover hove into view driving along the pavement, with a man heaving sand out of the open rear door with a shovel so I took a photo of that, instead.
Weather station on the balcony	Mobile gritting truck

Back at the house, breakfast followed. Lots more meat, both hot and cold sausages and a bowl of salad, a mix of egg, sweet corn, pickled celery and some sort of mayonnaise. My weight, when I return home, should be interesting.

I had another lengthy discussion, this time about the impact of the recent mass Polish immigration to the UK, both on the UK and on Poland. I'm not sure we came to any conclusions but it was fun.

Another snowy walk	And a snowy drive into Wroclaw

We said our farewells and both Valerie and Wladyslawa shed a tear. We drove with considerable care along the icy roads the 30k to Wroclaw, and parked on a snowy side street. When I pointed out to Richard that he hadn't applied the handbrake, it was explained to me that the snow would hold the car in position and if the brake wasn't applied, it couldn't freeze into position, thus completely immobilising the vehicle. Silly me.

The Hostel was on the top floor of an oldish building. It was very basic but also very clean. All of the essentials were there but absolutely no frills.

Outside, the city was beautiful. Lots of wonderful buildings surrounding a series of squares. It has to be remembered that the majority of them are copies of the originals, often constructed from the original drawings, as much of the city was razed in WWII. We wandered around and found English, Scottish and Irish bars as well as other cafes and bars of every creed and colour. There was a pair of conjoined old houses, which were quite sweet and called Hansel and Gretel houses. they were built in the 16th and 18th centuries respectively.
	We walked into the city
Place Solny - Salt Square

	Wroclaw City Hall
Hansel & Gretel House	And the clock

Outside the restaurant, we had another round of farewells, with the family returning home, leaving Valerie and I to fend for ourselves in the big city. As she had the map, I let her lead and we wandered through the University Quarter to the banks of the Odra River, which flows through the centre of the city.

There are many small islands and we crossed a number of them via a network of bridges, both pedestrian and vehicle. Crossing the roads was a slow process as the lights seem to take an age to change, far longer than in either the UK or New Zealand.

The Odra River	Wroclaw Cathedral of St John the Baptist

When we arrived in the city, it was -4 but, with the afternoon sun fading, the temperature was falling fast.

The Odra River
The trams thunder past	Wintry scene by the river

Returning to the hotel for a rest seemed to be a good idea so we headed in the right general direction and did lots of window shopping on the way. Lots of the prices seemed good, particularly the glassware. Unfortunately, the realities of getting it back to the UK, let alone New Zealand, prevented any actual purchases.

Outside the hostel, Valerie commented that the ground shook whenever the trams went past. Once inside, it became apparent that there would be the equivalent of an earthquake every few minutes until the trams went to bed for the night. The first one was quite unnerving and my thoughts went straight back to New Zealand.

I discovered a problem I have often faced in the tropics - but in reverse. My camera lens froze to death outside, meaning that when I brought it into my nice, warm, hotel room, it instantly clouded over. When I tried to take photos of my room, I had to wait for a while.

	Dwor Polski Restaurant
Night time decorations in the square	Pheasant pate

Our search for a mulled wine failed at the posh hotel restaurant in the square but Valerie seemed reasonably happy with a Krupnik, instead. The place was hosting two wedding parties so was quite busy. One of the happy couples arrived, were greeted with glasses of vodka, which they downed and then smashed the glasses behind them. I'd only ever seen that done in the films. The food was OK, my pork in grey sauce (gravy) being particularly flavoursome. Valerie tried the pheasant and wished that she hadn't. With her cold coming on, we returned to the hotel to rest and write diaries.
	Farmhouse salad
Pork in grey sauce	Beetroot salad