Wondering Wrocław: The City of Gnomes

May 27-29th, 2019

Age: 14 Months

Cześć from Poland! Wrocław to be exact, which is a city in Western Poland on the Oder River. In 2018 it was rated one of the top cities to tour, and it didn’t let us down.

I was immediately entertained by the 300+ gnome/dwarf statues throughout this city…such cool little friends for me to keep spotting along the way. They started as political symbols and have now emerged to be a standard throughout the city where many businesses have sponsored one by their location (e.g. one looking in a mirror outside the dermatologist office).

We had a ~4.5 hr ride to cross into Poland (Grandma let me sample an ice cream cone en route!) and arrived to Wrocław near dinner time, so after checking into the hotel we got out to explore the area nearby for dinner and very quickly came across the old town square. I was infatuated with the wooden spinning wheel at the center of the lounging area right next to a very ornate church. This area was very charming and surrounded with little huts of souvenirs, and food. We decided after a short stroll, to eat a collection of the street food – I enjoyed chowing down on polish sausage, pierogis, potato pancakes, pork kabob, and even tried my first taste of sauerkraut (ok Mom & Dad, you were right…this stuff is delicious). It was a really nice, comfortable evening so we had fun checking out all the stands and Uncle Jeff had a local blacksmith carve my name in a horseshoe to take home. Mom, Aunt Jacqueline & Grandma picked out some Polish clothes with pretty flowers to wear around town…I like touching the flowers in their hair!

The next day we had a yummy breakfast at a local cafe where I enjoyed playing peek-a-boo in the shiny display case with Dada as we awaited our meal. Although they say it’s yummy, I think Dada wishes he could get a bigger cup of coffee here 😉 We walked to “cathedral island” following a leisurely morning and got to see some really cool bridges along the way. The bells ringing from all the churches were very nice to listen to, and outside of the gnomes I’m also having fun looking for more birds (mostly pigeons). For the afternoon, the family decided to see more of the city through a vodka tour with a local tour guide – this was so cool! I got to go along for the ride where I tried more authentic food (including pickled herring – I’m a brave little guy), learned about life during communism and the transition to socialism, and drank my water from shot glasses so I could say “nostrovia!” with the adults. The tour guide even showed us a photo that’s commonplace in Poland that got me thinking…why don’t I get pet fish for our bathtub? Then she kindly educated us that they eat these fish, so they don’t get to be pets too long. I guess I’ll go back to asking for a dog. Following this interesting afternoon/early evening, our tour guide booked us a dinner reservation for a fantastic favorite of the locals…I dug right in by grabbing an apple from the fruit bowl on the table, tasted a hearty polish soup, potatoe salad, boiled potatoes with fresh dill and couldn’t get enough Gołąbki (stuffed cabbage). Unfortunately, the rain detoured us from going to see the big fountain/light show (supposed to be even better than the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas), so we wound down over a drink at the hotel where I was eager to say “cheers!” again (I’ll have to teach my friends at school about this when I return!).

Before departing for our next city, I grabbed an extra yummy breakfast with Mom & Dad at a local cafe where they kindly sliced a banana for me in my own special bowl! On our walk back from breakfast I also got to meet a couple more gnomes, spotted the Teatr Lalek (Puppet Theatre), and saw the local firehouse. Seems like a city we’ll have to get back to one day!

Ps. Mom & Dad are so proud of me for being such a good traveler! On top of the time change and late nights, I’ve managed to have 4 new teeth (3 molars) break through and only had one night where our sleep schedule was disrupted.

Most helpful products for this trip:

• Fisher Price Two-Grip Travel Sippy Cup – largely more spill proof than most and durable for packing.

• Osprey Poco – was perfect for easy up/down steps and to run in the rain!

Miles Logged To Date:

By Car: 3,209

By Plane: 14,320