Sunday, 10. July: Church and Conversation

We went to the home church where our friends worshipped.  Wendy was kind enough to translate the songs for me, and someone translated the sermon into English which we listened to on earphones.  

After churchwe went to the  local  shopping  mall so that Kristen could replace her jeans and her sandals.  On the way back we drove past the 14 bronze statues at the street corner of Pilsudskiego and Swidnicka about a mile south of the Market Square.  An internet search informed me that the official name is “Transition” by Jerzy Kalina.   These statues, the prototypes of which we had seen in the museum, are apparently symbolic of the Polish resistance and the proclamation of martial law in 1981.  

A Polish couple came over for dinner so that we could talk to some real Poles. It was very interesting.  I believe they were in their early 40s, so they would have grown up before 1989 when everything changed.  
I don’t remember the entire conversations, but here are a few things that jumped out at me:
*Poland wasn’t communist; they were socialist. (makes me interested in understanding what Communism really is;  I wish I had thought to ask him.)
*Americans are good at organization but they don’t take the time to get to know the culture they are interfering with.  He excluded our hosts from his general caricature.
*What Americans perceive as confidence, the Poles perceive as arrogance. Poles walk in with eyes down to show they aren’t arrogant.
*He dismissed the Germans summarily:  “ What do you expect with a country who elects a man like Hitler?”  Neither the Germans nor the Russians treated Poland well in the past, so it is not surprising that hard feelings still exist.
*The wars in the Middle east are bad. We should let countries sort out their own problems. Yes, people will die but not as many as would die from the resulting war.  Americans are too impatient and should let people sort out their own problems.  I would have liked to have asked about WWII, but I was interested in hearing his perspective, not in arguing.
*The Europeans would have done a better job of protecting civilians than the Americans have.
*Americans only think of the future, never the present or the past.

Saturday, 9. July: Wroclaw Part IV

The final stop was a park with a needle column surrounded by columns going nowhere.  Nearby is The Centennial Hall (Hala Ludowa), a building built in 1913, the first building made with reinforced concrete., a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2006.  Behind that are the Japanese Gardens also built in 1913 as part of the Centennial exhibition in Gardening Art.  It has female cascades on one side, gentle and slow, and on the other side male cascades, torrential curtains of water  A wooden chapel from the 1600s stood in the part, this one moved from Sweden, but apparently similar to Protestant chapels built after the 30 years war when the Catholics gave them a bunch of rules (things like “no nails”) which were designed to make it difficult.  

We had a traditional Polish snack of waffles and watched a water show before we headed home. What a great day!

Saturday, 9. July: Wroclaw Part III

Next we went to the Katyn Memorial commemorating the 22,000 Polish Intelligentia military leaders who were murdered and dumped in mass graves in 1940 by their professed Russian allies.  The entire Polish leadership killed in plane crash in 2010 on the way to celebrating  the 60th memorial of the massacre  This was the first time the Russians had made a public statement of apology for the massacre--or even acknowledged that it had happened.

After that we made our way to the Panarama builging, a huge painting of the 1794 Battle of Racławice where Polish peasants clobbered the Russian army--albeit temporarily.   This huge painting is 15 feet hight and 114 meters in width.  Artificial terrain blends with the painting, making it seem more lifelike.  The Panarama was opened on the 100th anniversary in 1894 in Lwow.  When Lwow became part of Russia after WWII, the painting was shipped to Wroclaw.  Not too surprisingly the Russians weren’t anxious for the Poles to display the painting, so it was poorly stored until 1980 when a new round building was built specially for it and it was carefully restored.

After this we kayaked on the river--lots of fun, the first time I’ve been in a kayak. First we rowed to the little bronze statue of the gnome doing laundry.  and to many of the bridges we had crossed earlier.  

and then spent some time at the National Art Museum.  I was surprised to find that I liked the modern art most, the briefcase with the surprise inside, the people going into the sidewalk (prototypes for the outside sculpture Transitions by Jerzy Kalana which we saw the next day), and the big boots.  

This is a private party which had rented out a boat. They shared their music with everyone.  

After that we walked past the Ukrainian Monument.  “If we forget about them, God will forget about us. “, a reminder of the Ukrainian Polish conflict during WWII--apparently the Poles didn’t have enough on their hands fighting the Germans and the Russians; they also were fighting the Ukrainians.

Saturday, 9. July: Wroclaw Part II

On one end of the “island” is St. Martin’s chapel, the only part left of a former castle.  It was the town chapel built in the late 10th and early 11th centuries.  In the late 13th century a small brick Gothic church was erected.  This sign on the wall reads:

We are Poles.

The  faith of the fathers is the faith of our children. 

 Pole to Pole, we are brothers.  

Every day serve the Polish nation

.Poland is our Mother. 

We are not allowed to speak badly of our mother.  

~Laws of a Pole.

Not only was Catholicism allowed to exist, but this statue of the pope was allowed to be built.  Poles were treated differently than other Communist countries.

Residence of the archbishop of Wroclaw

St. John the Baptist Cathedral. St.John is the patron saint of the city so this is the main cathedral.  It is on the original island, Tumski Island, the first building to became brick in about 1200.  Everything else was wood..These used to be stone lions but they have disintegrated somewhat since it is considered good luck to rub them

.Before and immediately after WWII

We took the elevator to the top of St. John's Cathedral, seeing the alligator downspouts. Since it was exactly noon, the bells rang both chimes and songs for about ten minutes. Very cool to be right next to them!The round building is the Panorama building that we went to at 1:30.Church of the Holy Cross 

Inside St. John's:  War damage: 

St Giles' Church, erected in the 1220s, is the oldest late Romanesque church in Wroclaw preserved in its original form.  Door:Inside: 

Immediately outside is the dumpling gate--which depicts the story about man whose wife made dumplings.  She died and he was very sad that he had no more dumplings.  A genie brought him a bowl which would continue producing noodles as long as he didn’t eat them all up.  He did, and a noodle was placed on top of the bridge as a reminder of the consequences of greed.

Grunwalski Bridge