Fiona w Polska !

2009-05-19T16:22:00.000-07:00

Disko Disko Partizani !

“I’m a single leg! I’m a single leg! I’m a single leg! I’m a single leg! who o o – ooooo – ooooh – who o o – ooooo – ooooh – “ Rings a bell ? Beyonce obviously! Well the slightly altered version of it that we mistakenly made up on Saturday. Our mixed-up version of Beyonce’s song was 1^st performed in Lemoniada in Wroclaw. “I’m a single leg, I’m a single leg, I’m a single leg, I’m a single leg….! Our single leg got really jiggy with it, tripping the light fantastic and had a few of us shaking legs and toes and moving them in circles on the dancefloor. It was only the following day that these bizarre but well performed lyrics were rectified by our friend. We had actually been dancing to Beyonce's “I’m a single lady” and had quite naturally transformed the whole tune into a grotesque but revolutionary single-legged performance. This was in Lemoniada, crowning a week-end of fun-loving music at Salvator, Maniana, Il Gusto and MTV Dance channel hit listening in the mornings with a bunch of friends visiting. Salvator is a bar in the basement of a building comparable to Maniana just off Plac Solny, not to be confused with “Salve” in the same area which has a door so could appear to be the Salve-Tor one’s looking for – Although it has a door (Tor in German), Salve is not Salvador... So when you do get to Salvador's door expect to be swirled into a wild atmosphere of Balkan music and jump to Shantel’s gypsy electronic beat & "Disko Disko Partizani"along with the tireless crowd.

Goran Bregovic’s Kalashnikov will also have you jumping with high-energy, pretending you are blowing in a trumpet part of Goran's 40 -piece band and orchestra – and with pride! Highly recommended! After Salvator (and not Salve) follows Maniana where the London Beat song “I’ve Been Thinking of You” pretty much sums up our mood and moves at that stage on the stage and on the table.

To put it in a nutshell – as the French would say – in a week-end in Poland you can find an unlimited variety of music in many places. You’ll enjoy the music here for its variety and number of festivals and for the people who love to dance! Be it salsa, rock, electro, (Juwenalia 2009 was great!) classical, world music (Salif Keita is playing soon), there are plenty of musical events to have your week and week-ends shaking your “head, shoulders, knees and toes” and leg. To put it in another nutshell, here’s this week-end’s top 10 eclectic mix:

Shantel – Disko Partizani + A remixed version
Kalashnikov – Goran Bregovic
London beat - I've Been Thinking About You

Michael Mind - Show Me Love
The K.I.G Family: Head, Shoulders, Knees Toes
Tinchy strider Ft. N-Dubz : N°1
Dizzee Rascal – Bonkers
I’m a Single Lady original version of I’m a Single Leg
Journey – Don’t Stop Believing
Sticky Fingers – Rolling Stones: Here’s Moonlight Mile for the album cover (related to the fashion in Journey's "Don't Stop Believing")
(+1): Calvin Harris – I’m Not Alone

Noon

So I went through the list of Polish musicians on Wiki and here’s the very eclectic & electro-classic-jazz-rock selection I made (I need comments to this post and people's top of the list musicians!):

1. Noon (musician): Really like it !! Songs to listen to Satori; Esiane; Why Be Good; Studio Games
2. Władysław Szpilman: Beautiful classical
3. Jakub Rene Kosik: Yes ! Live@ Water Festival V
4. Czeslaw Spiewa: Highly recommended
5. Myslovitz: Several nominations including the Music Awards 2000 and 1st place as Best Band in the Tylko Rock Magazine: Dla Ciebe
6. Walek Dzedzej: Walek Dzedzej - Dom Wschodzącego Słońca
7. Jacek Lachowicz: Skaczesz
8. DJ Tomekk: Dj Tomekk ft. Kurupt, G-Style, Tatwaffe - Ganxtaville Part 3 (not too sure about the other tunes...)
9. DJ Adamus: Hi Fi Superstar (not too sure about the other tunes...)
10. Jacek Kochan: Nice & jazzy
11. Grzegorz Nowak
12. Bogdan Raczynski: Whooo quite strange

The full list of Wiki (some I didn't get to find a tune) :

A: Andrzej Kozakiewicz, Nelly Ben-Or: Couldn’t find anything, B: Marek Biliński: Ok I suppose, Wojciech Bobowski: Couldn’t find anything, Jan Borysewicz: Interesting; Robert Brylewski (nothing found), Tomasz Budzyński: Nice Anielo, mój aniele; C: Mike Chlasciak: For fans of Metal I suppose; Grzegorz Ciechowski: Interesting; Henryk Czyż: Łódzkie Smyczki - "Canzona di Barocco" - Henryk Czyż; D: DJ Tomekk: I like, Dj Tomekk ft. Kurupt, G-Style, Tatwaffe - Ganxtaville Part 3 ; DJ Adamus: Hi Fi Superstar: I think it could do for a dance; Walter Dana; Jurek Dybal; Walek Dzedzej: ; Walek Dzedzej - Dom Wschodzącego Słońca Really nice music ; Andrzej Dziubek: hmm Not my cup of tea; F: Kazimierz Flatau; Franciszek Ksawery Matejko; Funky Polak: Pamietaj: Not gone but I suppose for fans of rap music especially ; G: Krzysztof Grabowski; J: Jacek Lachowicz: Skaczesz: Like it ! ; Jakub Rene Kosik: Yes ! Live@ Water Festival V ; Lech Janerka: ROWER 2005, I can imagine quite popular but not my cup of tea… ; Paweł Jaroszewicz; Julian Piotrowiak; K: Kayanis: Hmm no not my cup of tea… Reminds me of Aromatherapy music…; Wacław Kiełtyka; Witold Kiełtyka; Zenon Kitowski; Jacek Kochan: Nice & jazzy ; Józef Koffler; Adrian Kowanek; Tomasz Krakowiak; Paweł Kukiz: Hmm the one I listened to wasn’t convincing; Gabriela Kulka; Andrzej Kurylewicz; L: Jacek Łągwa: No; Wanda Landowska ; Gustaw Lewita; Anita Lipnicka: Quite nice; Alexander Lipsky; Sławomir Łosowski: Not really; M: Maciej Maleńczuk: Nice ; Myslovitz: Several nominations including the Music Awards 2000 and 1st place as Best Band in the Tylko Rock Magazine; N: Tadeusz Nalepa: Hmm not my cup of tea; Czesław Niemen: Quite nice ; User:Ek8/Sandbox; Noon (musician): My favorite so far !! Satori + Noon Esiane + Noon Why Be Good+ Noon Studio Games; Novika; Adam Nowak; Grzegorz Nowak: Nice, ; O: Oktawia Kawecka; P: Jan Kanty Pawluśkiewicz; R: Bogdan Raczynski: Whooo quite strange: ; Mikołaj Rej; Artur Rodziński; S: Krzysztof Skiba; Józef Skrzek; Ireneusz Socha; Czeslaw Spiewa: Yes nice; Kazik Staszewski: Nope didn’t like the song I listened to; Stanisław Staszewski; Władysław Szpilman: Beautiful; T: Roman Totenberg; W: Adam of Wągrowiec; Bronisława Wajs; DJ Wajs: Heave leszno; Franciszek Walicki; Z: Andrzej Zaucha (singer)

2009-05-10T16:52:00.000-07:00

Dresden Fred Ferkels

"The time has to come, ' the Walrus said, 'To talk of many things:
Of shoes - and ships - and sealing wax -
Of cabbages - and kings -
And why the sea is burning hot -
And whether pigs have wings.'"
-Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

« I really love the pigs!» she announced enthusiastically while we were sprawled across the grass overlooking the Elbe. “Did you actually notice that their ears have a cherry and apricot flavor?” she said chewing one of the pigs’ ears. The bag of Fred Ferkels was nearly empty, just like the creamy fruit drops we had bought in the Markethalle in Neustadt that afternoon. The Sekt & Becks were also gone, the sun had set, and the conversation, just like the quote above, had jumped from the beautiful architecture in Dresden, life in Wroclaw, Erasmus experiences from Finland to Slovenia, to the taste of pigs and the importance of regularly buying shoes, so we set off for the Biergarten to have a rest.

We hadn’t planned at all for the trip to Dresden – apart from the type of transport, departure time, our friend’s Hans Riegel Bonn shopping spree + place to dance – but expected a nice day which developed unfathomably well according to 0 plan. We had been told during the week that Dresden, just 3 hours away from Wroclaw by train (Dresden is 200km from Wroclaw, 100 from Leipzig, 200 km from Berlin to the north and about 150 km from Prague), was a beautiful place so we were confident the day would turn out as sweet as a Fred Ferkel pig. Our “plan” consisted of waking up at 5.45, getting to the station to catch the early 7am train and returning the following day at the same time after a night of gypsy-electro music at Salop. Unfortunately after a 10 hour walk across the city, just like the pigs, our legs were gone.

In one day, you can really get a good feel of the city. With just over 500 000 inhabitants it is very spacious and not in the least overcrowded. The train station, newly renovated, with nice white walls, glass ceilings and redbrick in the inside, is at the top of Prager Strasse, one of the busiest part of the city with many shops, impressive Buchhandlungen, shoe-shops, … and one of the longest buildings in Europe.

At the end of the street, we arrived at a square where some sort of a fair was going on with many stalls offering generous amounts of Würsten, Ofenkartoffeln mit Kräutern und saurem Rahm, tasty Kürbiskern und Käse-brötchen, Pflaumkuchen and of course, liters of Bier vom Fass.

On the left side of the Elbe, is the historical city center with a great number of historical monuments. Despite the 2^nd world war destructions, Dresden has preserved many historical landmarks thanks to reconstruction such as the Frauenkirche. I was mostly impressed by the beautiful renaissance/baroque-style architecture of the Semperoper, a stunning rectangular monument with a walking path on the top level, crown door on the center left side, with gardens and fountains in the bottom center. The Semper Oper was built between 1838-41 by Gottfried Semper, rebuilt by his son Manfred around 1878 and was completely reconstructed after WW2.

On the other side of the Elbe, Neustadt, the newer part of Dresden, less organized and tidy, has a chilled alternative atmosphere to it with a mix of baroque architecture and modern buildings, plenty green areas, cafés, bars and nightclubs. A good place to hang out and go dancing at night provided legs are are still there.

A few other facts to keep in mind about Dresden and for future visits:

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden

-63% of the city is composed of green areas and forests;

-Kirchner, Otto Dix and Oskar Kokoschka (yes Kokoschka!) were some of the renowned painters to have lived and worked in the city.

2009-05-03T09:00:00.000-07:00

ZooVodka

“It goes down far too well” said Dandelion after waking up with a feeling like his head had been hit by a metal bar. “I feel like a caged puma” he continued lounged on the sofa, hinting to the daytrip we took the previous day to the Wroclaw zoo. Sprawled out on the couch, it seemed to have an improving effect on his state of mind. Dandelion also had a theory about having a bath to cure a hang-over which he took that same morning. “I could never practice it in my own apartment. My theory is that if I take a really really long bath it will cure a hang-over and clear headaches” he explained with a calmness that seemed to prove his theory correct. So that was the following day after our experience of the Wroclaw zoo and a night of Polish dining, beer and vodka tasting in the Jewish quarter and Maniana .

The zoo was built in 1865 and is Poland’s oldest and largest zoo with supposedly 3000 animals according to the Lonely Planet guide (the Wroclaw in your pocket guide states 6000). We had heard mixed opinions about the zoo and was curious to see the animals, the location and size. We were thrilled to see the kangaroos, elephants and giraffes and had a good laugh.

The walk there is really nice and takes about 1 hour from Rynek. The first left side part of the zoo seemed to be the hot spot attracting a string of romantic young couples lying on benches and gazing at each other on a background of ponies and scraggy looking goats - mainly ponies. The deserted look of that first part was quite suspicious considering our expectation of 6000 animals. The wild looking grass and the fields of dandelions was a particular highlight and the giraffes enjoyed eating them.

Overall I would recommend a visit.I got to interview my visitors about their experience. « There wasn’t that many things » commented one young visitor in a rather disillusioned tone. Another continued: “There wasn’t that many animals, the lions and zonkies were replaced by horses, and cows, several various breeds of cow and the same gazelle was in half a dozen enclosures“ . Having said that, some did admit to being quite impressed by the variety of monkies in their cages and green parks: “There was an amazing amount of baboons” one pointed out enthusiastically. The pouting tiger was one favorite animal and the puma. The elephant was also one of the favorites and the giraffe did win our admiration when it actually turned around when hailed “wait wait, 2 secs”. The visitor could happily take a picture of his lovely long neck and head while standing beside his house with gigantic doorway. The tasty looking leg of the ostrich was another spectacular event while we were sitting on the terrace of a snack. You should have seen it walk along with his fluffy back flaunting his generous long and unfathomably muscular legs. People actually started making jokes about it saying it would make a perfect piece for a summer bbq… No wonder there were not that many animals... While some wondered why they had “cloncked a cafe beside the stinkiest part of the zoo”, people put their thumbs up for the beer, another favorite!

2009-04-21T16:04:00.000-07:00

2. Something new I'm working on, 3/05/09

1. Owl on Rynek, 21/04/09

2009-04-20T15:55:00.000-07:00

Niebieski (blue), zolty (yellow), czarny (black), czerwony (red), zielen (greek), rozowy (pink), a few colours I selected in the painting area of Empik on Saturday. Empik is a shop comparable to Easons. With its good supply of painting material, it is 30 seconds beside the flat I'm living in so I can just step in the back of the shop to reach the arts & crafts area, which is great! So I went down that morning to buy my colors for a painting of a few buildings on the Rynek applied on fluorescent orange paper. I’ll post it soon - I've included a well known owl that appears on numerous walls throughout the city - the meaning though I still haven't found. The architecture of Wroclaw buildings is really interesting and they are very colorful so a nice subject to paint; some actually remind me of the buildings in Konstanz - Baden-Württenberg.

The Opera is also a beautiful building in the classicist style. The Wroclaw in Your Pocket guide explains that “It appears that 1725-34 were the years when opera became truly established thanks to the presence of Italian Operatic troupes in the City”. A few friends and I, went to see Nabucco. The music, singing, theatrical performance, stage set were captivating. The guide also highlights the fact that “The thing that sets Wroclaw Opera apart from other opera companies is its productions of unusual operatic events including its staging of operas outside of the theatre in parks, city squares and even the cloisters of the National Museum”. The one draw-back though was that subtitles were in Polish only, so without a good synopsis, any non-Polish speaker would feel quite lost in translation.

The National Museum by the Odra has a very interesting and one of the largest collections of Polish art. Again, its architecture is really beautiful and sort of has a castle feel to it: A Dutch Neo-Renaissance architecture of the 19^th Century covered in ivy with a heavy wooden door one needs to push strongly to get in. It was really quiet when I went there on Sunday afternoon on account of the nice sunny weather. I decided to stick to the 2^nd Floor to have a look at the 17-19^th Century Polish art and also Modern and contemporary. I found some of the contemporary installations rather disturbing especially those of Wladyslaw Hasior. My favorite picture would have been the one of 2 children looking at the scenery with their back turned to the viewer (just above). The works of Hendryk Rodakovski, Witold Wotjkiewicz, Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz and Waldemar Cwernarski are also really interesting. Hendryk Rodakovski’s self-portrait (beside the 2 children) were also be on the top of my list as well as “Death of Acernus” by Wilhelm Leopolski. Like the Opera, the one draw-back of the museum was that none of the explanation leaflets were in English, so I didn’t get a full grasp of the meaning of some paintings – especially the contemporary pieces which of course, appeared highly profound and symbolical. In my ignorance, I would still have to admit not being over enthusiastic about the contemporary pieces apart from a few sculptures like the group of racers in the picture below. I think they were at some point exhibited outdoors.

Marathon movie nights seem to be quite popular in Wroclaw. 2 friends and I, went on the Friday night marathon, consisting of 3 Woody Allen movies – Cassandra’s Dreams, Match Point, Vicky and Cristina in Barcelona. It was in Multikino on Paza Gründwalski, a student and shopping area close to the city center. Despite our eyelids falling on a few occasions, I was quite fascinated by our level of concentration throughout the event which lasted 6h30 - from 10pm to 4.30am! I suppose the fact that the 3 addressed similar subjects and philosophical questions about life in general (the dramatic tension between passion and reason, destiny and life breaking decisions, morality versus career and success, "erotic tension", social expectations), and the theatrical play in each of them, made it a good combination. For horror movie fans (on my not-to-do list though ) – horror movie marathons can also be done. Helios is another good cinema to go to in Wroclaw with a good list of movies in English with Polish subtitles.

Last but not least ! I got to further explore the lively and late nightlife in Paparazzi, Novocaina and Lemoniada, 3 places worth going to for great cocktails, tasty food and a long night of energetic disco dancing. “Find a hyper cool crowd of platinum airheads and local hotshots dressed in collars and cufflinks in one of the best bars in the city” is Wroclaw in your pocket guide’s description of Paparazzi. As one can easily guess by its name, this bar is recommended for its glam chic celebrity atmosphere, food & cocktails. “I wear my sunglasses at night” was one of my loved hits played in Novocaina, one of the crowded nightclubs on the Rynek. But Lemoniada being more spacious actually allowed a few of us to experiment with a mix of tecktonik & breakdance gestures on the Polish dancefloor ! It actually appeared to fit in quite well with the energetic bouncy and drunken atmosphere of the club, all the more considering as past 2 or 3 am, you can probably be successful in any type of dance or move. So that sort of broke the pattern with my regular shaky but fun salsa attempts in La Maniana :) And of course, among others, vodka, like a red bull at the gate, had put an astonishing effect on the crowd with no moderation !

2009-04-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

“Really Fiona, they have no mercy”, she declared with a voice that carried several years’ experience of public soaking. “Really, especially the groups of boys carrying their big buckets; really I’m telling you”. I was warned. Śmingus Dyngus would get the better of us. Śmingus Dyngus is a traditional water fight on Easter Monday where anyone can experience getting drenched or shot with water pistols on Rynek and the public space in general :) The actual origin of Śmingus Dyngus goes back to the middle ages. I was told that for a woman, being soaked was extremely flattering as it is a sign that she is found attractive. In fact, Śmingus Dyngus was traditionally a day when men would soak women in recognition of their beauty:

“Back in those days the boys would pour water on the girls and they would often decide beforehand how much of their bucket of water should be poured on each girl. The number of bucket loads of water that were poured on a girl was a good indication of her popularity. Therefore if a girl had not had a proper soaking it was a cause for great sadness. There were even occasions when a girl’s parents would take offence and refuse to give any donations: “Our daughter hasn’t been drenched, so you can jolly well move along”, they would say to the boys collecting for ‘dyngus’” (www.polishculture.co.uk).

So I went out on the Rynek on Monday morning to have a little look at what was taking place on the square but to my surprise and admittedly, to my great disappointment, I only saw a couple of kids carrying empty water bottles, and a second group close to the bridge near Ostrow Tumski. I suppose, Easter Sunday and Monday were extremely quiet days and it was probably a little early in the day. (One of our Salsa nights out was actually canceled on account of the Easter celebrations).

As the Wroclaw In Your Pocket Guide puts it, “As a deeply Catholic country, Poland takes its Easter celebrations seriously; this is no place for the Easter Bunny”. Of course, the most typical event for families is to bring a colorful decorated basket of eggs and food to the church to have them blessed. I happened to be on the Rynek in Krakow with a few friends for this event and spotted indeed many people carrying little straw baskets covered with embroidered white cloths. I managed to get a close look at the content of one basket which contained a sausage, bread, eggs, a piece of mazurek cake, and a salt seller. (It can also contain horseradish). I found out that Eggs and meat are symbols of fertility and health, salt protects against bad spirits and helps one follow the right path, bread represents the body of Christ and cake skills and talents.

Over the last week, I discovered the Jewish quarter in Wroclaw and the white stork synagogue (including some really nice cafes where you can sit out and order nice hot chocolate), Ostrow Tumski, the Botanic Gardens and a few of the urban paintings by the bridge close to Galeria Domenikanska including graffiti of howls.
The murals by the cross-road close to the National Museum and fun fair are quite interesting:
Finally, an early trip on the train on Saturday brought us to Krakow, from which we went on a tour to Auschwitz and Birkenau. The time spent in Krakow was short but we got to spend some time on the beautiful Rynek and walk around the market around the evening. I recommend the tour, spare me the comments though... And Krakow is on my list for one of the next city-breaks!

Here are a few more pictures on picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/fiona.vanbrabandt5/WroclawKrakow#

2009-04-05T12:14:00.000-07:00

Dzień dobry! Well after a few days of getting mixed up and saying “dziękuję” (thank you) instead of “dzień dobry” (hello), receiving puzzled looks from passers-by, I’m proud to say I’m now getting in the swing of Polish greetings, with 3 variations on my list: Cześć (hello), dzień dobry (good day) and dobry vieczór (good evening)! I’m actually taking evening classes on Tuesday to brush up on my Polish ;) They started off this week with learning numbers, and playing shop-keeper roles selling oranges (pomarancza), kawa (coffee), for up to 100 złoty. “Trustkawka kostuje 100 złoty”: “The strawberry costs 100 złotys”. (Youhou! that'll get me singing strawberry fields in Polish before you know it! Not that I’ll be using this one sentence now, but strawberries will be out sometime soon in April :)). Funnily enough, I was asked how long had I been learning Polish or had I practiced it in Dublin! I guess it was all the long hours trying to decipher the diacritics in the Polish alphabet that paid. So at this stage, I've gathered a few of the basics in Polish for socializing, numbers & dates: Tak (yes), Nie (no), Proszę (please), Dziękuję (thank you), Proszę (you're welcome), Przepraszam (excuse me), Nie rozumiem (I don't understand). My survival kit also includes “I love electronic music” (lubię muzyka elektoniczna)! So I'm looking forward to broadening my level of polish :) Of course, a good mix of English, German & Polish can get you around pretty well.

The city is really interesting from many perspectives. One of the things I felt in particular is the street art vibe. This morning for instance after taking a few pictures yesterday of 3 murals in parts of the city across the Odra, I discovered that they had been painted by the Italian painter Blu that I had once been inspired by and reading about when I returned from a trip to Berlin (the painter of MUTO the mural in Buenos Aires, find more on blublu.org). I remember being so influenced and excited about the atmosphere and amount of street art I had seen in East Berlin. As the Wroclaw in your Pocket guide puts it “Poland has a long, lauded tradition of graphic art, which continued to flourish under the constraints of communism”. In July ’08 actually, the first street art exhibition took place with 20 of Europe’s renowned street artists invited. This is how Blu painted his 2 murals, the man sleeping on a pillow of money and the women wearing a white dress of locks and bolts. Apparently also Remed, a French painter and designer has done some large and captivating murals here. This is definitely something I will be looking into next. A few ideas have also propped up in my mind for paintings that I’d like to do while in Poland including one inspired by the cast iron animals, and possibly gnomes and façades on the Rynek.

The cast iron animals, a memorial of “slaughtered animals", is in the Stari Jatki alley-way which was once the main street for the meat industry with stalls of carcasses of butchered animals. This industry is long gone now, and the street has this nice sculpture of a few pigs, goats and ducks as well as lots of little artist studios. I really enjoy walking through the passage literally 1 min beside where I live.

The gnomes and dwarves also make the city very arty and amusing. These little creatures lurking at you at a random street corner. There are 15 in total, with the last one unveiled last year, sculpted by Tomasz Movczek, a graduate from the Wroclaw Academy of Fine Arts. (Supposedly they speak German, Czech, Latin or French and would have appeared in the 8th Century, in reality the first gnomes appeared in 2005). These gnomes are to be placed in the context of anti-communism and anti-establishment forms of protests (such as graffiti or public art) and have been associated to the Orange Alternative. At that time, the militia painted over any forms of protest and paintings on walls. In response, a group of people started painting gnomes over the militia’s fresh paint and this is how the gnomes have remained an important symbol for the city. I’ve seen a few including Spioch, the sleeping gnome, the traveller and Szyfki pushing a granite ball.

One of the nicest places to see in Wroclaw is the Rynek which is the heart of the city. The Town hall is located there and you can find many restaurants, cafés, markets (including the 24hour 7 days/week flower market) and events there. With 25° this Saturday, it was bustling with people in cafes and restaurants, walking by in shorts and skirts. 2 weeks before it had been snowing in Wroclaw!
Nightlife and restaurants: So far I have been to a few places, all of which I would recommend. The prevailing music & dancing here seems to be salsa, you can find it on a Tuesday evening at 9 Brama on the Rynek. My favourite place so far has been Maniana. The eclectic music there is definitely what makes its great fun & exuberant atmosphere. On Friday, the place was packed with people dancing on couches and others playing music with foldable chairs. Be prepared to boogie on Rage against the Machine, Edith Piaf’s “Milord”, Tiga and Vengo. “Love is in the Air” really set the place on fire with exhilarated people pretending to throw dusks of love in the air to the ceiling. Of course, the bar, packed with people - some wearing rabbit hears and dog collars (yes lots of hen and stag parties here as well) fuelled the place and atmosphere and I found out that you can get Desperados in Poland!

The restaurant scene is very varied ranging from Polish cuisine to sushi and Italian restaurants. Interestingly enough, the only types of food missing is Indian and Thai.

* Here’s the link to my pictures on Picasa: http://picasaweb.google.com/fiona.vanbrabandt5/WroclawWeek1#

* Find out more on Wrocław on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wroc%C5%82aw