Wroclaw, In A Nutshell

So, it's been four days since I got off the big red bus in Wroclaw and quite frankly, I haven't felt this much in love since I was 19 years old. This place is, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful cities that I have ever seen.
On Wednesday morning I started teaching at 8am, and so went into town earlier and set about finding cheap food and coffee. I walked towards the giant McDonald's sign and found myself in the main square. Holy crapballs it is beautiful, and it was the best way to start my first day of teaching in the new city.

Some of the beauty in the main square.

Teaching in Wroclaw was lovely and on the Wednesday night my Krakowian flatmate, Danielle arrived which made my life even more fun in Wroclaw. We spend Wednesday eating the worst Zapiekanka I've ever experienced but that has been the only bad moment of our little holiday.
On Friday our holiday properly began and we went on a little adventure to Wroclaw's zoo. It turned out to only be 5zl each to get in as a lot of it is in disarray due to them building a new building.  It did not disappoint though. The minute we walked in the entrance we saw giraffes running by, causing us to scream and run towards the non existent ticket queue. They had the best reptile house that I have ever seen, with pythons, cobras, alligators, CROCODILES and a myriad of other animals. We saw a pirahna in the aquarium along with sting rays and Nemos. Then after all that we found seals, monkeys, lions, tigers, elephants, bears, and wolves. I imagine in summer it would be an amazing place to go as even in winter with very few guests it was a bloody good day out.

This meerkat is the most relaxed animal I have ever seen.

I made friends with a horse.

We had a staring competition with a pirahna.

I wasn't sure what the sign said in Polish, but I got the gist.

We're basically identical.

He was basically awesome.

A seal photobombed us.

So yeah, essentially Wroclaw zoo is amazing. On Friday night we just chilled out at the flat and had an early night. We had no desire to go out and drink, all we wanted was bed and a movie. Getting old I say.
Today (Saturday) we started our day by wandering down to tourist information to pick up a free map of the city, which we didn't use. Instead we decided to walk towards the river and keep walking along until we found an island which our Wroclaw flatmate had told us about. It was stunning, just a small island in the middle of the city with a monestry and a nunnery, and one of the most outstanding churches I have ever seen. For just 5zl we got to go up to the top of the tower where we had a panoramic view of the city, where I professed my undying love of the city.

Sadly no camera could do this justice.

 

 

The big church, the tower on the left is the one we went up.

After that we walked back across the Lover's Bridge. We read online that they're planning on getting rid of all the padlocks as part of their renovation of the city. That. Cannot. Happen. There were so many, and whilst it's corny it warmed my cold cynical heart.

I tried to be all cool and photographer esque.

After that we wandered about Wroclaw a bit more and then headed back to the flat. It sounds sad but all we wanted was some peace and quiet and chill time with our favourite TV programmes. Krakow's flat doesn't have real wifi so we have been taking full advantage of it.
Before we headed back to the flat though we went up to what looks like an outdoor theatre next to our flat. It's pretty run down but looks pretty cool. I have no idea what it's called and I can't find anything online about it but apparently prisoners were kept underneath it. So it probably wasn't an outdoor theatre but it looks like it.

It's fallen into disarray but it's still pretty spectacular

If anyone can translate this from Roman numerals for me that would be fab.

Ok, so I have just found some info on it, so if you fancy reading about it then get google translate open and have a gander :) http://klejne.pl/portfolio-view/wroclaw-ul-piotra-skargi-18-wzgorze-partyzantow/

So yeah, we've just come back now from having a drink with a few of the teachers here and now we're getting ready to journey back to Krakow tomorrow morning. Winter break is officially over and planning is going to bring us back to reality with a bump tomorrow. To sum up, being able to come to Wroclaw before I go home has been amazing and I know that I will be back. Maybe even as a teacher... who knows?
Wroclaw, I love you. Krakow, bring on the last two weeks!