Friday 15th July - Gora Swietej Anny to Swidnica
Just as good things come to those who wait, good things come to those who wash. I decided to use the free shower offered by the landowner and if we had understood his welcoming we probably would have known that the free wifi password was written on the inside of the bathroom door, that the rubbish would be collected at 10.00am and that he would start the tractor at 7.30am and therefore he apologises in advance. At our last camp Roger took a punt that the wifi code was on the back of the registration form; yes, success! When you can, you take the free internet on offer because you can get a few FB games in at somebody else’s expense.
For those like us, who have little or no Polish language, Gora Swietej Anny translates to Saint Anne’s Mountain. There are a number of churches, memorials and seventeen little chapels scattered among the trees on the hill. The town also gets lots of pilgrims on a pilgrimage because the church and chapels are arranged on the hill in such as way to imitate Calvary, being the hill in Jerusalem where Jesus Christ was crucified. Just like the cross statues at the Jasna Gora Monastery, the Catholics walk the trail of the chapels and pray at each one, which is just big enough to contain a life sized scene of compassion. Apparently an imitation Calvary was instrumental for pilgrims, who couldn’t get to Jerusalem when it was under the rule of the Turks. So even though this town only has a population of 600 it gets a fair few pilgrims who brave any weather condition for their faith, a bit like Warriors supporters.
Our journey today is to take us to the large city of Wroclaw as we head slowly back to Germany. It will be a slow journey as we travel over the small cobbled and rutted roads of Poland. They are lined with forests which have interesting sights. Little lanes disappear into the forest, sometimes occupied by cyclists and walkers (a long way from towns) and of course prostitutes. After the rough ride into Wroclaw we parked out of town and tried to navigate our way to the town centre by bus. The bus driver took us two stops for free and then tried to direct us by another bus; however we found walking the rest of the distance easier. We visited the old town square, the Catholic church (no surprises there), viewed the architecture, viewed the monument to an anonymous passer-by and photographed just a few of the 200 or so bronze statues of dwarves that are randomly placed throughout the city.
As it was getting late and the weather looked like turning bad we nipped into McDonalds where I caused production to come to a halt (Assistant's Note: See photos on 17/07 for more halted production). On the automatic selection system you get to choose your Happy Meal toy and they didn’t have that particular toy. After some discussion they agreed to compromise with the discerning diner, however finding that customer proved slightly difficult when they were asking her to come forward in Polish. I accepted the substitute toy and the mashed banana in the squeeze tube.
Our camp tonight is in the lovely area of Swidnica. Like every other Polish town it claims to have the oldest or most beautiful something in all of Europe. We are staying in a small camp joined onto the swimming pool and sporting complex.
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Brass statues everywhere!
Idiot!
Old Town Square, Wroclaw
Old Town Square, Wroclaw