Gnome hunting...Go figure

Last weekend we took out first adventure outside of Warsaw... OK our first driving adventure around Poland anyway. We decided to make the 4 hour trek to Wroclaw (by the way I have no idea how to add in the little pronunciation marks on the letters for Polish words so once I figure that out I will have to update posts). We woke up and were out the door by 10 am last Saturday. Which is actually what we were aiming for. A complete first for us! Little Lady was a champ for the drive but I guess after 12 hour drives this summer she can handle 4. We arrived in Wroclaw and found our hotel. It was ok on first inspection. Nice enough. Not the best but definitely not the worst we have ever been in. I mean I was not afraid to take my shoes off or anything. So we basically dropped everything off and headed into town. We were hungry and anxious to explore this great city.

This is a beautiful city from what we could see. It was a gorgeous sunny and even warm weekend (in the 40's) so we were able to enjoy a lot of what the city has to offer even though it was only February. Upon walking into the old town we decided to grab some lunch and see what we could find. Well it didn't take long and we found the bubble guy and there went the rest of the day. lol Actually we probably spent at least an hour as Little Lady ran around chasing bubbles and eventually she was brave enough to even try making them herself. The guy was really nice and even spoke English! Once we were finished playing with the bubbles we continued to wander and we started our gnome hunt or dwarf hunt, depending on who you ask. The Wroclaw Dwarfs started in 2001 with a statue that was to commemorate the Orange Alternative Movement. In 2003 the mayor of Wroclaw put up a plaque at knee height at the dwarf museum and from there it spread. In 2014 there were over 300 of the little guys located throughout the city. Though mostly in Old Town. While we did not find anywhere near 300 we did find a bunch of them and Little Lady loved the challenge of spotting them. She was even willing to get into a few pictures with them. We eventually walked back to the hotel to warm up a bit and rest before finding some dinner. We had dinner at an amazing polish food place. It was pretty cheap, huge portions, and delicious. A bit slow on the service but we made due. It was also Valentine's Day and the place along with almost all other restaurants we saw were slammed with people. Who knew?

This kid loves bubbles. 

She only wanted to try it if I would help her.

I was just as amazed as she was. I love bubbles too!

She finally got it to work

Old town Square-Rynek

On the Gnome Hunt

Ok, I won't put every picture of gnomes on here but here are a bunch of them

Time out from gnomes for bunnies, goats, pigs...

This one Little Lady says is her favorite. They are a pair of gnomes stealing chocolate and ice cream from the candy store

The Town Hall

We may have crashed a baptism as we went in to see this beautiful church.

Sunday we woke up and knew that we were going to doing something fun for Little Lady. We headed to the Wroclaw Zoo. This zoo is the oldest and largest zoo in Poland. It was founded in 1865 and is home to more than 850 species and 7000+ animals,insects,fish,etc. (Check out those Wikipedia facts. lol) Anyway we had heard about this zoo from a Facebook post and wanted to check it out. Also, it just opened a new exhibit this past fall called the Africarium (Africa Aquarium) that was supposed to be amazing and we needed to see it. So we arrived at the zoo around 10am and had no trouble getting parking or getting in. We happened to walk by the Africarium first and decided to just start there. This place is AMAZING!!! It was a huge building in which we spent 2 hours alone. We walked along the path and "under" the Red Sea to see the fish and coral. We saw hippos, manatees, seals, crocodiles, and penguins swimming (all separately of course) above and below the water. There was a rain forest/ jungle to walk through and even some hands on spaces. We made the decision not to check our coats or stroller. We probably should have checked the stroller as there was only a few small and very slow lifts but we were here early enough in the day that it didn't seem to matter and the wait was short to use them. As we were leaving the place the line was filling the atrium to check coats and then the line was wrapping around outside the building to get in. We were very grateful we started here! We then headed out to see the rest of the zoo. This place is huge. The exhibits are some of the largest we have seen especially for Europe and in comparison to the number of very healthy looking animals in them. The primate area has obviously yet to be renovated as it was the one area of the zoo that is a bit sad. The animals are in small cement cages with a branch or a tire for something to do but that is it. Judging from the rest of the place it can only be a matter of time before this area is renovated too. As we were leaving the zoo around 3pm the line for the Africarium was wrapping through the zoo and out to the gates. There were even people still in line to get tickets to the zoo and it would be closing at 6pm! This place must be a come early if at all kinda place in the summer. We headed back to the hotel to rest up for a bit then head into town for dinner. We had heard some amazing things about a Czech restaurant and we wanted to check it out. We arrived there at 5:30 and it was already really busy. We ordered food and shortly after placing her order Little Lady crashed. She was sound asleep in my lap through dinner. She has never done this before in her life but I guess a night of bad sleep and a day in the sunshine at the zoo will do that to you. So she was out. We enjoyed a great dinner without interruptions and oh my heavens the stew that S had was to die for! I liked my pasta too but oh man I want to go back so I can order that for my dinner. After our fabulous dinner in which we were over stuffed, we decided to try an ice cream place near our hotel for dessert. I know it sounds crazy but this place had a line outside of it before it even opened, on a Sunday, in Poland, in February of all things! It had to be good. So upon seeing no line when we returned we decided to try it. It was definitely good stuff. I had cream ice cream. Yeah I know it sounds strange. No flavoring, but it was delicious. I had wanted vanilla but they didn't have any so I tried the cream. Just imagine cream soda type flavor. I liked it. S and LL had strawberry and it was almost a gelato type texture full of berries. It was also amazing. LL would not share a bite with me but S did so I could try it. We had 3 scoops of ice cream, 2 cups and 1 cone all for 10zlt or like $3! You cannot beat that. I have no idea how this place even makes money at prices like that but it was great.

These are pictures from inside the Africarium

Walking along the Red Sea. You go in a tunnel and everything

The tank is huge with tons of sharks, rays, and fish

Sometimes you just gotta wink. 

Checking out the hippos from above

You could also see them underwater but they were a bit far back in the tank for pictures

This place was huge...walking to the manatees

Stopped to visit a Crocodile first

Enjoying the desert area. There were supposed to be aardvarks on display but they were burrowed down in their dens. Which you could see when you went back down the stairs.

Watching the penguins dive

Playing in the touch pools

Finally getting a snack. They ask for no food throughout this place and she was dying by the time we got to the end. 

I told you that place was big....the rest of the pictures are from the rest of the zoo.

Not that we do not have a thousand pictures of Zebras and Giraffes but look at the size of their space! This is only half of it too!

Starting to get into a silly mode.

Found another Gnome

Even the animals were loving the warm sunny day

The Two- Toed Sloths were actually moving around!

This is their space. It is just a bunch of branches and ropes hanging from the ceiling in a building. They can't get anywhere but have tons of places to move. We had to remind ourselves to not actually touch them we were that close.

Little Lady wanted to take pictures this trip. Here is one she took of S. She is pretty good!

There were lots of little baby animals around the zoo

S decided to name him Borus...or your worst nightmare...he is kinda a freaky goat/sheep thing that was in the children's zoo

So cute! But hey I am partial

The animals we all active and were quite close to the people

It was feeding time for the Rhinos

Another picture LL took. She said we needed a picture of Elmo enjoying the ducks on the pond.

After taking millions of animal pictures over the years we have started to work on practicing detail shots.

I have to laugh. Across the path are lions, we could have pet the rhino if we wanted too and this is where they put the one and only warning sign we saw in the whole place!

This is the line for Lody Naturalne...on Sunday...at 3:30pm...in Poland...in February....

The next morning we packed up and checked out of the hotel. We took a quick trip over to Hala Targowa. A local produce market. We love walking through markets and wanted to check this one out while we were here. After a short trip and one cookie purchase later we were on the road. We had a very uneventful drive home and returned to spend the rest of the afternoon playing in the toy room and just relaxing from the weekend. It was a great trip and we cannot wait to go back when it is warmer and for the Christmas Markets next year. We have heard this is one of the best ones and we want to check it out.

Now for those of you curious about where we stayed: It was Hotel Tumski. Don't stay there. Upon further inspection of the room (at 10:30 at night) the sheets were full of holes, the bathroom door handle was broken so it would not lock or latch, the beds were so hard I was in more pain in the morning than I was when I went to bed, it was across from an abandoned building, the trams shook the place when they went by. It was a bit less than we had expected. The reviews were great online so I am sure it has been padded by the staff. The price was alright and the reason we chose it was they gave us parking cheap compared to everywhere else. Now we know and we won't make that mistake again.

GREAT FOOD PLACES:
 Kurna Chata is the Polish food restaurant we went to. The pierogies were amazing as was the stew in a bread bowl. S liked his Salmon too. They served LL the biggest cheeseburger ever and she happily ate half of it. The service was slow but the food amazing. I am still dreaming of these pierogies

Bernards (this one is located right in the old town square) it is the Czech place. It is a 3 story building, great food, lots of variety on the menu. They even have a kids menu! In case you go and want to order S's dinner. He had Svickova na smetane in other words,,,roast beef in a cream sauce with cranberry jam (sounds weird but works) and Czech yeast knedel (bread)

Lody Naturalne: This is the ice cream place. It is located across the bridges to Cathedral Island. We were staying over this way or we never would have found the place. If you are visiting the island totally worth the stop