We wake on our final full day in Poland to a glorious blue sky and cold air. We’re both disappointed that it hasn’t snowed overnight but hey, who can complain about picture postcard moments like these.
Our first task for the day is to walk back over to the islands because yesterday we found a cute shop filled to the brim with artsy handicrafts. The lady who was working there was so enthusiastic about Australia that we decided to bring her one of the little stuffed koalas we’ve been carrying around with us. So that meant we had the pleasure of walking back past all the churches and through the pretty parks.
We probably spent an hour at the handicraft shop. Paul loves two things: cute shops and buying gifts. So it wasn’t difficult to spend an hour and some of our last Polish zloty here. I quite like going to the shops too but I’m a bit more tight with my money.
But don’t think that walking around is a point-to-point exercise for us. We tend to get easily distracted. Especially when there are animals to be ridden.
But today’s big goal is to find as many of Wroclaw’s famous dwarfs as possible. There are over 300 dwarfs hiding all over the city (not just the center but also in suburban areas). The dwarfs started appearing in Wroclaw in 2001 to commemorate the Orange Alternative. The Orange Alternative were an anti-communist movement. To avoid arrest for anti-communist speech the movement used ridiculous methods, such as painting dwarfs as graffiti. The city of Wroclaw decided to embrace this part of Poland’s history by commissioning and displaying the first five dwarfs. Since that time, the dwarfs have multiplied both on account of the city and also private businesses who now use them as status symbols.
We bought the now out of date Dwarf map (published in 2012 and some of the dwarfs are not where it says they are) for 8PLN ($AU3.50). Despite the map being out of date, it gave us a good idea of where to look for the dwarfs and before long we’d found 66 of them (not all pictured).
We also found a double bass for me to play while we were at it.
And hung out in the pretty city for one final night.
Looking For 42 
I’m amazed your jackets look so clean with all that rolling about you’ve been doing!
The orange one is a bit gross because it’s never been washed before. But it does look clean. I need to work out how to wash a goose down jacket without damaging it. Probably a case of reading the cleaning instructions on the tag but I’ve been too lazy so far. LOL.
That’s hilarious with the dwarfs. What did you do to your fingers?
I sprained my middle finger climbing too hard