So, as you can probably tell by the complete lack of recent posts, I’m still finding it extremely challenging to be creative.  But, last weekend I ventured outside of Warsaw for the weekend, and was so inspired. 

I headed over to Wrocław to meet a friend of mine who was in town from Estonia.  Our plan included hitting up Beer Geek Madness 5, a beer festival happening in town, but everything else was pretty much open.  Because there was a good bit of free time, I decided to look up some info on Wrocław, to have some more ideas about what there was to do.

It didn’t take long until I saw the city referred to as the City of Dwarfs.  But I kind of glanced over it, thinking “oh how quirky” but not really taking any interest in why it is call that.  And then about an hour after meeting up, he asked me if I had seen any dwarfs, and I was intrigued by why the dwarfs kept coming up.  And then- we saw one!

And all of a sudden it became quite clear why it’s called the city of dwarfs.  The city is crawling with them.  What started as a nod to a 1980’s anti communist group, the Orange Alternative, in 2005 has become a tourist attraction with more than 350 dwarfs scattered around the city.  Here are a few of my favorites.

My dwarf spirit animal.  Chilling out, eating ice cream.

This dwarf with a flower was hanging out next to a fountain.

And nearby, this water pump dwarf was soaking up some sun, perched atop his water pump.

This one actually surprised me a little bit.  Not sure why I assumed dwarfs would not be tech savvy, but seeing one with a computer definitely made me look twice.  I still can’t imagine garden gnomes are computer literate, but I guess I really don’t know for sure.

These two are probably the most famous dwarfs in Wrocław.  Based on the story of Sisyphus, they endlessly push on this huge boulder.

Papa Dwarf is also very famous (and naked) in Wrocław.  He’s much bigger than all the other dwarfs.

I love how sassy the apothecary dwarf looks.  She does not have time for your whining.

And finally, the ultimate show of friendship and cooperation.  What to do when the beer bottle is bigger than you are?  Find a friend to help you pour, of course!

Finding the dwarfs was really fun, but Wrocław was just a really pretty city, even without the added fun.  I really enjoyed my weekend there.

One thing that I definitely liked was the street musicians and performers in the big squares.  Specifically fun, on this first weekend of really beautiful weather after a long cold winter, were the bubble guys.  The kids were having so much fun running through all the bubbles.

Additionally, as if all the above wasn’t enough, I even found a mural by one of my favorite street artists, Blu.  As soon as I saw it in the distance, it was so recognizable as his work that I went darting off to take pictures.

More info on Blu can be found here.

Such a fun weekend, to say nothing of the phenomenal beer festival.  This place was huge, and catered to so many different tastes and palettes.  I’m not the beer-iest person, but there were so many to choose from, it was impossible to be disappointed.  There were tons of beers from brewers throughout Poland and northern Europe.  There were a variety of food trucks and vendors, and section for cider, several stages with live music, and even a guy selling delicious alcohol based ice cream.  The prosecco was great, but the apple cider sorbet was amazing.  So so good.

If you’re in Poland, and Wrocław isn’t on your agenda, it should be.  Lacking all pretension and crowds, this is a fun city filled with cute cafes and bars.  I’ll be back soon!