Wroclaw

hello hello. I am in Wroclaw, Poland (pronounced Vrotswav). For those who don't know, my tabla-playing-musician-uncle's wife is from here, and they have been staying here a few months so I decided to pop over for a vist since I was in the neighborhood :)

Wroclaw is a large city, much bigger than I expected, but the old town area is very lovely with gorgeous architecture. Today I walked all over the place (i think most of my entries say this...) and alo visited the Botanic Garden which was really spectacular. I've been to enough on my trip now that I can compare and pass judgement on which are the best! Having Yashoda as a guide has been great, it's a nice change to have an insider's view of things.

I planned the visit just in time for a huge concert they are putting on tomorrow in collaboration with some flamenco dancers and Andalusian musicians. I get a VIP seat and I'll try to make myself useful as a roadie :) Right now I'm hanging out in a hotel where the Sarod player from India is staying; the three of them are starting to rehearse for tomorrow.

It is very interesting to be in a place where I speak absolutely none of the language aside from "good day" "please" and "sorry" (the three most important words, in my opinion). Everywhere I have previously traveled I've gotten by on my Spanish, or limited French, or the closeness of German and Dutch to English; in Prague most people spoke a little English and I had a Czech friend to help out and here I have Yashoda. Still, it is always amazing to me how much you can communicate regardless of having common language - I've learned that my skills in Pictionary and Charades are actually very important travel tools!

I only have a week left of my trip, the day after tomorrow I will head to Berlin in time for the May Day festivities, and then I fly home on the 5th! Can't believe it's ending already, but I am looking forward to Seattle summer and my trips to NV and CA!