Mam Rację

Another day is come and gone here, and it's been the best one so far.  I've had some trouble sleeping the last couple of nights (whether it's the jet lag or stress, I'm not sure), but today I got up reasonably early, determined to spend another full day out in the city, exploring and enjoying it.  I ate breakfast and left my hostel, determined to make it to the Botanical Garden today.  The garden is right near the Wroclaw Cathedral on Ostrow Tumski, so far my favorite part of this city, so I began by heading toward the Cathedral.  On the way, I got sidetracked about 8 times by beautiful things I just had to see.  One thing I didn't see, though, was a lot of people.  By this time, it was almost 10:00, and on weekdays, the streets were buzzing.  I had thought that a Saturday would mean that many more people about.  In my world, Saturdays are for running errands, and beautiful Saturdays are for walking around, so I wondered just what Polish people do on Saturdays. I was just getting to the bridge when I spotted the Hala Targowa, a beautiful old building that appeared to have been converted into some kind of market.  I stepped inside and was convinced that I had found the answer to my question.  Shopping!  Obviously, they were all shopping.  This was not just a market.  It was Wroclaw's answer to the Super Walmart: you could buy anything there.  Of course, it didn't have the same atmosphere...

I didn't really want to buy anything that I'd have to lug around with me all day, and I didn't have any plans of heading back to my hostel anytime soon, so I cleared out after a brief look around.  Before long, I was back in Ostrow Tumski, standing in front of the Wroclaw Cathedral again.  I don't think I could ever get tired of looking at it.  This time, though, I went in and paid a tiny 5 zloty fee to climb a few flights of stairs and then catch an elevator to the top of one of the massive towers.  As soon as I stepped out into the open air, I saw this:

 and this:

and a whole lot more. 

My time at the top of the cathedral convinced me that I needed to get my butt to the botanical garden pronto, so I did.  And it was stunning.  Quiet, peaceful, beauty everywhere I looked.  I wandered for hours, then found a quiet place to eat lunch and read for a while.  I stopped at the cafe on the way out and ran into a couple, maybe a bit older than my parents, who clearly did not speak any Polish.  The woman sounded North American, so I asked her where she was from.  It turned out that she was from San Diego, and her husband was British.  We talked, and laughed and made travel suggestions to one another.  Pretty soon, we'd been talking for almost an hour.  Our coffee was gone.  They gave me their email address and told me to keep in touch, and they both hugged me when they left.  It is so amazing how being thrown together in a different culture is a good enough reason to be the best of friends with people you wouldn't have had anything in common with back home, after only 45 minutes.  I was incredibly glad to have met them, because it got rid of a bit of the loneliness that had been nagging at me.  After all, how long do you think you could spend with only yourself to have long conversations with?  

Anyway, after I left the gardens, I walked around some more, I went grocery shopping, and I sat down with myself at a cafe for a while, watching the people walk by two by two, almost as if onto the ark.  Young couples, old couples, new parents, skinny couples, fat couples, pairs of young women and pairs of old men.  A deaf couple even sat next to me, and when a beggar approached everyone on the patio in turn and tried to coax us into parting with our hard-earned zlotys, the deaf woman caught my eye and made a funny face at me.  I laughed, and thought that some things are universal, whether you are Polish, American, deaf, hearing, whatever... And it was then that I first thought about how little my own troubles with language really counted for anything.  They couldn't speak or hear at all, and they'd gone into the same cafe as I had and successfully ordered coffee as well.  

Walking home, I was very content about my day, but I realized something.  I hadn't fallen in love with Wroclaw on Thursday.  That was just infatuation.  It's like the sexy stranger you want to know better, but who intimidates you a bit.  Love requires knowing someone more.  And I want to love Wroclaw, which means I've got to get to know it better.  I've got to reach out and really explore and see it for what it is.

To that end, I've got to run now.  I'm going to find a new bar and grab a drink with my new Canadian friend, who I just met in my hostel common room.  More later!