Wroclaw

So I arrived in Wroclaw (still struggling to work out how to pronouce but have been told "pronunciation is Vrotzwarve, rhyming with 'starve'") on Friday afternoon. 

The bridge event would last a minimum of two days and a max of a week depending on how well we did. The only other time we had played the event the format was different and we ended up surprising ourselves and others by winning our qualification group and then losing in the first knockout round (64 teams). Here the qualification would only be the top 32 teams and would be very difficult.

The venue was slightly out of town, but good playing conditions and it was great to be playing live bridge again, with screens, against good opponents and with good teammates/friends. As a team we started slowly and never really got any momentum such that qualification soon became challenging and by middle of the second day impossible. We played some decent teams but did not play as well as any of us would have liked - at events like this you get penalised for mistakes which otherwise might not be punished. Surrounded by a lot of professional teams as an amateur team you need to start well, get some momentum and play with a bit of luck. Not this time.

So from Monday onwards, the choice was a consolation pairs event or some sightseeing - and the latter was a more appealing option. Wroclaw is quite a small town, with an interesting history and whilst not full of "things to do" listed on Tripadvisor enough to keep you entertained for a couple of days. The rain, much appreciated across the whole of Europe, continued over the weekend and on Monday, so my first free day was spent walking around taking in the sights, in between coffee stops. Tuesday the weather improved and so i decided to take in some of the local museums which were covered by a ticket costing c £10. This provided access to:

The Panorama of the Battle of Raclawice - i struggle to remember where i have seen something similar (i think it could have be in US) but it was a panoramic picture covering a battle in the late 18th century. There was a good english audio guide available which provided some background to the battle - my knowledge of Polish history is not good but i think this is one of a number of conflicts with Russia.

The National Museum - mainly 15th to 19th century sculpuure and art - not surprsingly with a catholic influence

The Four Domes Pavilion - very entertaining modern art gallery

The Ethnographic Museum - small museum covering history of local people and migration

Given that i did not know with certainty how long the bridge would last - and what else there might be to do in Wroclaw - the hotel was booked until Thursday and my next train booked for Friday night from Krakow. So i decided to leave a day early, take the train to Krakow today (Weds) and then stay in Krakow for 2 nights. A day trip is booked on Thursday, which will leave me 1 1/2 days to see what Krakow has to offer.

Photos of Wroclaw- be warned they are not edited so may contain multiple/poor photos

Podcast of the day : Tailenders

Currently reading :  David Baldacci - The Escape

Currently watching : The Staircase (Sky Go)