First experience in Poland

This week I have spent two days in Wroclaw (Breslau in German), in Poland, in a seminar about financial regulation. Wroclaw, which belongs to the Silesian region and which was a German city until recently, was totally destroyed after the Second World War and its population actually suffered the consequences of the war (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wroclaw#World_War_II_and_afterwards). Nowadays, it is one of the most dynamic cities in Poland (the forth one in terms of population).As also happens in Bratislava (and probably in many other cities in former communist countries), Wroclaw is architectonically full of contrasts: ten metres away from the modern buildings made of iron and glass, there are grey blocks of houses from the communist years, which in most cases are pleading for some rehabilitation. It is a rather strange phenomenon, but it may just highlight the quick transition from communism to capitalism in these countries. More shocking for me was hearing the dubbing of films on the TV: the same male voice makes the dubbing into Polish of all voices, regardless whether they are male or female characters. I guess this is also coming from the past years but, believe me, it is quite an experience.Apart for that, Wroclaw is watered everywhere by the Oder River, which later determines the border between Germany and Poland. The silhoutte of the cathedral (see picture above), with its two towers, is a classic image of the city. It is also worth a visit to the Town Hall and the square surrounded it, probably one of the largest one in Europe. The city is also full of churches (made with bricks, not with stone), what shows the strong religious devotion of the Polish. The city centre shows a lot of coloured houses and a walk is quite pleasant there. In a more banal domain, the football stadium was opened just the day before my arrival and some games of the incoming Euro2012 will be played there.Going to the conference itself, there is not much to tell. It was attended by more than 300 people from all around Europe. It was a bit more boring than I expected. Nevertheless, I could study the behaviour of some of my fellow attendants. For example, I could observe how Spanish bankers were easily to identify: they are already following the look created by Mario Conde twenty years ago... The same happened with Spanish women, all of them seemed to be standardised in their clothing and behaviour. When will they evolve (if ever), especially the men?

Just a last remark concerning the airport in Wroclaw. It is rather small and it only has a duty-free shop. That shop mainly sells alcoholic drinks, which were massively bought by the Polish taking a plane. When I say massively I mean several bottles per customer. It reminded me of a similar situation in the ferry from Tallin (in Estonia) to Helsinki.