Today I set off to visit the Museum of Telecommunications here in Wroclaw. It
was just a few blocks away from the main square (Rynek). Muck of the walk was
along pedestrian malls. As I was passing the Galeria Dominikariska, I decided
to pop into this modern three level shopping centre. It is flash and modern
with the sort of shops you would find in any similar centre around the Western
world. The only thing for me was that because if was Polish it was more exotic.
The feel of the place was more exciting than just being in, say, Botany Town
Centre.
There was a huge electronic store which I would love to wander around in, but
not this time.
The guide book said to look for a building with a lot of satellite dishes on it
and that would be were the museum would be. It also said that Wednesdays were
free but I still got charged 6 zloty to get in and another 4 zloty to take
photos. It is a pity that the video camera ran out of storage space as I had
leaft the spares back at the hostel. I did get a few shots. And I took stills.
So what do you get to see? Room one was a collection of every Polish postage
stamp ever issued. That's a lot for a country that has come and gone in
existence since the first stamp in 1860. The stamps feature insects, old
paintings, sports, space achievements (USSR) some of Lenin and other
politicians, ships and other transport means, traditional clothing and
buildings, industrial. But I was unable to find any on photography, film or TV.
And I did look closely. They did have some of the plates used to print one stamp
issue on display and perforating blocks which I found interesting.
In the foyer they had a case displaying stamps in 3D and embossed stamps and
also a set of stamps of painting where you could swear that the oil paint was
fresh on the stamp.
The next large room was given over to the Pope his visit, vestments and all
thing Papal. So many stamps with the Pope on them, coins and plaques etc. Sort
of over kill I thought – but amazing. The Pope has as much pop culture and
souvineers based around him as any top film or pop star . I had never really
thought about that. In the midst of the display they had a section on stamps
with a religious theme and in this I located 6-8 New Zealand Christmas stamps
from past years.
Next was a display of old posting boxes and postal metal notices. Strangely, it
was interesting.
Then into a room with examples of telephones over the century. From the earliest
to mobile – but the display of these was a bit behind the time. Quite a
fascinating room to wander around though.
The next room displayed ticker tape machines or all sorts from the earliest to
electronic models. Interesting that they were still making mechanical ones into
the 1960's. There were some railway Morse tape machines as well. I have never
looked at a range of these before.
Finially I was taken down a floor into a locked room. Here the first thing I saw
was a mid 19th century mail coach. What an impressive thing this was complete
with two compartments it could carry 23 passengers. The poor horses that had to
pull this. Then there was an enclosed horse drawn Polish postal van from 1925. I
sort of thought it was strange to be using horses into the 20th century, but
then I remembered the hose drawn milk deliveries and council street gutter
cleaners' carts of my childhood.
Also in this room there were models of postal coaches from other countries.
Across the room was a 1935 radio station with the huge glass valves needed for
the transmitter, prototype TV sets and a disk cutting recorder which could be
as late as the 1950's except it had no date on it.
After the visit and the door was locked again – I was the only museum visitor,
I went up to the 3rd floor cafe. I suspect it was mainly for the workers in the
building and the only food was being served out of a hole in the wall from the
kitchen. Coffee was instant. So I had a bottle of orange juice and then went
down to a seat in the adjoining park to eat my banana for lunch. There are
certainly lots of parks in Polish cities and they do seem popular.
The Internet weather forecast had suggested there was very little chance of rain
today although the skies remained dull. I choose to leave my raincoat behind. OK
you guessed it. By the time I had reached the town square the lightening and
thunder started and the rain poured down. Of course I got soaked as the shops
do not have NZ style veranda. Many if not most people were able to magically
produce an umbrella. Perhaps the ones who didn't were the tourists? I got to
the hostel and had a chance to dry out and warm up. Now an hour or so and a
Nescafe later the rain has stopped and folk down on the street are jacket-less
– well some are. So time to go out again, visit a supermarket and explore a
few more streets.
OK – back in the hostel again and judging by the girls' screams and the young
boys in a near by dorm – there is a school group staying. Not surprising
really as there are groups of school pupils – mostly younger ones – all
over the place except at the Telecommunications Museum.
I have wandered around some nearby back streets and ended up having a dinner at
a Georgian Restaurant. It seems common here to sell by weight. So my meal was
460gms/160gms. That is the plate weighs 460gms in total and of that the meat is
160gms. It all came back to me from previous trips. My meal was pork fillet
which had been soaked in red wine and then covered in Georgian cheese. Not too
bad. Vegetables were shredded carrot, a few tomato slices and sauerkraut. I
could then choose rice or fries. I thought potatoes were more likely Georgian
than rice. I also had a couple of glasses (they were only 100ml carefully
measured out) of Georgian re wine. Much to my surprise it was OK although I had
never heard of the grape variety before.
Back to the hostel in a light drizzle, collecting sparkling water and yogurt on
the way. This is a sparkling mineral water lovers heaven. So much to choose
from but some is owned by Coca Cola and another by Nestles.
I haven't mentioned before that Wroclaw has a population of gnomes. Yes that is
it gnomes. Apparently no one knows how many or where they came from (if the do
they are not saying). However the gnomes can not be moved. They all have names
as well and inhabit the central area of the old town. The sample one I have
chosen to show is outside the old prison.
Which is where some noisy children outside my door would be better housed!
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