Close to Plac Grunwaldzki, where my sister lives, the city has let young artists have a go at some boring conrete under an overpass. In my view, this has resulted in a vast aestethic improvement over the previous look of this place.

The final Christmas Day picture: Wroclaw's cathedral as seen from my sister's 11th floor balcony. Note that one of the towers is being renovated. Since the fall of Communism in 1989 Poland has probably spent more money on renovating churches (and building new ones) than on roads, hospitals and other pieces of public infrastructure. A reasonable person might question those priorities, and many Poles do, but such is the political influence of the Catholic Church. More on this theme on the following pages.