Zacopane

From Poland

So we're a bit behind in blogging but we'll try to catch up. We have already gone through Prague and are currently in Amsterdam with Jason!!! But lets start from where we left off, shall we?

After our intense time in Krakow we needed an energy booster and they way to do that for us is head for the mountains. We headed to the snowy peaks of Zacopane, which is just 100km away from Krakow. It's actually a part of the Tatra mountain range. We took an easy and scenic bus ride and landed in the town center. We had no accomodation booked and thought we'd just head to a couple of hostels we heard about and check them out. As soon as we got off the bus there were two different people offering a Pokoje, or room. Now in the States you'd be very weary of taking up this offer thinking you might end up in their torture chamber in thier basement but in Europe it's much more common. After having a complete conversation in no common language with a local lady, we were wisked away in a car and off to our room. It was heavenly!!! Our own room, our own space...not a dorm!!! It was a cute little room at the top of their attic, so the ceiling was low and slanted in some area but so cozy.

We immediately headed for the hill, literally. We went straight to the gondola that takes you to the top of the mountian. It's very much like the ones at Squaw Valley. We had to stand in line for a bit with a mix of tourists and skiers. I think that this place is a very popular vacation town for the Polish because we heard no English being spoken and really not many signs in English. That just makes everything more interesting.

As with many of our sights the ride up was just truely amazing. So beautiful. It was exactly what we needed to give us this burst of energy for this last bit of our journey. As we went further up, and with one gondola change, the scenery changed from green pine trees to snowy cliffs. It was so wonderful and different from anything we've seen lately.

We got off and hiked in the snow, with our regular shoes so I should say slid around to the top of the peak. There you could stand with half of your body in Poland and half of your body in Slovakia. Can't say I've ever been in two countries at the same time. We stayed outside as long as we could. It was sooooo cold and we began to turn pink. We looked like a couple of balls of cotton candy. The grins on our faces couldn't be wider.

We headed back down the mountain and enjoyed the rest of our time there just bumping around town.

I must go. We are headed out for our canal tour in Amsterdam. We'll be back to update you some more. Hopefully soon.