Laurie in Poland

day trip to Zakopane

If you've read previous postings, you'll remember that I've mentioned a town down near the Slovakian border, in the Tatra mountain range, called Zakopane. It's portrayed as a jumping off point for skiing, hiking and other outdoor pursuits. I've wanted to go, and finally did, yesterday, Sat, July 1.

Accompanying me on the trip was Bridget, one of the other volunteers. She's young enough to be my daughter, and reminds me of my niece. We set off at about 8:30 on the tram to the bus station. Standing, waiting to get off the train, an old Polish woman must have felt I was invading her personal space, because she swung her plastic bags firmly against my knees. Glaring followed, but we agreed not to start WW3 since both countries have so much troop strength in Iraq.

We boarded the bus and things were pretty uneventful until the 2nd unplanned stop, during which nothing happened. Turns out the bus broke down. This gave the local sheep's cheese entrepreneurs cause for celebration and they wheeled their little mobile shops out to those of us who were hoping another bus would take pity on us. One did, but not before we were able to score some of this extraordinarily delicious cheese.

The second bus pulled into Zakopane simultaneously with the rain clouds. We were both fairly unprepared; for some reason I had worn sandals and Bridget was hatless. We were also mapless, but the less-than-friendly tourist specialist directed us to the town center. Through the heavy rain drops, providence shined on us, leading us to a fabulous local restaurant. On the menu, as a hot appetizer, was "grilled regional cheese with cranberries." For 6 zloty (2$) we got a small plate of about 6 slices of the gooey, golden cheese, with chunky cranberry sauce on the side.

After lunch, we wandered around the center, looking at tons of vendor stalls. Cheese, shoes the color of cheese, wood products the color of cheese, puppies, and lots of other stuff was for sale. We wound up at the funicular station (look it up) and hemmed and hawed about taking the trip up the mountain. The rain had stopped, but the skies were still cloudy, so we didn't think we'd be able to see much. To kill time, I took a bathroom break. I don't know if I've mentioned that in some bathrooms here, there is an entrance fee. At the one outside the funicular station, the price was 1.5 zloty, which, all things being equal, is very expensive. But oh, the service I got!! The attendant sprayed the room with air freshener, did a quick cleaning of the immediate area and pronounced it spotless. And it was, truly. A finer bathroom experience in Poland I don't think I've had, except outside the internet cafe I'm in at this very minute: no charge and the whole room is marble.

Anyway, the took the plunge for the ride and I'm glad we did. On the way up, we started talking to a woman who lives in Atlanta who's from Kirkwood MO (a STL suburb about 10 minutes from where I grew up). She and four friends from Atlanta are here and were very pleased to hear about what we're doing. After taking pictures of all of them with all of their cameras, one said to the others,"I'm amazed the way Dorothy makes friends so quickly!" And Dorothy said, "well they speak english!" Yeah, not too funny now, but it was at the time.

Bridget convinced me that we should take a ride on the Alpine slide they have at the funicular stop (along with ice cream shops and pizzerias and sunglasses huts). We did, it was fun.

Zakopane is a place you could stay in for days, but with the dismal weather, our interest waned at about 4 hours. The trip back was uneventful.

Back in Krakow, the Jewish festival ends today, but last night was a giant free concert under the stars. It was packed, but amazingly, we saw about 4 people that we know. We stayed there about three hours and made our way back to Patria.

Tomorrow starts my last week here. A lot of mixed emotions.

posted by Laurie Sabol @ 7/03/2005 04:16:00 PM