Thursday - Zakopane

Thursday

Today was our whirlwind trip to Zakopane, the winter capital of Poland. It is situated in the Southern portion of Poland in the Tatra Mountains. We had a private tour scheduled and they came to pick up 8 of us in a 17 passenger mini-bus. Needless to say, we were very comfortable. I say 8 of us because once again, we were fortunate enough to have Adam come along with us. Our guides name was Pawel and he worked for the "Cool Tour Company" in Krakow.

Our day started with breakfast once again provided by Pan Toto. A beautiful spread of donuts and meat/cheesed sandwiches, tomatoes, and cucumbers. At 8:30 we were met at our front door by the mini-bus and we were off. The ride to Zakopane is about 2 hours long. It might have been shorter but traffic was heavy today. The first thing we did when we arrived was to take the gondola to the top of one of the mountains. This after a 2 hour wait in line...totally worth it! When we got to the top, we were surrounded by multiple mountain tops, snow covered and absolutely beautiful. Everyone but me (mom) went on a walk to the top of one of the side peaks. I didn't go because I am afraid of heights and I am darn happy I made it as far as I did. Even Grandma made it all the way up to the peak and back down again. Although, she came down earlier than the rest because the kids were making her nervous on the top of the peak (another reason this mama couldn't go up as well).

After the gondola ride, we walked through the main street of Zakopane where Alex found a great present for Bry ( I won't tell you what it is in case Bry is reading this!). It was time to eat so we were taken to an authentic highlander restaurant. Zosia and I had potato pancakes with goulash, Alex had chicken, Rob had a kabob of some sort, and Daniel, Ally, and Grandma all had Russian pierogies. I think Daniel is going to make himself sick on all the pierogies he is eating.

Grandma K and I also had an amazing appetizer. It is smoked sheep cheese, cut into slices and fried and served with a cranberry sauce. It was excellent. We are going to have to find some smoked sheep cheese at home and try to replicate it.

On the way home we made a brief stop to watch a wayward cow jump around on the highway...the owner came sauntering down a side road with 2 additional cows on ropes, not seeming to be in too big of a rush to gather the one cow who was stopping traffic.

We also stopped at yet another church the Pope John Paul II visited. It is a very big deal to the Polish people that the Pope had visited a specific spot. We also see many plaques with words from his speeches printed them. While at the church, we saw another gathering of cows, about 10 of them being herded down the middle of the town's main street!

The only advice I would give on Zakopane would be to try and stay there at least 2-3 days, 1 day did not do it justice at all.

We returned home around 8 pm and are ready to turn in for another night...