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Writer's pictureLaura Zielinski

Week 3 into 4: Zakopane

Updated: Oct 13, 2019

September 29th-30th, 2018


Saturday

Up at 4:30 am. I blogged for an hour and 15 minutes. Then, I packed the majority of my things. At 6:20 am it was time for an hour run. There were many drunk people out. The first couple I came across:

A young, tipsy lady with weak limbs from the alcohol loosely holding a four pack of beer. Her companion was also zonked but he was able to help her when she dropped the case. It had been slightly opened, thus the cans went rolling on the sidewalk towards the upturned dirt of Ulica (Street) Sławkowska.


I noticed today that the road work on U. Sławkowska is getting underway. There are now red signs on either end of the dug up street.

On Ul. Mały Rynek I gained some running company was joined by a young man who had the brilliant idea to try to run with me. He had set down his bag and bottle and got ready to run, but after three seconds he gave up because I just ran past him and his friend. I’m sure I got a lot of confused/questionable or contemptible looks because I only had a short sleeve and shorts. Towards the beginning of the run I ran past two nuns. It was an interesting juxtaposition for onlookers: a nun fully covered wearing an extra jacket over her heavy robes, and then a foreigner with summer attire. I got back, showered, finished packing and was ready to leave at 7:25, but I had to help my roommate take out the trash. Thus, we got to ticket hall around 7:47 am in stead of 7:45 am.


Found our bus and off we went at 8:20. Two hour ride to Zakopane. My ears were popping on the way there.

I love how much space is in between the houses. America does not appreciate personal living space for its inhabitants. In Poland the area is heavily forested. People do not mow all the grass. It is beautiful both long and short. The taller grass has weeds in it, but when cut short it is a super green.


We got there and had breakfast on API. I got Borscht and a cheesecake. More details later. Then we left for the hotel. It was beautiful. Two of the girls had an Al Capone room which was kind of funny.

The Zakopane bears were very entertaining during brunch. The one guy just did not believe in childhood sacrality and kept taking off his head. The children's faces were priceless as they tried to comprehend what was going on.


After stashing our stuff, we left for the Tatra Mountains. Here is a map of our route to the National park entrance:


I constantly fell behind because of the photography addiction I have suddenly acquired. It took us about 2 hours to get to Siklawica waterfall at the top, and 1 1/2 hours to get down. Best hiking I have ever done!

I ended up taking a lot of people’s pictures. My battery on my camera was close to dead by the time we got back to the hotel. How many pictures do you think I took? About 382.