We spent this weekend in Zakopane, a ski resort in the Tatra mountains (the highest peaks in the Carpathians) a few hours south of Krakow. We had to catch an early bus on Saturday that involved leaving our dorm a little before 8 and managed to catch the bus after a mad dash from the tram stop to the station. Jagiellonian University had arranged the trip for Rachel, Brad, and me as part of our February orientation program. Brad's suitemate, Viktoria, came along at the last minute which was great because the more people the better! The bus ride took a little over 2 hours because of the snow on the roads, but we got there safely. It was a bit of an adventure to walk around in Zakopane because they never actually clear the sidewalks of snow in the winter. They clear a little bit away and then just pack the rest down so you're walking on several inches of super-packed snow made icy by all of the traffic. We also didn't see a single stroller even though there were kids everywhere because all the parents had little wooden or plastic wagons and just pulled the kids along behind.

So Saturday we got to the hotel too early to check in but left our bags there for the afternoon. We walked down the main streets looking at all of the tourist shops and food stands - Zakopane is the most tourist-y place I've ever been. There are enough stalls selling fairly authentic wool, wood, leather, and fur things that we felt justified to be shopping, and we spent most of the afternoon doing that and sampling the various hot drinks offered everywhere. Lunch was particularly excellent in a tavern sort of place. I had a delicious sour soup with eggs and sausage in it, traditional Polish fare. We crashed around 4:30 due to the early start and the extreme cold in the mountains, so we took a long nap at the hotel before dinner.

It took us a really long time to find the restaurant where we wanted to eat dinner, a place Viktora remembered as really good from eating there with her family 3 years ago. It was a typical mountain lodge with animal heads and skins on the walls and everything made out of wood. The food was really good and there was a live folk group playing in one corner. We stayed there for about 3 hours because the atmosphere was so pleasant and it was fun to watch people dancing to the folk music. We finally left around 11:30 and called it a night after a brief visit to a pub on the main street of town. So a pretty quiet Saturday night, but we were all exhausted!

Our big activity today was a train ride up one of the mountains surrounding Zakopane and a walk along the mountain ridge. Beautiful views everywhere and I went a little crazy with my camera since real mountains are a bit unusual near the Chesapeake. :) It was sunny today and MUCH warmer than yesterday, although we were all ready for a hot lunch by 3 pm. I had a heaping plate full of Polish cabbage and beet salads.





Winnie-the-Pooh in Zakopane!












An old-fashioned mountain rescue St. Bernard dog.












Getting hot chocolate and mulled wine because it was COLD and we'd been wandering for hours.












Puppies for sale! Viktoria wanted to buy one for her grandparents but we couldn't figure out a way to get it back to Krakow since we had to take the bus.










One of the horse-drawn sleighs on Saturday night. Viktoria is asking the driver how to get to the restaurant where we wanted to eat, but we didn't know the name or roughly where it was and could only describe the atmosphere...needless to say, we didn't get very good directions.







There's actually a car under there. How come we don't get this kind of snow in MD/PA??? So awesome.











This monkey was really good at the piano.













In the mountainy-hunting lodgey restaurant for dinner Saturday night. We found after walking around in the cold for about 45 minutes and it was worth the time. The food was good - I had a cream barszcz (beet soup) with potatos in it, and Rachel and I shared some pear slices with whipped cream and chocolate for dessert - and there was live folksy music.

Bells hanging from the ceiling of the restaurant.

Being philosophical? Or something. Anyway, they both look weird. :)

The restaurant was beautiful outside since it's built of wood and looks like an over-sized cabin. It was down a short drive from the road and completely surrounded by huge pine trees. It was also about a 10-15 minute walk from the super crowded downtown area in a residential part of the town.

These pictures taken at night with increased exposure time, which is why the colors look weird. I like them, though.

Sunday afternoon in the tourist trap! This whole long row of stalls just sells mountain cheese. I liked it a lot for the hearty taste although it could be very salty and the fried cheese was a little rubbery and squeaked when we bit into it.

The cheeses!

On the top of Gubałówka mountain. We took a train up to the top then walked 3 km along the ridge and took a chair lift down.

Rachel trying on one of the awesome wool sweaters on sale everywhere. We did most of our snooping in the stalls down in the valley but of course we had to spend some time looking in the shops on top of the mountain as well.

Snowmobiles for rent! I definitely wanted to do this but went with the "it's too expensive and I don't have the right clothes with me" reasoning. I was wearing jeans and my long black city coat. *sigh* It was tempting, though!

Another bin of puppies on the top of the mountain. This was so unfair because how on earth do you say goodbye to that fuzzy face?

On the chair lift coming down. Brad and Viktoria are in the one coming down in the picture although you can't really see them.

Ok, you can kind of see them behind us in this one. Not the best picture of me and check out tha massive sunglasses I bought because I left mine in Krakow!

Views from the chair lift.

Now some views from the valley as we walked to the bus to leave Zakopane.