Mountain Retreat

see all photos »

This weekend we had the opportunity to go on an excursion to Zakopane, Poland. It is located 80 miles South of Krakow and has the highest elevation on the country (2811 feet). The Tarta Mountains provide a wonderful place to ski and attract many tourists year round. My roommates Kate, Lana, Natalee, and I signed up. We left Krakow at 8:30am Saturday morning and arrived by bus in Zakopane around 11am. The drive was beautiful and gave me my first glimpse at the Polish countryside. I was surprised by the size and quality of the homes we passed. They were huge and all extremely detailed, with tiers after tiers of pitched roofs to account for the large snowfalls. We were in a group of 13 students from all over Europe with two tour guides. It was quite convenient to have the trip already planed for us. Our hotel was a little bit sketchy but the rooms were spacious and had a nice view of the mountains. Too bad they didn’t provide towels or soap though. Our 1 st meal there was at a traditional Polish restaurant. I was proud of Kate and myself for splitting potato pancakes and beef stew. It wasn’t bad, but I would be ok if I never had it again. That afternoon we walked through the heart of the city on the main street. All the shops and restaurants were so inviting and cozy. We actually fit in there with our heavy ski coats and rugged bags (we aren’t posh enough for Krakow). We took a trolley up the mountain to look around. There was so much snow and we had an incredible view down to the city and up toward the Tatra Mountains. We admired the skiers and enjoyed a strawberry pancake. It was the most delicious thing! They are made fresh from this crepe like pastry, filled with warm strawberry goo, and topped with lots of whipped cream. That night we attended a party for all the visiting international students. It was in a tiny cottage with way more people than it could actually hold. They served a cabbage and kielbasa soup that was bad so we just ate a lot of bread. There was a small band there with traditional Highlander song and dance. It was a good time minus the fact that EVERYONE here smokes. I usually don’t mind being around a smoker but when you can’t get away from it and the buildings aren’t ventilated to allow for fresh air it has been really hard to get used to. I wake up in the morning as though I have smoked 2 packs. Therefore, we didn’t stay too late to allow time for our lungs to heal and get sleep before another fun filled day.

View from our room
see all photos »

Day 2 we got up and had breakfast at the hotel: tea, bread, jam. It was planned that we would go watch skiers jump on the large downhill course, but it turned out the weather conditions we’re in their favor so we just ended up walking toward the slopes to see what we could see. It was snowing big flakes. Did you know that you can really see the pattern of a snowflake with your naked eye? I certainly did not. It is amazing to see one land on your arm and be able to see every crystallized piece. We were so excited and everyone else thought we were crazy to see the flakes! Our guide for the trip has been skiing for 15 years and really wanted to teach the ‘American Girls’ how to ski. Prior to this trip I had never skied before and honestly did not want to learn when I was a million miles away from a hospital that could communicate with me in English. But the bunny slope looked less threatening as I first anticipated and I felt comfortable with our instructor. We rented skis and boots and it was so cheap, only $10 zloty and hour ($3.25). It really wasn’t as hard as I expected, although it took a while to get used to controlling your direction. I still never really mastered that, and I have never cursed so much in an hour. It was a good thing most people didn’t understand English there because I have never cursed so much in a given hour before. In order to get back up the hill after clumsily making your way down you had to grab this cord that would pull you back up. It appeared that you would be going very slow but it almost pulled my arms off and I am still sore from it. I only fell once and it was on my last run because I forgot how to stop and freaked out. All in all I was so proud of us to attempt something new that we were all very nervous about and now I can say that I learned to ski in Poland. After our snow time we went back into the city to explore all the vendors and shops. We bought some fresh honey and I bought some either stolen or fake perfume from a crazy lady. One strip had baskets after baskets of little puppies in them. Fluffy snuggly puppies! They were so cute, but sad that they sat in the baskets all day. We had lunch at a pizza place and the most wonderful hot chocolate. While we were there we witnessed a guy relieving himself right outside the window.. haha.. he thought no one was watching. Also, a sheep came in and looked around. He tried to get a drink off the table and then walked back into the kitchen. That evening we caught a bus back to Krakow, slept very well that night, and tried to recover from the amazing weekend.

I learned to ski in Poland