Zakopane, Poland

---

Zakopane, Poland - July 7th - 10th, 2009

After an uneventful 2.5 hour bus ride from Krakow, we arrived in Zakopane. We easily found our hostel and for the first time since Iceland had a private room with our very own shower and toilet! Fancy! Things you take for granted in normal life quickly become luxuries while traveling. The day we arrived we set out to see the town. Zakopane is a nice tourist town with one main street filled with bars, clubs, restaurants, shops, street entertainers and even working ponies that you can pet for a small price.

The following day we woke up earlier then we had in a long time (9am!) and set our for a day of hiking. Little did we know the day would be filled with unexpected adventures. The first being a huge line up for the cable car. Fortunately the local boys had a clever scheme for helping tourists jump the line. For a price tag of 30 PLN we found ourselves near the front of the line. A small price to pay to avoid the 2.5 hour of waiting in line. We took two cable cars and found ourselves on a ridge of the Tatry Mountains. It was quite cold and after looking around we quickly realized this would not be a serene hike in the woods. Nonetheless, we set out on one of the red trails (apperently the second most difficult as indicated by the map). After 1.5 hours of hiking through hills, dirt and rock paths we found ourselves at the bottom of the Swinica peak. Having come this far we couldn't simply turn back, so we set out to climb to the top. As we did this I kept thinking what the heck am I doing climbing a mountain when I am clearly afraid of heights? I even debated turning back at one point. With Dan's encouragement, perseverance, and some helpful chains strategically secured to the mountain trail we arrived at the summit! The view from the top was nothing short of breathtaking and well worth the struggle and fear of the past hour and a half. We had lunch on top of a mountain that day, 7549 feet above sea level. A magnificent first for the both of us! After a brief lunch, the obvious occurred to me - we now had to climb down! As expected, climbing down was more difficult and terrifying, but luck and fate were on our side so we made it down safely. With adrenaline pumping I felt invincible! Not ready to go back just yet, we decided to climb down to one of the valleys to see the lakes. Halfway down I realized just how exhausted I was and that this probably wasn't such a good idea. Again realizing the obvious a little too late - after climbing down we still had to go back up. Two exhausting hours later we were back on the cable car making our way back to town. Needless to say after a 6 hour day we slept very well that night.

The next day we wanted to take it easy and decided to see some caves. It never even occurred to us that the caves themselves would be high up in the mountains. So once again we were climbing up rocks and hanging on to chains! One of the caves we saw was beautifully lit up and took about 25 minutes to walk through. I use the term "walk" very loosely since we spent most of the time crawling through small passageways. Not exactly comfortable for two giants! Another long, exhausting but truly wonderful day!

After spending a few days in Zakopane exploring the Tatry Mountains we have a sudden urge to climb something else, something higher! Summit fever finally means something personal.

Next stop Wroclaw with a two night stop in Częstochowa.

---

Photos

Swinica
If you look close enough, you can see a hiker circled in red scaling the peak, which is barely visable through the clouds behind the first hill.

Top of our World
Swinica Peak in the Tatry mountains, 7549 feet above sea level.

Caves!!!
View from inside.