Rolling into town we found trees with sprinklers atop them yielding great ice sculptures.
Check the tiles in the bottom right. The centers are removed to make draft holes for heat from the fireplace. This is one of many examples of what I think of fully integrated design. Things appear built to last with everything integrated and no loose parts showing.
Plenty of snow for skiing.
Sarah laying down first tracks on the roof top balcony Saturday morning.
And our first scarce view of mountains. The whole weekend was pretty cloudy. We opted out of gondola rides up the mountain due to low visibility. We saw maybe 2 hours of blue sky in two days.
I saw this several times and really took note. It's normal for groups of kids to go walking about the city paired off with an adult in the front and rear. The adults rarely looked happy. The kids always seemed happy to be cooperating and out and about.
Zakopane is known for salty sheep cheese. Little stands were selling it everywhere. I was fascinated by the designs.
A nice creek running through center of town. This reminds me of Helen, GA.
Finally we got a bit of blue sky and a peek at the mountains.
Amazing cemetery here with wooden head stones. Many of the wooden crosses were attached to metal brackets going down into the ground. This made it easy to replace any rotting pieces and kept wood up off the ground and out of the snow to limit rot. Again, tending to the little things.
View of one ski run
Many of the buildings were log cabins with exquisite craftsmanship.
Wooden wheels get overlaid with bicycle tires. No tubes, just the tires.
It was painfully cold this morning. Something like 7 degrees F. We'd walk around for a few minutes and then duck into a shop to warm up. I had all of my layers and still chilled quickly. We briefly considered buying skiing gear. Sarah did buy a neck gaiter to augment our options.
Sarah found a nice restaurant nearby with fireplace for afternoon recovery. Outside we found what would be a great ropes course for warmer days.
We got lost and found ourselves at the bottom of the ski jump. It is quite an impressive sight in person.
Zakopane is also known for architecture. We heard this artform was part of rebuilding Polish culture after WWII.
Poland is pretty big on spas and saunas. Some nice water recreation in the basement.
We used wooden utensils for the first course of dinner.
We spent Saturday evening at a thermal bath and spa. Outdoor thermal baths were amazing. Steam from the water was like swimming through fog. I couldn't really see people ahead of me until I ran into them. This also makes for mostly private moments anywhere in the pool.
Later we wandered up to the saunas when the thermal baths weren't warm enough. Sarah jumped at the chance for a guided sauna experience in the hottest sauna. I joined in later. Kinga (spelling?) was an amazing instructor. she'd stand in the sauna and fan heat downward onto us. This really heightened the experience. Turns out there's more to sauna than just sitting and sweating. There's an art and science to it. Thank you for the guidance and translation Kinga! I highly recommend a guided sauna session if opportunity presents.
We had a bit of calamity leaving the thermal springs. None of my credit cards worked for their machines and I didn't have enough Zloty to cover the extra time we stayed. I am immensely grateful to the employees for working with us to navigate a difficult situation. I brought cash to cover the expense the next day and included a tip. They fought mightily against taking any tip. Thank you Justyna and Gosia! Traveler note - cash is still king.
The late hour allowed all traffic to Zakopane to clear so we had smooth travel back to town and the hotel.
I spent some time standing outside in the cold Saturday night. I began to appreciate how the world looks and sounds different under a deep freeze with truly powdery snow. It struck me that tourist traps and made-in-China are everywhere and displacing local flavor and craft. There is a delicate balance for offering some consistent creature comforts versus mass produced universally available mostly disposable stuff. I wondered how to more consistently connect with local experiences as a traveler.
I ruminated more on diet and lifestyle. I casually refer to feeling seasonal affected disorder living in NC with that relatively mild winter. I see people function quite well in Poland with much deeper winter. There is a combination of diet, tradition, and lifestyle to accomplish that vitality. A local contact would later help me to better understand. But that is another day.
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