Zakopane: Part 2

This wrap-up of Zakopane is now a couple weeks old, so it is gonna be mostly pictures and a little text.We last left the story at the peak. Tired, but whole, we rested and ate lunch on Giewont's peak. After everyone arrived, the first group was eager to leave, but Melea and I waited to go down with Audrey, Alan and Erica. There were more chains, followed by a different, (less steep but longer) path down. The above picture shows Melea marvelling at the height we had achieved.

Another mountaintop, becoming enveloped in clouds.

The clouds came in quickly, and it started to spit, then to outright rain.

Another nearby peak

Lichen growing on rocks

An expanse of lichen and rocks

It really started to pour eventually, with thunder and lightening. We were glad to be off the mountain's peak. I put on my thin plastic poncho and we continued the path downwards. We passed a field with cows in it. I took this picture from under my poncho - hence the poor quality. The cows all wore bells.

Melea and I ended up ahead of Audrey and the rest, and ended up in an odd area of town with no idea where to go. We asked a lady nearby, and showed her the map on the back of the hotel's card, but she didn't know either. Luckily, she was waiting to get a ride from a friend, and he dropped us off at a park near our hotel. The journey was over, and a lovely hot shower was had.

The market at Zakopane

You can buy lots of different "traditional" things. Here are walking sticks with axe heads, sewing baskets, and woollen goods.

Different purchases: Nesting dolls, wooden jewelry, a teeny mug, a wooden spoon, and a kilo worth of yarn (for me of course!)

Here is my yarn next to a roll of toilet paper for scale. It is huge!

I also bought some cheese in Zakopane. The cheese is made from goat or sheep's milk and is smoked locally. I got a barrel shaped bit. The whole market smelled like the cheese. I liked the taste (very salty and smoky) but not everyone did.
As a last shot - my roommate Valerie. She looks fabulous, doesn't she?

Zakopane: Part 1

Last weekend (Sept. 11-13) I was in the beautiful mountain town of Zakopane (Zack-o-pahn-eh), in the Tatra Mountains. Here is part one of the story:

The Bus there: The ride there was uneventful. The traffic was better than I had expected, so the trip only took a little over 2 hours. I saw lots of Polish fields, most of which were some sort of grass or grain. There were many support systems that were used to hold the plants for drying. When covered, they look like high stooks, but there were naked ones that revealed the wooded supports.

Naked Stook

Covered Stooks

The Hotel: Serviceable. The showers had doors and the beds were comfy, which felt like luxury to me.

Drinking Beer with Raspberry Syrup and cloves the night before the climb.

We watched “Poland’s got Talent” (called Mam Talent, which actually translates to “I have talent”) in Polish, but I only caught one acne-scarred singer (who got through), and some kind of torture group (who didn’t). One of the group’s (called Infinity Pain) pieces involved throwing darts at a person’s back. One of the judges stood up and went to the stage, professing that she could do that (I’m guessing, of course). So they threw a dart at her back too! It was crazy. But she brushed it off like it was nothing, and the group was unanimously voted off. Then (Natalie, Lisa and I) sort of watched “Two Weeks Notice” in Polish. There is basically one guy who does all the dubbing for Polish television, directly over the English track. He does everyone’s voices in the same tone (which is a little soporific), and if you listen closely you can hear the English underneath. I say “sort of watched” because I was also knitting, Lisa was writing in her journal, and Natalie was reading a book. And we talked to each other a bit as well. This was the second night, after climbing Zakopane, so we went to bed fairly early.

The Climb up:

Giewont (pronounced Gee-uh-vont) is the most famous peak near Zakopane. Though not the tallest (at only 1894m, to Rysy (2499m, Poland’s highest peak) or Gerlach (the highest in the Tatras, on the Slovakian side), Giewont is one of the most popular peaks. This is because from Zakopane it looks sort of like a man sleeping on his back.

I have helpfully marked the point I climbed to on the picture above (I know it is little, but you can click for bigger), which approximates to Giewont’s chin. Giewont is also called the sleeping giant, as the legend dictates that when Poland is in trouble he will awake and save the day. I think that perhaps if the Nazis weren’t trouble enough, then he isn’t waking up.

"Tourist: You have to remember - The Mountains are only for Clever Ones!"

Almost the entire group decided to tackle the more difficult climb of Giewont. We left shortly after 9:00, and started the walk to the national park. After about an hour of walking, we reached the park and were able to start the walk to the trail entrance. About 15 minutes later, we reached the gate and paid the fee to enter (only about 1.5zl). A sign warned us that there might be “Bears!”, and thus began the real hike up the mountain.

The first little while the path was a fairly wide and made of gravel, and it ran beside a mountain stream. It wasn’t particularly steep, but the group quickly broke up into faster and slower groups. I alternated between groups, but did most of the walk with Melea, Lisa, Holly and Jenelle.

The group looking just a little daunted...

Next the path started moving upwards more steeply. It was basically a staircase made of boulders that ran through tall pines. We were getting a little discouraged when a Polish woman coming down the mountain told us it was really close.

View from the path... still less than halfway there

Gorgeous views though...

I’m not really sure why we believed her. We had been hiking for over an hour with semi-frequent breaks, but we were nowhere near the top. It seemed like every impossibly long flight of stairs ended with a turn, and we expected to see the peak after every turn.

Could this be the top?

This isn't it.

How about after this one?

Eventually we broke through the tall trees and reached the scrub brush. We could finally look out on the rest of the mountain range. Well, we could for a while, as the clouds were quickly rolling in. The next stage of the hike was a few almost horizontal plateaus mixed with steep climbs. You could do the steep climbs with no hands sometimes, but sometimes you needed a hand for balance.

Finally able to look out over the landscape

There were lots of mountain flowers - here is a Scottish (Polish?) Thistle

Another hour of this, and we reached the beginning of the one-way climb to Giewont’s peak. The sign indicated that it would be only 20 minutes! Excitement began to build as we took a short lunch break. I had packed a banana and granola cereal to eat, but I was supposed to share it with Audrey, who was nowhere in sight. We were unsure how far Audrey was behind, or even if she was still on the trail, so we continued on.

The one-way climb was the most dangerous part of this hike, and there were lengths of chain fixed into the rock. Everyone moved slowly and carefully, making the climb slow and fairly easy (physically easy, anyways). The clouds were fully around us by now, and you couldn’t see very far down.

Me on the Chains

Eventually we reached the top! Success was ours!Giewont is topped with a large metal cross. I worked my way to the base, and climbed up for a picture. And the mountain was won!

I'm clearly not good at this thing...

Looking up at the cross

A better picture when it was clear for a second

Melea and I claim victory!

Stay Tuned for the Climb down!

Polish Klubs

A quick note about my first Polish bar experience.

We all (sans a couple jet-lagged folks) went to a club of Kathleen's suggestion called Carpe Diem. While we were under the impression that the drinking age was low (maybe 16?), it is actually 18. After most of the 15 of us had already gone downstairs (the bar is in a basement, as are many bars in Krakow), the bouncer suddenly woke up and asked the last four of us for ID. I was the only one without an ID, and was left outside. One of the other ID-ed people told me they would get Kathleen, and I waited.

After a couple minutes the bouncer asked me (in English) "How old are you?" I told him "twenty" and he let me in with no issues.

In the bar I had only one shot (having pre-drank with Polish gin and tonic water). The shot is apparently very Polish, and the translation may have been either mad dog or rabid dog. It was a layered shot with vodka, raspberry syrup and Tabasco sauce. It was actually very good. The syrup covered the taste of the vodka, and the Tabasco left your throat with a warm burn. Also it only cost 5zl (approx. $2).

The dancing was good, though the songs were old (and almost all in English). A sample of the song list:

1. Eye of the Tiger
2. Dancing Queen
3. Living on a Prayer
4. Poker Face by Lady Gaga (the most recent song played)
5. YMCA
6. Brown-Eyed Girl (the Poles all sung along to this one)
7. another ABBA song (can't remember which one)
8. Please Don't Stop the Music (Rhianna)
   

Basically my history of listening to classic rock radio and going to Canadian weddings paid off.

Also the stage was a rectangle with one of the back corners cut out. I was unaware of this fact and stepped backwards off the stage at one point. I caught myself safely and wasn't hurt, but it was a little jarring.

The walk home was long, but I was in my bed by 3am.

Now broadcasting from Poland

So I arrived yesterday (around 1pm here) and didn't feel jetlagged at all (despite being awake for almost 24 hours at the time).

The flight was good, though cramped. Here is a picture from my Munich-Krakow connection
You can see some German farmland and such.

We (being Melea, Audrey, Lisa and I) took a van-taxi when we got to the airport. It cost 69 zloty (the l is supposed to have a slash through it and the word is actually pronounced zwotay), but we rounded up to 80 for a (generous) tip and to make it easy to split. A zwoty is about $0.44CAN, and the cab ride was about 20min, so we each paid about $9. Cheap.

Cheap basically describes shopping in Poland.
This is a picture of the pizzeria we (Audrey, Melea and I) ate at for dinner last night. We ordered a Hawaiian pizza (which came with peaches on it), and with the student discount and a tip it came to 15zl for all of us (or $2 each).

We continued on our walk downtown, to the Old Town.
This is a picture of Melea and Audrey in the main square. Wawel Castle is behind them. We walked around a bit, hunting for a 110V hair straightener for Melea, but had no luck.
After returning to the residence (called Piast) we went grocery shopping. I bought this box of innocent looking juice, and arrived home to find out it was GREEN. I thought the fruits on the front were cranberries, apples, and limes, but it turns out that the cranberries are cactus pears (or cactus figs according to google translate). It is really tasty though, very sweet and tangy.
This morning we went to IKEA and there was a giant table and chairs outside. Of course we climbed on them. I'm the one in the chair closest to the camera. Kathleen, our semester advisor, is the one standing up in the back. We ate lunch at IKEA. I didn't eat it, but you could get a hotdog for 1zl!

And just in case you'd be safe from my knitting.... a sock picture. This is the Kaylee pattern (yes, from Firefly), and they are looking pretty good. I'm knitting two at a time with afterthought heels. I'm using Fleece Artist sock yarn, and one end of the ball is pastel and the other is bright. The socks are definitely fraternal sisters, not identical.

I'm going out to a club downtown tonight with the group and it should be fun. I'm wishing I had appropriate shoes, but oh well.

Today is the day!

I'm leaving today! Here are the plans:

12:00 - lunch with the family (including uncles and aunts)
14:30 - Leave the house to catch the Robert Q
15:15 - Robert Q leaves for the airport
16:30 - Arrival at the airport, check-in and all that stuff.
19:40 - Plane leaves

Tomorrow:

10:05 - Arrive in Munich
11:10 - flight to Krakow leaves
12:30 - flight to Krakow arrives

I'm trying to get used to 24 hour time. I gather it is mostly standard in Europe, and I'm still stuck with the "subtract 2" method of changing them. I would like to just see the time and know it automatically. Another goal for the list then.

Inspired by this article at the Polandian, I decided to find out my Polish name day. I figure this is as good a method as any to claim another day as a personal holiday. It turns out that the Polish spell Sarah with no h, so I’m forced to use “Sara”. My name day is January 19. I expect congratulations and free drinks on this day, as well as on the day of my birth.

If you are insanely jealous (as you should be) you can find out your own name day! It is easy! I’ll demonstrate how I found out my sister Emily’s name day.

1. Make sure your parents named you something classic and European. This is a Euro tradition. If you don’t have a European first name, I guess you can choose one that you think sounds Bad-Assed. Or sounds like your name.... whatever.

Emily... check!

2. Think of all the variations on your name that you know. Translate into other languages, use the Internet. Make a good list, as this improves your chances of having a good name day
Emily: Emilie, Amelia, Amelie.

3. Go to this website, and search your possible names with the dropdown set to “Name Days”.

4. Choose your favourite name day country.

Emily has a choice between an Estonian, French, Czech (as Emilie), Swedish (as Amelie), or Polish (as Amelia) name day.

5. Choose the name day that comes first after your birthday.

Estonian: May 19
French: September 19
Czech: November 24
Swedish: April 20
Polish: March 30

6. On the week before your name day, remind others that it is coming up, and that it is very important and close to your heart. The Polandian article has some methods to convince people believe you.

7. Collect your congratulations and free stuff!

Comment on this post with your name day, and if you follow the steps, I will congratulate you on your name day! What a wonderful prize!

Actually I have a better prize – comment here with your name day and email me your fall mailing address, and I’ll send you a postcard from Poland (or other European country) celebrating your naming! Unless you are going to Poland with me – then I’ll buy you a drink on your name day if it occurs while we are overseas!

Visas, backpacks, and a very busy day.

A run-through of my day yesterday.

9:00am – 12:00pm: Do some 4-H work.

12:00pm-12:30: Discover my possible travel companion is unable to join me, print off directions to the Polish Consulate, and Mountain Equipment Co-op on King street. I also eat a quick bowl of leftover tomato soup – I forgot to eat breakfast somehow.

12:30: Pack all my stuff up, get in the car, and get the heck out of town.

1:00: I forgot my $100 fee. Shit.

1:30: Slightly lost as I miss the ramp to get on the Gardiner Expressway.

1:45: I drive down Lake Shore, don’t see the consulate, but knowing where it is supposed to be, I park, put 3 hours in the parking meter, and start walking in the right direction.

1:50: A bank of Montreal! I take out my monies.

1:55: I find the Polish Consulate. It does not open until 3, but there are already 4 Polish ladies waiting patiently outside.

2:10: I pull out my sock-in-progress, which excites the 3 remaining Polish ladies (the one left to do something) and they start exclaiming at me in Polish. I explain that I don’t speak any Polish, and two of them compliment me on my sock in English. The third says something in Polish to the second, who translates for her: “You’ll be able to finish it before the place opens!” Everyone has a good laugh.

2:30: I am feeling a bit dizzy and overheated, so I sit on the sidewalk and eat half of the peanut butter and jam sandwich that I packed for my lunch, and drink some of my water. The crowd around the gate is getting much bigger – there are around 10 people now, including one Canadian girl and her boyfriend.

2:45: The Canadian girl, a Polish guy in shorts, and I chat about our reasons for being here. The Canadian is travelling; she expresses a hope that the Polish Consulate will be an easier process than the Italian one. The Polish man explains that he has never needed to come here before (despite living in Canada for ~20 years) but his father died and they called him here. I explain my reason for travelling and how long I’m staying. Polish dude in shorts is very excited both about my knitting and my trip. He assures me that I will pick up Polish very quickly and that it is a very easy language (I am not persuaded, but hopeful). He also tells me that I need to go to Zakopane in December for some kind of festival. He said the car ride is about 2 hours, and would be less if it wasn’t a two lane highway with terrible traffic. I respond that I don’t mind traffic if I can knit, and won’t have a car – I would take a bus or train. He was very emphatic about me not taking the train to Zakopane from Krakow. He and the second Polish lady both assured me that the train ride was about 6 hours, you could walk to Zakopane more quickly, and the only reason to take the train was if you wanted to see Polish trees. Take the bus! They were very insistent about this point.

This conversation also gave me a new slogan : Never take the train to Zakopane!

3:00pm: After a short burst of static-y Polish from an unseen speaker, the gate opens and people start trickling in. Before I go on, I want to point out that the Consulate is a big house.

We weren’t led to the house though, and the ~30 people now gathered were herded around the back to a waiting room about the size of my living room, with no air conditioning. I immediately felt both nauseous and sweaty. I was second in line at the window that said “Paztportsawa” on the window, and sweating more than I ever have before. I was sweating out my ears, which I didn’t even know was possible. It wasn’t that hot in the room (maybe 27°C), but I was probably white as a sheet and not too healthy looking.

3:10: My rapidly deteriorating condition didn’t stop some random Polish lady (who I hadn’t seen outside, btw, so she hadn’t been waiting long) from barging ahead of me in line, waving her pick-up slip around. I was too much of a pansy to do anything about it (and not feeling well enough to try. I merely hoped she’d be quick at the window). The Canadian girl in line behind me started talking loudly to her boyfriend about the rudeness of some people, and they both made pointed comments about not being an asshole.

3:15: Miss “I’ll only be a minute let me in front of you in line” (I think this is what she said – I don’t speak Polish) has a missing passport. The lady behind the window is still looking for it. The Canadian girl’s boyfriend makes a pointed comment about filing systems. The girl reminds him that it is still better than the Italian consulate. Remind me to never get an Italian visa.

3:20: I make it to the window. Wrong window, but I’m sent to the first window, where no one else is waiting in line, so it’s okay. I put my backpack on the ground and sit on it. I immediately begin feeling better, though there is no one at the window, so I have a bit of a wait still. My cold sweat stops, and I begin to feel much more normal.

3:25: I am asked to the window. I stand up and take a step to the window, passport in hand. Before I can even say anything, a Polish man runs to the window and yells a question in Polish at the glass. The lady behind the window replies, then goes to look for something, and passes it to him through the little slot. I’m ready to punch this dude in the face.

3:40: After assuring the Consulate lady about 4 times that I am not attending a Polish University, and therefore CANNOT get “my acceptance letter” from them, she seems to be understanding. There is a phone system on the wall so people don’t have to yell through the glass (just like in jail!) but she isn’t using it. I bend down to the little slot that I pass my paperwork through, talk through that. I can feel the air conditioning in the little office hit my face, and it is wonderful.

3:45: After promising to fax both contact information for someone in Poland, and my payment receipt for the program, I leave with a slip to pick up my new passport (with Polish Visa) anytime after July 23.

3:50: Toronto is in a garbage strike, and the entire city stinks in the heat. I step into a Polish deli on the walk back to my car to get a cold drink. There is no air conditioning inside, and the smell is worse than outside, so I leave without buying anything. Poland better not smell anything like that place.

4:00: I reach my car and begin the drive to MEC. I find it with no trouble, but parking is a bit of a difficulty. I find one lot that charges a $15 deposit plus $3 an hour. I park there and tell the guy I’m looking for an ATM and have no cash. He points me to a nearby hotel’s ATM, but I decide I’d rather find somewhere else to park.

4:20: MEC has a parking garage ($2 an hour), so I park there and walk upstairs. I quickly find a quick-dry travel bath towel and the backpacks I was looking for, but am very confused about how to fit them. I also can’t the difference between the first choice and second choice backpacks that I found online. I find a salesperson very quickly, and we chat as she fits the first choice backpack for me. It turns out that the only difference between the two was a separate zippered pouch on the bottom of the first choice pack. I figure more space is better than less, and go with this bag, in navy.

The picture is pretty unassuming right? It looks like a backpack, but really it is a giant backpack! It is huge! The girl who is helping me loads it up with some handy-dandy weighted pillow things they have around. She puts about 35lbs in the bag, helps me put it on, and makes some minor fit adjustments. With the hip strap done up properly, the bag is heavy, but manageable. I feel like I need to walk like a hunchback, but walking that way doesn’t really make it feel much lighter. She encourages me to walk around the store and to call her if I need any other help. I finish my shopping with the weighted bag on. I find some plug adapters, and look at the huge amounts of cool stuff they have there.

4:50: I decide I’m ready to leave. I unclip the hip belt and almost fall over. I had no idea how much weight was being transferred to my hips – my shoulders were totally comfortable while I was walking around. I unload the weights and move to the checkout.

At the checkout, the cashier is really polite. She gives me a membership form to fill out, and helps the next person in line while I fill it out. The next member in line congratulates me on becoming a member, and I am happy, despite just spending $110 on a backpack. It is a great backpack, and I’m really excited about using it. I am now a member of two Co-ops. I need to join a credit union to make it three.

5:00: I begin the drive home, but can’t turn left onto Spadina Ave. at this hour, so am forced to pass it, turn around, and then turn right onto Spadina. I make it to the Gardiner, where there is exactly as much traffic as you would think there would be at 5:00pm on a Wednesday.

5:30: Still not out of Toronto. It took me an hour and fifteen minutes to get here this morning (including getting lost), and I have a bad feeling I’m going to almost double that going home.

5:45: I am really tired. Possibly too tired to be driving, but the stop and go means I’m not driving much anyways.

6:15: The 401! And traffic is thinning! I tell myself as soon as I get home I’m going to have an hour long nap before watching “So You Think You Can Dance?” with Sylvie at 8:00.

6:50: I arrive home. I am ready to pass out, but as soon as I walk into my room, I hiccup twice and am convinced that I am going to throw up. I go to the bathroom, but recover quickly. I have my hour long nap and it is delicious.

8:00: Sylvie arrives and we start the show. She brought chocolate chip cookies but I am still too groggy and sick feeling to eat any.

8:10: Commercial break. I go to make a pot of chamomile green tea, but soon after I get the tea out, I hiccup again. I almost vomit twice on the way to the bathroom, but manage to make it to the toilet. It is mostly dry heaves, as I haven’t felt well enough to eat for most of the day.

8:20: I make the tea and am feeling 100x better. I eat 3 or 4 cookies and have two cups of tea.

10:00: The show ends, and I promise Sylvie that I am going straight to bed. It doesn’t happen exactly that way, but I end up in bed at 11:30 anyways.

11:30: I am too hungry to sleep, despite being very tired. I get up, have a bowl of cereal and crawl back into bed. I pass out almost immediately. It was a very long day.