Packs and Boots: July 2013

We spent the first week of June in the Tatra Mountains in the south of Poland, four or five miles outside the town of Zakopane. Even though it was overcast and rainy for most of the week, I found it to be a beautiful place... at least for the first three days. Things went downhill after that as I got food poisoning and didn't stray far from the bathroom for the remainder of our stay. (Never eat duck that has a metallic shine to it. Something I should have figured out the easy way.)

But again, the first three days were great. We got off the bus and decided to walk to our hotel, not realizing quite how far it was. Four to five miles--throwing in an extra mile or so to account for being lost--laden with heavy bags, is pretty far. Once we arrived at the hotel and rested a bit, we decided to walk back to see the town since there wasn't much going on five miles out.

This time, we decided to venture off the road because we were convinced that town was about a mile closer if approached through the woods and over a small ridge.

Long story short: beautiful scenery, bad idea.

Here are some pictures of the area.

Our hotel

We ventured into the Tatra National Park on the third day, right before I got sick. There are plenty of trails of all difficulty levels. We chose one that took us about four hours. Half-way along is a cliff that provides a view of Zakopane and the surrounding countryside... if you go on a clear, sunny day. Even with the mist and clouds, it was still a beautiful hike.

That's about the time our adventure in the Tatra Mountains ended and I took to the hotel room sick. I'd rather not write much about that part of the trip. I'm pretending it didn't happen.

- Tom

In our nearly six months of travels this year, we've visited about 16 countries, and about 40 or so different towns and cities. Some had great food, or amazing history, friendly people, or breathtaking landscapes. But out of all of these places, Krakow is the one I could most imagine myself living.

Don't worry, Mom, there's no move to Poland in my future (so far as I can see, anyway). But Krakow is just so appealing. It has that elusive "thing" that makes people (or us, anyway) want to stick around for awhile and enjoy. It's the perfect size: big enough to have plenty of neat neighborhoods and great food options, but small enough to get around on foot or public transit pretty easily. The gorgeous spring weather probably had an impact on how much we loved the city.

Yes, Krakow is a place I could call home... except for one major factor. Pigeons.

Pigeons!!!

I know, there are pigeons everywhere. But there are flocks and flocks all over Krakow, each bird seemingly trying to get tangled in my hair or eat one of my toes for lunch. If only they were well-behaved, then maybe me and Krakow could get it together. But alas, back to the U.S. I will go. (Please forgive me my anti-pigeon rant. Tom has already heard it about 40 times. One of the joys of spending each and every day with only one other person is that we hear each other's stories and ideas again and again. But, hey! That's why we have a blog!)

While we were visiting Krakow in early June, we spent much of our time wandering around the old city. It's large, but very walk-able, with lots of little shops and restaurants begging for our zloty. The entire old city is encircled by a green park, which was fairly bustling each time we visited. We passed several hours people-watching as joggers, bikers, dog-walkers and lazy strollers wandered by. Even outside of the historic center, the city is vibrant and fun.

Tom and I also took a day trip to tour Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and State Museum. We highly recommend that anyone visiting Krakow take the short trip over. It's one thing to learn what happened during the Holocaust, but it's another thing to be there. Suffice it to say, it was an incredibly moving day.

Now onto the photos.