New Friends and Leaving Poland Behind

I had high hopes last night when I went to bed that my feet would feel better this morning. No such luck. I don't know if it is the "newish" shoes or what, but my heels were killing me after yesterday's hiking. I have many "foot issues", but this is a new one. Unfortunately, when I got up this morning, they didn't feel a whole lot better. So I scrapped my plans to do a circuit hiking route, fearing I may end up 3 or 4 hours from civilization and unable to walk. Actually, I didn't even think that I would get that far. Instead, I opted to do what nearly every tourist who comes to Zakopane does - I took the cable car up to the summit of Mt. Kasprowy Wierch. From there, you can walk along the ridge, from peak to peak. The interesting thing about it is that, as you walk, half the mountain is in Poland and the other half is in Slovakia, so you can keep crossing the border over and over and over! Rather amusing. The views were also stunning. It rained a bit as I waited for the cable car (for nearly 3 hours!!! - good thing I brought my Sudoko book), and it rained just as I finished up my hiking. Overall a better weather day than yesterday - at least you could see the views, even though you could hear the thunder pretty much continuously.

I saw an amusing sight just as I was nearly back to the cable car. Coming up the trail from the valley (they did not take the cable car up) were 4 people. There was a young lady, a little girl... and 2 nuns - in full habit! It was such a surprising sight that I had to sneak a picture of them. Who would have guessed that nuns go on a 3-4 hour hike dressed in full habit? I guess they do!

Minutes after that encounter, I met up with a man who was from England. We started chatting and his daughter and wife then caught up to us. I ended up going to the restaurant back at the top of Mt. Kasprowy Wierch for tea with them. Then we returned to town and they insisted on taking me out to "sample" Poland's vodka. Apparently they became quite the experts last night! We had a fantastic time, and they have invited me to go visit them anytime in Bristol after the summer (when we are all back in England).

So that is it for Poland.. tomorrow I go to Slovakia. At least I hope so! I haven't figured out exactly how to do that... and I don't have a place to stay.. but I am sure it will all work out. I am reading a book called "We Need To Talk About Kevin" right now. It's written as a series of letters from a woman to her ex-husband after their son goes on a school shooting spree and murders 9 people. Anyway.. in it, the woman used to be a travel writer. Her series is called "A Wing and a Prayer". I think tomorrow will be a little like that.