Sunday 8 January 2012
Sunday 1 January 2012
Happy New Year 2011/12
On the (still working) bus heading for New Year celebrations in Krynica :)
The bottom of the Jaworzyna Krynicka mountain ( ski resort and ski lift )
PS. You can "almost" see the top :p
Some people fell like throwing snowballs at others (here: victims on the left and happy villains on the right) ;)
Hiking team on the way up .. two hours to go :)
Looks like the whole forest is on fire but, in reality, it's the city view at night from the top of the Jaworzyna :)
Here, skiers trying to light up the lantern
I've got the moves like swagger
You've got the moves like swagger
I've got the ... uuuuuuooouuu ... moves like swagger :)
Nevertheless, not everything go quite according to the plan ....
The torch, instead of burning, got totally burned ....
The lantern was supposed to go up, not setting fire to the tree ...
Damage done to Iain's trousers by a beer cunningly, slyly, treacherously slipping from the table covered by black ice .. thank God for the bonfire ...
...Not even mentioning the broken bus which left us stranded for more than 2 hours in the kind of middle of nowhere without any possiblity to get help ( read: 2 am on New Year's Eve)...
... but in overall, it was a very fine happy day :)
Happy New Year everyone !
Edited by: Kat
- New year's 2012 Poland
So the new year is nearing and little is stirring they say, not so true when the woman you are travelling with wishes to pack enough provisions to last three to four days and more alcohol than she can feasibly drink. All this may sound plausible if we were going to the Amazon rain forest, or the bitter extremes the Antarctic has to offer such prepared travellers.But in reality, the truth is much less extravagant. Lying in the middle of a well tendered ski resort in the mountain border of Poland and Slovakia is where we will be spending 6 hours not days.
This is only where our story began. Once the inevitable argument had occurred and subsequently passed, we made our last minute dash (along with the parents in law) to the bus stop where our coach would be picking us up at 6pm sharp. Having managed to make the second hurdle of our outing, we were all relieved that the coach was slightly delayed and we had time to liven up our moods with a little festive cheer.It was during this festive cheer that i calmly stood in a well camouflaged leaving gift from one of our canine friends. The obvious public service and safety announcement was subsequently made, only for my "dearest not so aware" partner to closely follow my literal foot steps. After we cleaned our boots our bus timely arrived upon the lighting of a new cigarette.
So the polish coach trip began. The only slight misjudgement we made was not bringing along a bottle of vodka to ease the journey like the other 90% of passengers seemed to. Fortunately the hospitality and group minded mood of the Polish made sure that we were not to feel left out as everyone began to celebrate being on a mode of transport other than the native train network. Katarzyna decided to pass on these kind gestures but the lady dishing out the lashings of cherry flavoured vodka wasn't having such an excuse from an Englishman, it seems incomprehensible for a stranger to refuse a kind gesture of hospitality in Poland, especially when that stranger is a guest in their proud country. Of course I was not one to argue with 'Lucy' who happens to be Polish mamo's friend and the lady who invited us on the trip in the first place. Just a little note to those who have the fortune to be welcomed among a Polish family or group, DO NOT THINK THE SHOTS WILL BE SMALL (+50cl), OR THE FIRST WILL BE THE LAST.
Around half way through my 7-8 shots, the bus took out some timely retribution on our earlier mentioned canine friends, leaving our coach with a nice fluffy under coat preparing it for its stop in the mountains. Oddly enough this wasn't the only thing our bus driver managed to hit, we also hit a "serpentine". A serpentine i hear you ask? well not quite, it wasn't the mystical creature from the deep but a winding mountain passage road, and it was a reflector beacon on the edge of the road. Never the less, our poor little coach was probably wishing it had never arrived from France all those years ago, as its maintenance bill was rising.
Trials and tribulations over, we safely got within the mountainous regions of southern Poland, and I have to say are quiet "pienkno" as they say. They may be no Himalayas, but nor am I a Sherpa, and so perfectly matched what my progressing intoxicated body would enjoy.
Now the tricky bit begins. Having reached our destination "Jaworzyna Krynicka", we disembarked and began our hike up the mountain, which I would like to admit I massively underestimated when we had arrived. Having initially thought the top to be around 300 meters above our heads and as much as I could see, I was surprised to realise just how high the top was after our 6 kilometre hike to the top "rough guess". The climb was surrounded by snow covered fir trees and stone, and complimented with a church holding a mass 3/4 of the way up. Doing this at 9pm ladies and gentlemen is not to be under estimated, especially whilst smoking and drinking Okocim mocne.
Greeting us after our most picturesque climb was another couple romantically working together whilst attempting to launch a Chinese lantern, it was a heart warming moment to see such tender affection all round. Unfortunately the lantern in question had other ideas about wanting to fly, and instead it attempted to burn down a tree, with a little help from his companion the wind. Hopefully their relationship will not be so short lived. Having gloriously filmed this event to appease my self loathing of my aching legs, Karma was all to keen to remind me that he is never that far away. Once we had quickly explored the top of the mountain, and found a nice tree to hide behind whilst I saved myself two Zloty, Katarzyna was kind enough to buy me a pint of Zywich. This is when Karma said hello and I learnt the lesson that table tops are not immune to ice when the whole mountain is frozen and -5'c.
Some where in between these two paragraphs I calmed down and tried to think about what to do with my 'now beer soaked leg'. A unanimous decision was made after Polish mamo suggested standing by the bonfire to dry my leg, and so off we went. Time passed by as my leg steamed and it was time for new year, and the count down begins, dzychinch!dziechinch!!, ochim!!!, sieden!!!! siesh!!!!! Piench!!!!!! cztery!!!!!!! tzch!!!!!!!! dwa!!!!!!!!! jeden!!!!!!!!!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Followed by very loud dramatic almost apocalyptical music, tender and not so tender kisses for my girl and the seasonal Champagne. It was whilst drinking the Champagne that we were surprised to be clinking glasses and trading best wishes with a Polish soap star. He didn't hang around long as he maybe wanted to bask in the glory of being famous, and so the mountain top dancing began on the dancefloor made from compact snow.
We then celebrated in much the same way until around 1.30 am and made our way back to the coach, this time taking full advantage of the cable car service which offered an even more beautiful birds eye view of the mountain side and ski runs. It may be forgiven that the guys down below naturally try to race the cars down the hill, but it makes it even more hilarious when they take a faceplant to the snow at 30mph and you are liesurely being transported to the base.
And so you think our story is over having read enough to describe a year. Well you would be correct if the coach hadn't objected to a repeat of the punishment it recieved on the out ward journey. So here we were, 2 am, no life from the coach, with a driver seemingly not distraught about the situation, no heating, and -5'c in the mountains. The apparent solution from the lackluster Polish police force,fire brigade,local hotel staff and every other bus driver left in the area was nothing. Not so good when your feet are still drenched in now sub zero beer and beginning to feel tired. The following escapades were nothing short of comical, following several dozen attempts by the driver to "fix" the bus by cranking he ignition, some of my fellow passengers took it upon themselves to take a look at the bus with tools consiting of a hammer and screwdrivers. Several electric shocks and frozen back sides later the bus was still not moving, and 2012 seemed to be passing by. The next option was to gather all the men and chance their luck by attempting to push the bus "myself included".Comically with little suprise to anyone with an understanding of the friction properties of ice and feet, nothing happened. Finally a uninspiring mechanic pulled up in his 1.0 chiquichento and suprised everyone when after only 3 minuets he had the bus working. And so we left for home at 4.30am with several detours to pick up the people who had decided it best to find alternative modes of transport home.
Finally we neared home with everone sleeping, with the exception me due to her ladyship requiring a 200lb pillow.By this time the new year had granted us with the first sun rise of the new year and it was time for something to eat, cup of tea, a summerising chat with one another and then bed.
Thanks for reading, i hope it was enlightening and not too boring.
Happy new year guys, i hope you all have your story to tell, and the following year is also one to remember.
Iain & Katarzyna.
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