Sunday, February 28, 2016

Zakopane Snowboarding (Attempt #2)


If I look happy in the picture above, it's really because of a great train ride.  Sure, the snow was awesome, I'm at the highest point in Poland and the sun was shining which is rare in these parts.  But before I get to that I want to tell the story of two train trips.  The first one occurred in late Dec and I had intended to get in some slope time before headed back home for Christmas.  I booked the overnight train from Szczecin to Zakopane which is in the far southern part of Poland next to Slovakia (11 hrs via train).  No big deal on the way down there except for that it turns out the snow in Zakopane sucked and I decided to get off a Krakow and see that place instead.  The way back, however, was a nightmare.  Unlike the trip down, I had a seat in an open bay much like you would in a subway, bus, or airplane.  I was hoping to get a six person cabin like I had before.  Turns out every drunk in Poland was on my train and I got very little sleep.  To make things worse, the conductor kept coming by to check my ticket.  Of the 11 hours, I may have slept 3.  I was a wreck the next day. 

This time was different.  I splurged for a couchette compartment which made all of the difference.  For only an extra 100 zloty ($25) roundtrip, I got a bed in a six person cabin and as luck would have it, I had it all to myself for most of the way down to Zakopane.  The train conductor checked my ticket as I boarded and didn't come back until we were 25 min out of Szczecin.  I had a solid 10 hours of sleep which was a godsend after a day of snowboarding.  And as Jen would say, there's no sleep like the sleep you get on a train.  Something about the subtle rocking motion.  So let me break it down--of the 22 hours spent on the train between Friday night and this morning (Sunday), I slept for 19 of them.  It was going to Berlin...super easy.  Best $25 I've ever spent especially considering the total cost of the trip was around $68. 

As for snowboarding, it was a fun except that I've learned I need some green and blue slopes as a warm-up before going banzai black diamond.  Unfortunately up on Kasprowy Weirch, there was nothing except black runs with one exception (more on that below).  Whatever.  I now have some black and blue diamond-shaped bruises and bumps to remind me of this fact.  It's not the case with skiing.  I'm convinced I could ski without skipping a beat after five years of being away from the sport.  But there is something about the feeling of snowboarding that can't be beat.  It's like a flow.  Once you get into a rhythm of carving, it's like a zen like experience.  I don't get that with skiing.  Skiing is just pure adrenaline. 

At the end of the day, I had to make a decision.  Wait in line with people who are not good at standing in lines for the gondola down to the base of the mountain or ride all the way down.  Hmmm.  Easy choice.  Strap into the binding cuz were going for a ride.  Anyhow, this was the one time I wish I had a pair of skis rather than a snowboard.  I was chatting with a guy from Krakow who explained to get down the mountain, you had to follow a narrow hiking trail that was a few kilometers long and at times, it bottomed out before going downhill again.  Ordinarily I really love these sorts of runs since they are deep in the forest and are pretty challenging.  If I were on skis, I would have been going so fast my momentum would have allowed me to slide through the flat parts.  If I didn't have enough speed, I would have used my poles or skated through.  No biggie right?  Not an option with snowboarding.  Each time I had to pop out of my bindings and hoof it to the next downhill portion.  Regardless, it was still better than taking a gondola with pushy Russian tourists who think they run the place.

As for the town of Zakopane, it wasn't bad.  At sunset, the sun went down of the Tarta Mountains making for a very cool scene.  See below. 

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Taking to the ice in Stockholm

About ten years ago, we visited Stockholm and took a boat around the archipelago that surrounds the city.  During the ride, the driver told us the harbor freezes over and the locals go ice skating for long distances.  Seemed to me like such a good idea and a great way to see that incredible city from afar.  Fast forward nine years and when I got my assignment to Poland, I made a list of places I wanted to check out in Europe.  Turns out there were a lot of places that I still wanted to see and experience.  Long distance ice staking in Stockholm was at the top of the list.
 
Fortunately, getting to Stockholm from Poland is stupid cheap.  It's not really that far and this time of year, I was around a hundred bucks roundtrip.  To be honest, you may as well go this time of year since the prices in town are a bit cheaper than normal but still crazy expensive.  Not only that, there is no such thing as warm weather in Stockholm so why not go in February?  Post script: The flight was the only affordable thing in Stockholm. 
 
In sum, spent last Saturday skating on some ice just outside town with a group called IceGuides.  My fellow adventurers included a couple from London and Dusseldorf as well as the guide who was a local.  Couldn't have asked for a better group of folks.  Not only that, couldn't have asked for a better day.  Was on the cloudy sky but no snow or sleet (although it snowed like crazy on Saturday night). 
 
Now it's off to Belfast for another bucket list visit.