Hotel Crocus Strbske Pleso

... we didn't feel like socializing with the chickens and got a penzion instead.

Luckily there was a Pension just near the campsite but unfortunatly they were full up except for the Suite. Fortunatly the Suite was only 28 Euros, Gotta love hotels in the middle of nowhere. Most of our campsites cost that much!

After a great nights sleep and a delicious breakfast we made our way to Krakow through the Tatras mountains.

... over 2,500 metres above sea level), Skalnate Pleso, Hrebienok or Solisko.

A significant number of cosy mountain hostels offer accommodation and food if you're surprised by the weather conditions, which change really quickly and unpredictably. They are located in almost every valley and on the shore of almost every lake. You can eat there both international food, like hranolky (French fries/chips ...

... place is its proximity to the mountains and to a variety of things you can do if you are not particularly keen on hiking. It's close to the Morskie Oko lake, and the red colour trail to Rysy, the highest peak of Poland. It's close to the Dolina Pięciu Stawów Polskich, which is a valley of six lakes surrounded by the mountains. Last but not least, it's close to Slovakia, which is just 10 km away. It has a huge thermal swimming ...

skiing....better than sex....the most fun id had in a very, very long time...

the beer was cheap,. the meat platters were like something out of alice and wonderland...and i was proper pro by the end of our 3 week stay in zakopania...look at the videos

... rocks, so we made reasonably good time. It soon went downhill again, only to go up shortly afterwards. This sort of thing made the trail very tedious, although it probably would have been much nicer if we had had views. When we came to Batizovské pleso, we could see part of the lake but it was very gloomy. We met some climbers coming down from Gerlachovský stít. One of them spoke English and told us that the forecast was for worsening weather. So it was a ...

... because then we knew where we would get off in two days time. By 9:30 am we had paid our 4.40 złoty park entry fees and started walking up the road with dozens of other walkers. The first part of the route took us gently uphill along the paved road. After about 45 minutes we came to Wodogrzymoty Mickiewicza, which is a series of linked waterfalls cascading down to the river below. Here was the "Road Closed" sign which indicated the start of the ...

... cloudy. We stayed at the top for quite a while taking many photos, then headed back down along with the rest of the horde. At Chata pod Rysmi we stopped for more hot drinks, and we also bought a stuffed marmot dressed as a hiker, with a woolly hat labelled "Vysoké Tatry". He subsequently became the mascot for our trip. Going back down seemed to take a long time, but we had forgotten how long it took to climb up. But before long we were back ...

... in about 4:30 pm and the mystery of the parking permit was cleared up. There had been several e-mails on this topic, but neither of the two parties had understood the other party. We had expected them to give us a voucher for a parking lot in Strbské Pleso, but no. To our delight we found out that Matthew was allowed to drive up the service road and park right behind the hut. Excellent! After settling into our room, we went for a walk around the lake before going ...

... and they had taken all the power, so we made do with out (no really a problem). We also chatted to an older Dutch couple for a little while. They had some good stories about traveling through Estonia during soviet rule. He was a mechanic, so Dave thought he would get him to try and find the oil cap (it doesn't seem to exist). After about 20mins of looking, he also could not find it, and we decided to blame it on being a French motor! Miles so Far: 5502

... the U.S. twice tow ork in national parks. Her loves are hiking, writing haiku's for the photographs she takes, and enjoying Jim Morisson and Jack Kerouac. She showed me a poem, "Power," by Morisson, in which he says he can change the world's spinning or travel freely in time or space. She showed me a book, "some of the dharma," by Kerouac, where he speaks of Buddhism and perceiving our world as unreal and his efforts to end his suffering. Interesting ...