Villa Skala Karpacz

The day before we landed in Poland, there was a massive storm. So big, it washed out a good chuck of it's national railway. This lead to a bit of a dilemma. How to get to Kamienna Góra. After a hour of frantic phone calls, Anita's relatives decided that it was best to catch the train, then it'd bypass the damaged parts by bus, then we'd be back on our journey. Ahhh, all sweet. <br><br>Once again, we were late to rise, and it made for a hectic hour ...

... Mountains is part of the larger Sudetes range. Its highest peak is Sniezka which stands on the border between the Poland and Czech Republic - at a height of 1602 meters above sea level. The mountains are wonderful for trekking and ski. Large areas of the mountains are preserved as National Park.<br><br>To see photos from Jelenia Gora and Mountains please click here:<br>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =7KSPFn6p9Y0

In a remote corner of northeastern Czech Republic lies an incredible collection of sandstone spires. So we changed gears and spent the day exploring the nooks of crannies of Teplice and Ardspach Skaly. I'm not sure if several hours of hiking counts as a "rest day", but it was absolutely worthwhile and we are so glad that we made the effort to come check this area out. Now, we DID have an actual rest day a couple days ago with our ...

... stopem na dwie raty do Szklarskiej Poreby. Nareszcie w domu! No, prawie. Potem juz polskim PKSem do Jeleniej Gory - a stamtad juz prosta droga do domu - Wroclawia i Opola. Chcielismy spedzic noc we wlasnych lozkach, dlatego ostatni odcinek przejechalismy platnym trasportem. Ahh znowu pokonalismy tysiace kilometrow, w wiekszosci na stopa! Dokonalismy niemozliwego (autostop w Grecji), spotkalismy indywidulistow, ktorzy ...

... the 'Red Baron'. However, the trip was all about the Karkonosz, and we decided not to waste any more time here. We arrived in Karpacz, one of the most popular mountain resorts in Poland, soon after 1pm and made our way slowly up the winding main road amidst literally thousands of tourists. We certainly weren't the only people who'd planned a weekend here over the holiday, and after checking into our small guesthouse we quickly made our way away from the crowds in the centre of the town ...

... sure how this happened, obviously I haven't been looking after him properly, which is one of his favourite catch phases. So 4 loads of washing, one dryer, charged by the hour, and its 14 degrees so not the best weather for drying. Washing really has become a obsession of mine, it's a war, you have to focus and be ruthless with all your competitors, this is not about making friends people, this is about survival of the fittest). Victory at last for ...

... I had a cold, the funny thing is that everyone seemed amazed that I dared to tell the driver to stop the heating, which was burning like hell! I made my farewell to Daniella as she walked me to the bus station by the afternoon, I would surely have loved to stay longer... sadly I had to go. It felt like if were to meet again soon, or that it was just an au revoir. A deep hug and I hopped in the bus. Sigh! I loved my time here!

... We decided to eat at the airport, which was good, because we got lost and were pulled over by the Czech Police (who wanted payment in Czech money right then, which we didn't have, so they let us go rather than hauling us to the station ... a friend who has lived in Prague suggested it was because the kids were in the car ... I don't know, but I was happy). Finally, we found the road to ...

... is situated within the national park). Lowlights: -Getting off at wrong train station and having to walk 3km to our accommodation. (This was an easy mistake to make as we later found out that there are 3 stations with the same name.) Narrative and pictures to followww.

... Wodomierzanka," loosely translated by Monika as "woman who reads water meters." It was filled with screaming kids on a camp trip, and had goats, chickens and turkeys wandering around the property. The highlight of this trip was climbing Mount Sniezka (snowflake), the highest mountain in the Sudeten chain (~1600m). We bought a trail map of the region, but got directions to where we were supposed to start our hike from a woman in our hostel who had done the climb before. Unfortunately ...