Our first day started relatively early...I stayed up pretty late on Friday night packing the last few things we would need and getting the house clean before we left. Dale and Bev were going to be staying here with Elsie while we were away so I wanted to make sure everything was in order. We woke up around 5:30 AM to get ready so when Elsie woke up we could spend as much time with her as possible before we had to leave around 8:00 AM. Our flight left at 10:30 AM but we couldn't check in and get our seat assignments until we got to the airport and John was so nervous we wouldn't get sat next to eachother on our second flight-the flight to Berlin which was 8.5 hours.
Elsie woke up and we snuggled for a long time until it was time to go. I had purchased a little present for her to open each day we were gone so we decided to let her open the first one before we left.
My little princess-Her first gift was a new princess crown since her other one broke. It was so hard saying good bye but I knew she was in good hands and would have so much fun with Grandma and Grandpa. Dale drove us to the airport where we arrived with plenty of time. Des Moines is such a small airport and we literally walked through security because there was no one in line. We also decided to try to get there earlier than we normally would because we weren't able to check in and get seat assignments until we arrived at the airport. One of John's biggest concerns with the flights was us not being seated together on our flight to Berlin. Thankfully we did. We just chilled at the airport, got something to eat since we had plenty of time and waited. I actually think we boarded early and departed early.
Flight #1: DSM-ORD
Des Moines to Chicago
10:20AM-11:35
Our first flight went well, was on time and of course was just on a small plane from Des Moines to Chicago. When we arrived in Chicago we met up with my parents first and then hauled our butts from one end of Terminal 3 to the opposite end of Terminal 1 to meet up with Tami and Derick who had arrived around 8:00 AM. We met up with them at a Chili's Express and they had met a woman and her little girl from Waukee. They were trying to get home from Washington DC but their flights kept getting delayed. We had a few drinks, grabbed some lunch (which was not very good-but what did I expect? It's airport food). Karen (the woman from Waukee) finally caught thier flight and shortly after Tami and Derick took off to catch their flight. They flew United and we were flying AirBerlin. When we were getting ready to leave we tried to settle up on the bill only to find out it was paid for already-by Karen! I couldn't believe it! That was so nice!
Airplane Selfie
Flight #2: ORD-BER
Chicago to Berlin
3:25PM-7:00AM
So our second flight of the trip also went on without a hitch. It was long-8.5 hours and I was exhausted but just could not sleep. John and I were seated in the middle section of four seats. He was on the end, then me, and then another couple. For the most part things were fine but I did tend to lose some of my personal space to the woman sitting next to me. When we got on the flight there was a pillow, blanket and a little packet of goodies for the flight like socks, toothbrush, toothpaste, and eyemask-all of which is still packaged up sitting on my dresser at home. We were served two meals which were okay and I watched Last Vegas and American Hustle. I also played a ton of Mahjong-ha. I wish I could have closed my eyes to sleep but just couldn't. This flight was my first experience on the trip where a different language was spoken. Everything on the flight was in German and then translated to English. Oh and my parents were on the same flight as us but a few rows back so we didn't see them again until we got off the plane in Berlin.
Flight #3: BER-KRK
Berlin to Krakow
9:00 AM-10:30 AM
In Berlin we got off the plane, took a shuttle from the tarmac to the gate and then proceeded through immigration. The airport here was not very nice at all. Very basic and offered very little. We made our way to the gate, grabbed some hot sausages for John to eat-so German right?, and I got some coffee and a cup of fruit. We then boarded our last flight of this part of the journey. It was another quick flight and we were so anxious to get there and see Tony and Magda! Tami and Derick arrived just about the same time as we did, we collected our luggage and walked right out. I was suprised there was no customs at all! We went through immigration in Berlin but never collected our luggage to take through customs.
Tony and Magda met us there along with Magda's father and his wife Danuta. After my dad collected the rental car and we loaded up our luggage we made our way south toward Zakopane and the Tatra Mountains where we were going to be staying the night. Just outside of Krakow we stopped at a roadside hotel that had a restaraunt because we were all hungry and wanted a place to stop and visit with Magda's parents because they were headed home and we would meet up with them the next night. This is where I had my first taste of Polish food-Pierogis and they were delicious!!
We then hit the road-it was about 1.5 hours from Krakow to Zakopane and lets just say I slept most of the way :). When I woke up I could definitely tell we were in a mountainous region. Most of the homes looked the same and had that A-Line roofline due to the large amounts of snow they get in the wintertime. Zakopane-which means "hidden place" is in the Tatra Mountains which is the highest range in the Carpathian Mountains and is on the border of Poland and Slovakia. The people who live here or have in the past are referred to as "Highlanders." A quick google of Zakopane or Tatra Mountains will give you all sorts of information.
We finally arrived at our accomodations for the night and they were just wonderful. Magda found this place and it was perfect! It was just outside of Zakopane at the foot of the mountains. It was a four bedroom cottage and fit all eight of us comfortably. Also, I could not believe how inexpensive it was to stay here. For each couple it was $30 per person and that was for two nights! Unfortunately we only stayed one night but it was a two night minimum for booking. So in the end it was $15/person/night.
The living room area
One of the bedrooms. The bedrooms weren't huge but they were just perfect. The cottage also had two bathrooms, a full kitchen, and a living room, and of course, AMAZING views :)
The View from one of the balconies
The Happy Couple!
After getting settled, we drove into Zakopane for dinner and to walk around town. Town was neat but very touristy. There were lots of shops, restaraunts and vendors on the street. It was very much a little mountain town. We walked around for awhile, found a place to exchange some cash from USD to Zloty, tasted some cheese from a cart (there was like these little cheese carts on every block). As much as I love cheese I found this to be really salty. Walking around, we were trying to find a place to eat and stumbled upon this place.
So many sausages! Which I quickly learned is a very popular food in Poland. They looked so yummy. Also in the mix was black pudding (or blood sausage). If you haven't had this it is blood mixed in with some filler (I believe barley was what was mainly used in Poland) along with other ingredients to form a sausage. The idea of it grossed me out but before the trip I took on the thought to "say yes to everything." I'm not a big risk taker but wanted to make sure I experienced everything. So when we finally found a place to eat and someone ordered a sausage plate and it included this I did give it a try...and I didn't really like it. It wasn't so much the taste as it was the texture.
My mom ordered the pork knuckle. She said it was really good but was so much food! That is another thing that I learned...everything comes in huge portions. My mom also had some really good sauerkraut and spare rib soup which was really good. For dinner I had Potato Pancakes with some sort of beef mixture and garlic soup-which was delicious but very garlicy-imagine that! After dinner, we walked around a little more and then made our way back to the cars because we were all exhausted after over 24 hours of travel time. We stopped at a little store to get a few groceries like coffee and breakfast rolls and headed back to the cottage.
**A Little note, because of our generous travel companions (and a stranger at the airport) John and I were yet to pay for any meals besides our breakfast sandwich at the Des Moines airport and our little breakfast at the Berlin airport.
A few more picture of Zakopane (btw it is pronouched Zak-o-pana with the "a" being the same sound as "ah" and the e at the end is also an "ah" sound. I'm so not good at phonics-haha).
The Sleeping Knight
If you look at this mountain peak you can see on the right peak is the head with the forehead, nose, and chin and then the peak to the left is the body with a sword laying across the knights chest. The legend is that the knight will wake up if Poland is in trouble to protect the country (although we know this isn't the case since the country has seen its fair share of trouble).
These are some pictures of some of the original structures of Zakopane. These alpine chalets were just beautiful will all the wood carvings and details. After researching a little about this it is said that they designs have a bit of an Austrian influence because Austria occupied this part of Poland in the 19th century.
Well there it is . . . Our travel to Poland and our first full day!
.JPG)
