Better Late Than Never

We arrived so late in Zakopane yesterday that we didn't get to take our promised stroll on Poland's most famous pedestrian street, Krupowki, lined with shops and merchants selling traditional merchandise. So, after an aborted early morning attempt to take a Gondola ride to Mt. Kasprowy Wierch high in the Tatra Mountain Range because of poor visibility we made plans to do a little retail therapy in Zakopane.

Fot: In front of the museum

But first we stopped in a small village of wooden houses called Chocholow, where we visited the museum in s wood house from the 19th Century. This museum was remarkable in it's depiction of Goral life in this village from the 16th century. Either the Goral people of this mountain region were very short or the idea of doorways taller than the people hadn't reached this region. I am only 5 feet tall and I had to duck to get through the door. We were treated to a visit to the outbuildings housing old carriages, wagons and farming tools and everyone was quite mesmerized by the whole thing. The nice new looking church in the town was locked to visitors due to recent vandalism. A sad commentary to be sure. However, the lady at the local general store told us that the Sunday mass would bring out locals dressed in traditional garb and if we wanted to see what it was really like we should plan to attend.

Fot: Bazaar in Zakopane, Linda

We returned to Zakopane and stopped at the bazaar under the bridge. We made plans to meet at a certain time and then everyone went off on their own to shop. The Gorals make beautiful rich hand woven wool sweaters and lambswool lined moccasins as well as many shapes and sizes of winter hats for infants through adults. There are also hundreds of wood carvings and many versions of hand thrown pottery, among the millions of chotskies with Zakopane printed on them.

Most of us, upon gathering again, determined that there wasn't much there we couldn't live without. It was too hot to think about heavy wool sweaters and besides, they take up a lot of space in a suitcase. Mary bought a flag of Poland for her daughter's fifth grade classroom, Fran and Dennis bought some plums at the farmers market and a pair of the moccasins for their granddaughter. I bought a couple of the baby hats for my little granddaughters, whom I am missing very much indeed. Naomi and Joe found a wood carving they liked but felt it was too rough for their taste. We enjoyed the time but were anxious to get to lunch. One of our travelers didn't show up at the appointed time and Aneta spent 15 minutes running up and down the main street looking for her. I finally went to the van and there she was, sitting on a rock waiting for us. She forgot that we were meeting at the ceramic stand under the bridge.

We returned to the B&B for a nice lunch and got our swimming suits so we could head out for a thermal spa for the afternoon. That turned out to be quite an adventure. Aneta called ahead and was told they had 10 VIP tickets left. We hurried to the luxurious spa hotel only to find that they now had one VIP ticket left. A VIP ticket comes with a towel. You aren't allowed in the spa without a towel. Towels cost $17 each. We didn't bring towels from the B&B. We were stymied. We finally worked out that four of us just wanted to have a massage. Two of us wanted to do the thermal pools. Two of us wished the rest of us would forget the whole thing
so we could go have a beer or a latte. Aneta bought two towels and sent the soakers in for a two hour thermal event. She took four of us over to the hotel to schedule massage appointments. There were two half-hour slots and two one-hour slots. Amazingly enough we were able to agree on who would take which slots. Laurie and I went to the lounge and ordered a Perrier, while we waited for the half hour people to get finished. Suddenly Aneta showed up to tell us there was a really nice thermal pool we could soak in while we were waiting for our massage. That sounded good. We went to the locker room to change and discovered that it was a co-ed locker room - and shower. We undressed and put our robes on but we had decided that the pool was probably au naturale so didn't put on our swim suits. Heavily robed we made our way to the pool area. As soon as we entered we could see that the women in the pool were in swimming suits, so we scurried back to the locker room and got our suits on. There were robed men in the pool area, waiting for their massages, so we felt much more comfortable this way.

The water was warm, but not hot. We relaxed for a good half hour, and visited, while we waited for our respective masseuses. Finally,the door opened and a man and a woman came in obviously looking for clients. They indictated the two of us and we climbed out of the water and put our robes on. Once in the massage room my masseuse (the woman) gave me a tiny envelope and said "put this on and I will be back soon."

I removed the item from the wrapper and found a green paper G-string. Never, in all the years of massage, have I ever been given a G-string to wear! I learned one thing at that particular juncture: pole dancing is definitely out as a career for me. I hoisted myself up on the table and waited. No cover. No warm blanket. Just my bare bottom facing the ceiling. The masseuse opened the door and asked me if I was comfortable? Comfortable? Hardly. I was bare naked, wearing a paper G-string and cold. I have never felt so exposed,nor so ridiculous, in my life! I muttered something about being a little chilly and the G-string being somewhat uncomfortable. I was met with a smile and a sudden rush of liquid running down my legs. I wasn't entirely sure I hadn't wet myself, but she started rubbing the oil into my skin and we
were off. The massage really turned out to be quite nice and relaxing. I needed the relief for my back after such a long period of riding in the van so I was grateful. When the time was up she left. I climbed off the table and opened what I thought was the door to a changing room. It was a shower. A very nice shower. So, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and stepped in and turned on the faucet. The warm water felt so nice and I luxuriated in the shower for about 5 minutes. Finally I emerged and reached for my robe,on the hook outside the shower door. It was then that I realized I had flooded the entire massage room! I was so embarrassed I nearly died. I put my towel on the floor to try to sop up the mess but it disappeared into the water like a Kleenex tissue. I was mortified. Then my masseuse opened the door and I started muttering my apologies and tried to explain. She said,
"Oh, it is nothing. The door is broken. Don't worry." I am sure she was still trying to retrieve the situation so she would get a big tip. She walked me to the locker room and I dried off and got dressed. I made my way down to the lounge and our entire group was waiting while enjoying an afternoon glass of wine or beer. Everyone wanted to know how the massage was. I said it was fine. Fortunately Laurie showed up at just the right moment and waxed
enthusiastic about her massage so I was off the hook. Everyone was in good spirits and we went back to our B&B for a nice dinner and an early evening to bed.

At dinner it came up that the hosts had not cleaned our rooms during the day, while we were gone. Several were without toilet paper and no one had clean towels. Aneta was mortified. She hustled herself out to reception to find out why,and get corrections made. It turned out that we were supposed to leave our keys at reception when we left in the morning and they forgot to tell us! The night staff scurried around finding clean towels and TP for us and we went up to bed. Aneta was informed that they don't normally provide clean towels each day and
she told them we were Americans and we expected clean towels and a clean room each day. Well we did get TP and clean towels each day but they never once cleaned the room, made our beds, or cleaned the bathrooms - and we were there for five days. Aneta was so mad she was livid. She made it clear that, lovely as the place was, and as wonderful as the food was, she would never use their facility again.

Everyone is anticipating a clear day tomorrow so we can get in our Gondola ride in the Tatra
Mountains.
Linda