On top of Poland with our first visitors

RYAN AND JULITA HAVE ARRIVED!!!

From the city to the mountains:

We are on our 10th day in Zakopane, Poland. We have hiked 6 beautiful and challenging trails along the way. Our hike yesterday was the peak of our journey thus far both literally and figuratively. We made it up 2499 meters to the very highest point in Poland called Rysy. We walked up a 6 mile roadway to get to the beginning of the trail. After that, we climbed our way up a near vertical wall through snow to get to the chain part of the climb. These took about an hour or so to climb with people coming up and down the same set of chains. When we arrived to the top of the Rysy 6 hours later, we were treated with a view of the entire mountain range. The peak of Rysy has two ways of getting up, the one we took and the one on the Czech side. At the very top, we could hear people speaking both languages and we knew we had completed our trek. We started the day catching the 6:05 AM bus and were home after dinner at 8:50 PM. Nice way to spend a day!


The place we are all staying in Zab, Poland with a spectacular view of the mountains:

 From our first hike. Only real men wear hats like that:

With the couple that we love:

It has been an absolute plessure having Ryan and Julita join us on our journey and we are very excited to get to be with them in both Rotterdam, Holland and Florence, Italy. We spend each day together only concerned about what foods we are going to eat and what hike we are going to take on. This is what life should be like, for all of us!!!

We will see you all very soon when you come visit us.

-Scott and Mila

Warsaw and Krakow

Hello loyal blog viewers,

We are currently in Krakow, Poland just outside of the town square. Today, we are heading to Zakopane, which will be our 4th and final city in Poland. While we were in Gdansk, we stayed with Mila's grandma. For the last 4 nights, we have stayed in 8 and 10 person hostel rooms. They basically provide a room for us to sleep in. People usually stay up until around 11:30 or 12:00. Ear plugs are a must while staying with that many individuals. So far, we have met fellow travelers from Argentina, Australia, and Finland. There are many people who are traveling solo, but they seem to make friends along the way.

While in Warsaw, we spent the day walking around the old town area and enjoying the soccer activities around the city. We happened to pass by the Russian team's hotel while they were heading out to practice. It was pretty neat seeing all of the players come out. Here are some pics from our quick stay. Check out the pigeons in the second pic. I'm pretty proud of that one!!! Also we went to Lazienka park which is where we found our peacock friend in the 3rd picture. (and no, we did not steal that picture from national geographics)

While in Krakow, we spent the first day in the city enjoying the beautiful sites. On the second day, we went to the famous salt mines in Wieliczka where past visitors include the Pope and our very own George Bush Sr. We will not be posting pictures from the mines however as each picture in this internet cafe is taking 3 minutes to upload.



Well, we are off to Zakopane. We should have some beautiful pictures to share with you during our stay. We will be there for 14 days!!! Hopefully, we can get off a post or two from the mountains, but internet may not be present. So long for now :-)

ESPANA VS ITALIA

Right now we are sitting in Gdansk, Poland in a restaurant called Cafe Ferber. It is the first game of the Euro (Futbol) tournament in Gdansk and it features a big game between Spain and Italy. I haven't seen so many Spanish people since the last time we participated in the running with the bulls. There are thousands of people walking up and down the city center singing Spanish tunes, drinking beer and making LOTS of noise. It is quite the energetic atmosphere. There isn't a single sporting event in the US that could compare to this. There are also a few Italian fans, but they are outnumbered 50 to 1. We had no clue it was going to be like this when we took the bus today, but we are glad we made it out.

It is our last day in Gdansk. We have been here for almost 4 whole weeks now. Up next is Warsaw for 1 day, Krakow for 3 days, and then on to Zakopane to hike for 14 days. The atmosphere should be very similar in Warsaw as it is the site of another stadium for the tournament. There are 8 total stadiums, 4 in Poland and 4 in Ukraine. Soccer has such a huge following in Europe. 75% of the people in Poland were watching Poland take on Greece in there first match (they tied 1-1) in a very closely matched game in Warsaw. We are routing for Poland to take the whole thing!!! (odds are not in our favor)

We hope everyone is doing well! We are having a great time and look forward to more adventures to come.










- Posted around the world from our iPad

Location:Długa,Gdańsk,Poland