After my favorite dinner of the trip so far last night, today was my favorite day. The morning was spent on the bus which wasn’t much fun, but we stopped at at 15th century wooden church and had a brief tour. It’s very pretty, the walls and ceiling are painted with all sorts of designs. (We couldn’t take pictures inside, I’ll have to show you the postcard when I get home.)
Then we ate lunch on the bus. Lunch was bagged, from the hotel in Krakow. It was ok. A lot of ham sandwiches and a cheese sandwich.
After lunch we went on a raft ride. 12 of us fit onto a raft, on my raft we had two random people but they didn’t speak English so they didn’t talk to us. This was a 2 and a half hour raft ride. Most of it was very smooth, there were a couple of bumpy parts but nothing bad and I didn’t even really get splashed. You had two guides with poles and they manuevered you down this river through the mountains. Poland was on our left, Slovakia on our right. (Gaia and I wished they would have pulled over and at least let us step onto Slovakia, but no such luck.) We even saw a black stork. Pictures will have to wait, sorry, but it’s very late, and while I do have an excellent internet connection here in Zakapone, I also need to be up at 6:30 because we have to meet by 8 and I have to have breakfast. (I’m hoping I get a different room once we get back to Krakow with a better connection. The pictures I want to post are piling up rapidly.)
We were dropped off at this little resort type area, where the bus met us. (Which makes me wonder how people who are not on a group tour with a bus driver get back to their cars?) We got lody there, I got a scoop of strawberry and a scoop of kiwi, both were excellent.
We had about an hour ride to our hotel in Zakapone, which is an awesome place. About 20,000 people live here, but during the winter our host tonight said about 3 million people come through here. The view from my hotel is awesome. 
It’s a very nice room, it has it’s own balcony and looks out over the mountains and the two huge outdoor swimming pools, which I will not have enough time to visit. I wish we were here more than one night but I’m sure it’s pretty expensive.
Tonight was the Highlander dinner that we were a little worried about, since our schedule just said “some surprises.” But this was the coolest thing we’ve done so far. Our guide picked us up in full traditional dress and took us to this small wooden house. There was a band, all in traditional dress, plus our host I guess you could call him, he ran the show anyway, in his traditional outfit. We began with dinner, the many shared appetizers (tomatoes and cheese, bread, pickles, a couple different kinds of sausages) before moving onto saurkraut soup. Dinner was a pork thing, with beets and some type of coleslaw stuff and potatoes. I didn’t eat much of this, I’m not a big fan of the beets, but the pork and potatoes were good, the coleslaw stuff was ok. After dinner they brought out tea. Regular tea and highlander tea. I of course tried highlander tea, finding out too late that it had alcohol in it. I sipped it and almost spit it out. Whatever is in it, I forget the name, is 90 proof. So I gave mine away and got regular tea later which was very good. We didn’t have much of a warning that it was alcoholic, our host only said our choices were regular tea and highlander tea, and that “once you go highlander you can never go back.” Fortunately, I never went highlander. Dessert (which I ate while waiting my turn at the nail competition) was an apple pie type thing, also delicious.
Our host told us a lot about traditional Polish culture, then they played music and showed us a dance. Then people got to try to dance. I luckily was not one of them, and since this was not bachata or salsa, I wouldn’t have stood a chance. But everyone got a chance to do something. I’m glad I didn’t volunteer for the first activity. There were 4 people to a team, and that team lined up behind a ski. Shot glasses were placed on the ski in front of each person, and they had to as a team raise the ski and finish the drink. Each team had to do this twice. I tried the drink, I think it was caramel vodka someone said? It was not good. I wouldn’t have made it through the activity. But I did try a later activity. This was an individual competition. They brought out a log and put a long nail into it. (Just a little bit, enough for it to stay.) Then you had to hammer in the nail with as few strokes as possible. You could choose from the large or small hammer. But the head of the hammer was hollow, so you’re trying to hit the nail on the head with the rim of this hollow hammer. Our director won with 75 strokes, Shelby was 2nd with 76. Devin and I had 100+ strokes. It is very difficult and requires some sort of strategy that I did no figure out in my 100+ strokes. (And everything counts as a stroke. If you miss the nail, even if you miss the log.) So needless to say, I did not win the prize. But it was fun.
There was more dancing and drinking, they showed us some way to pass the bottle around where you say something, the person next to you says something, then you drink and then shake out the glass, then pour the drink for the next person. I cannot remember what you had to say. The first word sounded to me like stroganoff, the second like mazletoff (which I’m sure is spelled incorrectly.)
There was also a highlander king and queen competition. This was hilarious. The women had to first peel potatoes to see who could peel the most in a minute and a half. Then they had to dance with a guy. It was a traditional dance, one that requires eye contact. Laura had been saying repeatedly that she wanted to win the competition, and she did. Her dance was hilarious, she was staring down the guy who was dancing with her. She was quite determined and it paid off. The guys had to do a traditional dance as well. During the demonstration they danced with some sort of axe. Luckily during the competition they used their hands and just did a high five. Peter won the highlander king title and received one of the axes. He also had to be knighted so he’s now an official highlander.
We finished with a large group dance, around and around the tiny room, outside and back in. It was a lot of fun although very crowded. Traditional dances are done in small spaces, since entertaining was done at home and houses usually had two rooms, one where entertaining was done, and the other where regular household chores were carried out.
We also learned about their clothing and their music. Clothing was made from 100% natural items. Men’s pants were 100% wool. Shoes were made from one piece of leather. Women wore a long skirt and corset type thing. If they had money they wore coral jewelry, since coral was expensive.
We did have a pop quiz and I won a prize for answering a question correctly about an instrument. I won a small cowbell. That’s the highlander gps we were told.
We finished up around 11 and headed back to the hotel which luckily was close. Tomorrow we’re taking a cable car to the top of a mountain, then going on a tour of Zakapone. I belive we have some free time in the afternoon, I’d like to shop. We passed a market in town on the way in, I’m sure they have interesting things there.
Oh, how could I forget? The spread on the table for the bread? A huge tub of lard. The cheese? Highlander cheese, made from sheep’s milk.
Those are the only interesting things I can remember at his late hour, my wake up call will come early. I definitely will not be running in the morning. I’m looking forward to the cable car andwill at my earliest opportunity begin posting the many pictures I have ready to go.
