Where have you been?

After two hard days on the trail and one day of cool-down we decided to take it easy and play tourist. We hit all the popular sites in town, did some shopping, and, on the last day, spent quality time at a pool.

The first place we saw on day four, mostly because it was downhill from our apartment, was the Sanktuarium Fatimskie church. The church is dedicated to "Our Lady of Fatima" which is what the Blessed Virgin Mary is known as by those who believe that she appeared to three shepherd children at Fátima, Portugal on the 13th day of six consecutive months in 1917.


In front of the church is an identical giant cross to the one on top of Giewont. The cross on Giewont is not able to be seen in this photo but would be on the background peak directly above the old guy walking on the right hand side.

The church is very devoted to John Paul II and even built several buildings/chaples as offerings for his health in the 80s because of the atempt made on his life. In addition there are several statues of the Pope, two shown here, spread across the site. The Pope later visited and consecrated the church.

After the church we made our way to the top of Gubałówka. This is your basic tourist area with plenty of souvenir stands, restaurants, and the like. There is also an Alpine Slide there as well. It is not as big as the one in Park City, Utah, but is fun none the less. Here is a photo of my girlfriend after her ride.

On a clear day the view from Gubałówka must be amzing. Unfortunately it was cloudy when we were there so the photos are not that great. Here is one of us with Giewont in the background.

After the Alpine Slides we decided to relax with some beers (shown) and then spent the rest of day four shopping in Zakopane.

The wether on day five was excellent so we decided to not bother with any more tourist stuff and headed off to find a pool. We eventually found the giant "pond" at the Hotel Kasprowy. This is a large outdoor pool that is in the form of a natural pond. It has an absolutely beautiful view of the Tatras and I am very dissapointed I did not take my camera. If any of you make it to Zakopane in summer time this pool is a nice, but somewhat expensive, way to spend a lazy day enjoying the sights. On the map of days four and five the hotel is circled.