Spring arrived over a month ago, enveloping the city and surrounding area in the warmth of golden sunshine. The parks held the fresh scent of blooming flowers and the lively song of birds. May was approaching...
As every year, a holiday was approaching, a celebration of our relationship with Joanna, because it was in May that everything began in earnest. The beginning of May marks the anniversary of our relationship. It all began three years ago in May, in the mountains of the Little and Silesian Beskids. And it has remained that way. Since then, every year we celebrate May Day somewhere in the mountains, surrounded by nature, far from the hustle and bustle of the city and concrete buildings. It has also become a tradition that we never go alone for the May Day weekend, always with someone. With someone we like and, at the same time, with someone who likes us. This time, it so happened that we went for the May Day weekend with friends – Paweł, also known as Banana, and his girlfriend, Ania, also known as Anisia.
The May Day weekend was supposed to be the Sudetes Mountains and their highest peak in the Karkonosze range, Śnieżka (1603m).
This time, we started our May Day weekend earlier than usual, on April 29th. This year, that day happened to be a Saturday.
Ania and Paweł live in Ruda Śląska, and from there they traveled to Chorzów, where I, Lucjan, live, and my girlfriend, Joanna. They picked up Joanna first, and then me. Initially, we had arranged for me to meet at Joanna's house and set off from there, but since it was pouring rain, I asked them to pick me up. And so it happened; all three of us arrived on time.
For my girlfriend, Aśka, and me, it was our first May Day weekend together, and we went by car. Until then, we had traveled by train to our May Day weekends together.
The car that took us was an old, white Ford Escort belonging to Anisi and Banana. This car is familiar to us, having taken us on many trips, though never before on a trip that could be called a May Day trip. This car was called Hugo. Yes, it had a name, which our friends gave it. They have a habit of naming cars they own, and their previous car—a small car—was called Tabalunga.
The rain was falling heavily, the sky was dark, and the air was chilly. Hugo bravely sped along the A4 motorway towards Wrocław, simultaneously warming us with the warmth of his white-hot engine. Well, maybe I exaggerated a bit. I think everyone was a bit worried about the weather—that a downpour would ruin our plans, that there would be no point in climbing such a high mountain in soaked clothes, and so on. It's important to remember, however, that on every May Day weekend Asia and I have been to in recent years, and where the weather has played tricks on us, it has ultimately been kind to us. This was the case during our first May Day weekend in 2003, and it was the same the following year. The key to the weather's kindness back then was a deep belief in that kindness. I remember then awakening within myself a deep sense of faith in the beautiful, sunny weather. Others probably believed it too, because the weather pleasantly surprised us that day. We did the same thing with Banan in 2004, when a downpour caught us in the Miziowa Meadow and we wanted to continue hiking. We stopped under a tree and began to cultivate the belief that the rain would stop and allow us to continue our hike in the sunshine. Although nothing foreshadowed it, a miracle occurred, and after ten minutes under the tree, the sun emerged from behind the clouds, with the rest of the day still to come. What did we have to lose this time, when we were safely cruising along in the car? Probably nothing. So, about halfway there, I closed my eyes, calmed down, and summoned the "spirits of sunny weather." Banan, as the driver, couldn't close his eyes, but I believe that deep down he too believed that the weather would become our ally, not our enemy. Although the sun didn't come out, the rain stopped and, as it turned out, left us alone for the rest of the day. I'll add that the weather forecast wasn't so optimistic – it was supposed to be cloudy and rainy – but from then on, it was just cloudy.
Along the way, we stopped at a roadside restroom to stretch our legs. After fifteen minutes, we continued towards the Karkonosze Mountains, towards Karpacz.
We arrived in Karpacz itself before 2 p.m. After finding a parking lot, we grabbed our backpacks and hit the road. The town was surrounded by the beauty of picturesque mountains, which attracted a lot of tourists. Karpacz's main street was packed with people. Asia bought two waffles in one of the wooden houses, which she shared with me. As we passed a restaurant called Kolorowa, Asia joked that people of all colors could eat there. At that moment, we saw a black man walking along the sidewalk. The situation was eerie, considering that during that May long weekend, we never saw another person of color other than white… Was it a sudden creation?
The further we walked, the higher we got, as the street continued to climb. We took a short break at the dam. Then we continued on, and after asking a local, I was convinced we were on the right track, heading towards the Wang Temple – it was to be our first destination on the way to Śnieżka. Along the way, we passed numerous wooden souvenir stands. At one of them, we admired wooden angels for various occasions. Two hours after setting off, we reached the Wang Temple, but we couldn't enter due to a wedding taking place there. The Wang Temple was built in the 12th century in Norway (in the town of Vang), from where it was moved to Karpacz. It was constructed of pine. Not all of the temple's elements are original. The roof gables, with their dragon heads, and the granite bell tower next to the church, were the work of local builders. The temple's architectural structure, with its columns, carved capitals, and decorated portals, is very interesting. Around the church is a symbolic cemetery and a sculpture depicting the resurrection of Lazarus. The church is still used by Lutherans today, as evidenced by the wedding ceremony we witnessed. There, we also saw a strange-looking tourist wearing a hat, a beard, and flip-flops on his bare feet. We also saw the mysterious figure of the Mountain Spirit, disguised as a man who simply made money by having his photo taken with him. Legends say that the Mountain Spirit was a muscular old man with long gray hair and a beard, holding a large wooden stick in his hand. People called him Liczyrzepa, Rzepiór, Rzepolicz, or Karkonosz. Legends about the Mountain Spirit originated in the Sudetes Mountains about a thousand years ago. It was believed to be some mysterious demonic and devilish figure. For example, Schwenckfeldt writes of it: "It will do no harm unless someone laughs at it, mocks it, or longs to see it, then it fills the air with a sudden, unexpected storm, thunder, lightning, hail, and downpour." He adds, however, "Although I have been to these mountains many times, descended their length and breadth, and even spent nights in them, I have never encountered anything like it."
After a short visit and rest, we continued on our way. We bought tickets to the Karkonosze National Park and crossed its border. We also bought raincoats just in case. The paved road led up an increasingly forested trail. After an hour of hiking, we reached the next intermediate point of our trip – Polana. We were then at 1,067 meters above sea level. We took a short break, and as we looked high into the mountains, we saw them shrouded in thick white clouds. We consulted our map case, then crossed the bridge, passing a river. The trail veered decisively into the forest, and we left the paved road. There was no longer as much green grass as before. At this altitude, all the vegetation was covered in snow, which was also evident from the significantly lower temperature. It was then that we saw the strange-looking tourist in flip-flops, barefoot, wandering along the snow-covered trail for the second time. At one point, we had to bypass the trail due to a level 1 avalanche hazard, which resulted in that section being closed. At one point, we weren't sure whether to turn left or right to reach the Samotnia mountain hut. I pulled my dowsing pendulum out of my pocket and asked. It indicated right. Banan had the same feeling. So we chose this path, and after a while, it turned out we'd made the right choice, as we saw the blue of our trail on a tree again. On the way to Samotnia, we were treated to beautiful mountains and a frozen pond near Samotnia, reminiscent of Morskie Oko. The entire hike to Samotnia from Polana took us over an hour. Here, we ordered hot tea and stamped our Mountain Tourist Badge books. I also bought a souvenir badge for the mountain hut, which I've recently started collecting. Here, Paweł also reminded me that it was at this very shelter that the renowned traveler Pustelnik, on New Year's Eve, auctions off various items to benefit the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity. Moreover, on the wooden wall by the buffet, one could see several issues of the mountain magazine Nad Poziomem Morza, which this traveler edits. We lingered a while longer, then continued on.
The higher we climbed, the smaller the Samotnia shelter became, along with the frozen pond next to it. We used these moments to take interesting photographs.
Fifteen minutes later, we were at our final planned destination for the day – the Strzecha Akademicka mountain hut at 1,258 meters above sea level. It was here that we had booked accommodation in a four-person room with a sink. Here, as usual, we also stamped our GOT booklets, and I bought another commemorative badge. Later, we made the beds and pushed them together, making it even cozier. A warm shower, meanwhile, washed away our exhaustion. Banan performed several Hatha Yoga exercises that evening – his perseverance and consistency filled me with admiration. If he practices like this every day, no illness will catch up with him, and even if he does, it will overcome it. Before bed, he read aloud the book "Mental Body." Shortly after dinner, we went to bed.
When I woke up in the morning, I saw a fine spring snow falling from the sky… This already heralded our incredible journey. In fact, the snow that was falling wasn't spring at all. At this altitude in the Karkonosze Mountains, there was not the slightest trace of spring. Everything was covered in nearly a meter of snow. Fortunately, I was well-prepared for this hike, and brand-name snow boots protected me from the cold and damp. Asia had them too. Ania also had good shoes and a waterproof jacket. Banan was less fortunate, as he was wearing shoes he'd recently found somewhere... Before breakfast, I swung the pendulum over my head for strength, and Banan took two photos of me. One showing the pendulum spinning, and the other showing it as if it were stopped.
After breakfast, we checked into the shelter's cafeteria and continued our hike. Aśka put on her gaiters and the raincoat she'd bought the day before, while I preferred to save mine for another time. The snow was falling, the fog was thickening, and visibility was getting poorer. We followed the trail uphill towards Spalana Strażnica (Burnt Watchtower), and along the path were stakes driven in, probably to prevent people from getting lost in the fog. That day, however, a group of hikers from Warsaw got lost near Śnieżka, something we didn't know about. After forty-five minutes, we were at Spalana Strażnica (Burnt Watchtower). The couple behind us took a souvenir photo of the four of us. Then we continued along the ridge in the thickening fog. The stakes guided us. This mysterious, misty atmosphere made me feel as if somewhere deep inside, or perhaps beyond, there was a sea… It was an incredible feeling. As we continued our hike, we spotted a mountain on our left, which we initially mistook for Śnieżka. The real Śnieżka was shrouded in such thick fog that we couldn't even make out its outline. After a while, we spotted a house in the distance, but it vanished a moment later. I knew, however, that it wasn't a mirage, just fog. I asked Aśka if she saw the house, to which she replied, "What house?" There's nothing there. It was just the fog playing tricks on us. After a while, we found ourselves at the house, which turned out to be a mountain hut. It was the Dom Śląski mountain hut, located at an altitude of 1,394 meters above sea level on the Przełęcz Pod Śnieżką Pass. Here we took a short break to rest. From here, we were on our way directly to Śnieżka itself, which was now visible from time to time depending on the misty clouds passing over it. At times, we also managed to glimpse the outline of the mountain hut on Śnieżka, which also serves as a weather station. Here, the path began to lead much more uphill than before. There were also more people coming from different directions, along different trails, to conquer Śnieżka. The path to the summit was secured with chains that we could hold on to – it was very slippery. We were fortunate to be hiking this section of the trail with a larger group, led by a guide who stopped frequently and shared many interesting facts. He told us, for example, about the cross we passed, which was erected to commemorate the deaths of two Czech rescuers. He also told us about a group of twenty-four people, nineteen of whom died in an avalanche in this area. The path was winding and foggy, preventing us from admiring the expansive views, despite the occasional lookout points. Visibility was limited to a few meters. We hiked in the clouds. I liked it – it's nice to have your head in the clouds! We reached the summit of Śnieżka – located at an altitude of 1,603 meters above sea level – in exactly one hour and ten minutes. Here the fog, though hard to imagine, was even thicker. It wasn't fog anymore,It wasn't clouds anymore, it was milk! We entered the UFO-shaped shelter, where we found the last available seats at the table. There, of course, we got our stamps. I bought a badge, and Anisia and Banan bought theirs here too. Asia, meanwhile, pulled out a contest ticket, where she could scratch off one of several squares. She asked Banan and me if we'd check it with a pendulum, which might hide a prize, assuming it was hidden in the ticket at all. Banan checked first, I checked second. We pointed to different squares, though adjacent. Asia chose my suggestion because I was her boyfriend. Unfortunately, there was no winner there. So she checked Banan's suggestion. There was nothing there either. She scratched them all off, and... Unfortunately, this ticket wasn't the winner. A woman sitting at the same large wooden table as us was looking strangely at our pendulum-like games. We were probably as weird to her as that guy in flip-flops was to us. I left my companions at the table and went to look around the peak. I peeked into the chapel built in 1681, then continued on. The interior of the chapel and the interior of the mountain hut were the only places clear of fog at that time. I also walked around the tower and the entire mountain hut, then returned to the hut. At that very moment, here on the summit of Śnieżka, I decided to give my beloved Asinka a gift for our next anniversary. We were actually supposed to celebrate it the next day, but I preferred to celebrate it here in the mountains, at the very top. I gave her a card with teddy bears, two love mugs with teddy bears so we could sometimes drink from them together, and a glass or perhaps porcelain coaster with a seahorse, which she had admired not long ago when we were in the shop. Asinka was very happy, which made me happy too. She also said that a nice gift was waiting for me back home in Chorzów. However, she wouldn't reveal what it was. We felt very happy then, but we knew it was time to say goodbye to Śnieżka and continue our journey. After leaving the shelter, we saw a large, strange, and mysterious figure in the fog in the distance… I recognized it as the Spirit of the Mountains… An old, long-haired man with a beard and a stick – it had to be him, I thought. We decided to take a few souvenir photos. Then the Karkonosze Mountains disappeared somewhere in the fog. We looked at our map case to better familiarize ourselves with the route ahead of us. Banan was a little doubtful when he saw how much more hiking lay ahead of us. However, I convinced him we could handle it. So we hurried along the red border trail. The fog was at its thickest then. People walking ahead of us soon disappeared into the mist. The same happened with those following us. The four of us stayed close together so we wouldn't get lost. The trail we were following was overgrown with dwarf pine, so we were in a miniature forest. It was very pleasant to walk along it.Sometimes we managed to walk in complete silence for a while, which was incredibly calming. Such natural, blissful silence is a form of meditation, provided the meditator can listen to it. Along the way, we encountered tourists hiking towards Śnieżka, with whom we exchanged greetings, as is the mountain tourist tradition. On the way to Owl Pass, Aśka felt a craving for silage, and after a moment, the Czech mountain hut Jelonka appeared. It was one of those instantaneous materializations of wishes! There we paused briefly, then began descending again. The lower we went, the thinner the fog became. It took us over an hour to reach Owl Pass. Here, snow still lingered, and the winter air was still there. As we passed a booth resembling a bus station, I asked the tourists sitting there if they were waiting for a bus. They had been calling out to us from a distance. At one point, as we were descending the mountain rather steeply, Aśka slipped and fell. Her buttocks suffered a little, but nothing serious happened. I helped her up, and we continued along the trail. At one point, we passed through a section of forest where most of the trees were fallen. Those that survived had remnants of branches only on one side. It was a tree graveyard. Anisi and I immediately thought of the meteorite that fell in the taiga over 100 years ago. Apparently, the light from that explosion was visible even in France! I also learned that in 2002, another meteorite hit the taiga, destroying over 100 square kilometers of forest. The force of its explosion was compared to that of a medium-sized atomic bomb. However, we weren't dealing with a meteorite here, as the trees weren't scorched. However, a few years ago, a huge windstorm probably blew through here, strong enough to uproot these trees. When we passed this tree cemetery and entered a normal, living forest, a pleasant spring greeted us all. The grass was no longer covered in snow. There was almost no snow left. And to our right, a small river flowed, babbling. We met two older gentlemen from Warsaw walking through the forest. I don't know if they believed me when I told them about the conditions on Śnieżka. We continued walking through the forest for a while until we reached the town of Wilcza Poręba. There, along the way, we passed wooden sculptures in the shape of masks depicting the faces of a seven-person choir. And beneath them was a quote from Isaiah: "The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you with shouts of joy!"On the way to Owl Pass, Aśka got a craving for some silage, and after a moment, the Czech mountain hut Jelonka appeared. It was one of those instantaneous wishes coming true! We stopped there for a moment, then started descending again. The lower we went, the thinner the fog became. It took us over an hour to reach Owl Pass. Here, snow still lingered, and the winter air was still there. When we passed a booth resembling a bus station, I asked the tourists sitting there if they were waiting for a bus. They had been calling out to us from afar. At one point, as we were descending the mountains quite steeply, Aśka slipped and fell. Her buttocks were slightly injured, but nothing serious happened. I helped her up, and we continued along the trail. At one point, we passed a section of forest where most of the trees were downed. The ones that survived had only a few branches on one side. It was a tree cemetery. Anisi and I immediately thought of a meteorite that had fallen into the taiga over 100 years ago. Apparently, the light created by that explosion was visible even in France! I also learned that in 2002, another meteorite had fallen into the taiga, destroying over 100 square kilometers of forest after its explosion, and the force of its blast was compared to a medium-sized atomic bomb. However, we weren't dealing with a meteorite here, as the trees weren't scorched. However, a huge windstorm had likely blown through here a few years ago, strong enough to uproot the trees. When we passed this tree cemetery and entered a normal, living forest, a pleasant spring greeted us all. The grass was no longer covered in snow. There was almost no snow left. And to our right, a small river flowed gurgling. We also met two elderly gentlemen from Warsaw who were walking through the forest. I don't know if they believed me when I told them about the conditions on Śnieżka. We walked through the forest for a while until we reached the town of Wilcza Poręba. There, along the way, we passed wooden mask-shaped sculptures depicting the faces of a seven-person choir. Below them was a quote from Isaiah: "The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you with shouts of joy!"On the way to Owl Pass, Aśka got a craving for some silage, and after a moment, the Czech mountain hut Jelonka appeared. It was one of those instantaneous wishes coming true! We stopped there for a moment, then started descending again. The lower we went, the thinner the fog became. It took us over an hour to reach Owl Pass. Here, snow still lingered, and the winter air was still there. When we passed a booth resembling a bus station, I asked the tourists sitting there if they were waiting for a bus. They had been calling out to us from afar. At one point, as we were descending the mountains quite steeply, Aśka slipped and fell. Her buttocks were slightly injured, but nothing serious happened. I helped her up, and we continued along the trail. At one point, we passed a section of forest where most of the trees were downed. The ones that survived had only a few branches on one side. It was a tree cemetery. Anisi and I immediately thought of a meteorite that had fallen into the taiga over 100 years ago. Apparently, the light created by that explosion was visible even in France! I also learned that in 2002, another meteorite had fallen into the taiga, destroying over 100 square kilometers of forest after its explosion, and the force of its blast was compared to a medium-sized atomic bomb. However, we weren't dealing with a meteorite here, as the trees weren't scorched. However, a huge windstorm had likely blown through here a few years ago, strong enough to uproot the trees. When we passed this tree cemetery and entered a normal, living forest, a pleasant spring greeted us all. The grass was no longer covered in snow. There was almost no snow left. And to our right, a small river flowed gurgling. We also met two elderly gentlemen from Warsaw who were walking through the forest. I don't know if they believed me when I told them about the conditions on Śnieżka. We walked through the forest for a while until we reached the town of Wilcza Poręba. There, along the way, we passed wooden mask-shaped sculptures depicting the faces of a seven-person choir. Below them was a quote from Isaiah: "The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you with shouts of joy!"At one point, we passed through a section of forest where most of the trees were fallen. The surviving trees had remnants of branches only on one side. It was a tree graveyard. Anisi and I immediately thought of a meteorite that had fallen into the taiga over 100 years ago. Apparently, the light it created was visible even in France! I learned that in 2002, another meteorite had fallen into the taiga, destroying over 100 square kilometers of forest after its explosion, and the force of its blast was compared to a medium-sized atomic bomb. However, we weren't dealing with a meteorite here, as the trees weren't scorched. However, a few years ago, a huge windstorm had probably blown through here, strong enough to uproot these trees. When we passed this tree graveyard and entered a normal, living forest, a pleasant spring greeted us all. The grass was no longer covered in snow. There was almost no snow left. And to our right, a small river flowed, babbling. We met two older gentlemen from Warsaw walking through the forest. I don't know if they believed me when I told them about the conditions on Śnieżka. We walked through the forest for a while longer, until we reached the town of Wilcza Poręba. There, along the way, we passed wooden mask-shaped sculptures depicting the faces of a seven-person choir. And beneath them was a quote from Isaiah: "The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you with shouts of joy!"At one point, we passed through a section of forest where most of the trees were fallen. The surviving trees had remnants of branches only on one side. It was a tree graveyard. Anisi and I immediately thought of a meteorite that had fallen into the taiga over 100 years ago. Apparently, the light it created was visible even in France! I learned that in 2002, another meteorite had fallen into the taiga, destroying over 100 square kilometers of forest after its explosion, and the force of its blast was compared to a medium-sized atomic bomb. However, we weren't dealing with a meteorite here, as the trees weren't scorched. However, a few years ago, a huge windstorm had probably blown through here, strong enough to uproot these trees. When we passed this tree graveyard and entered a normal, living forest, a pleasant spring greeted us all. The grass was no longer covered in snow. There was almost no snow left. And to our right, a small river flowed, babbling. We met two older gentlemen from Warsaw walking through the forest. I don't know if they believed me when I told them about the conditions on Śnieżka. We walked through the forest for a while longer, until we reached the town of Wilcza Poręba. There, along the way, we passed wooden mask-shaped sculptures depicting the faces of a seven-person choir. And beneath them was a quote from Isaiah: "The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you with shouts of joy!"
We arrived in the center of Karpacz at 5 p.m. We decided that before we started looking for accommodation for the night, we'd eat something first. It's obviously better to look for a place on a full stomach. Besides, when we asked about accommodation along the way, there were no vacancies. We visited several restaurants, but they were either full or not to our liking. After a while, we found the right place for us – the Kolorowa restaurant. Anisi and Banan didn't seem to like it, so they continued their search. We agreed to call back when we were all full. Meanwhile, we perused the menu, and a candle was lit on our table. After a moment's consideration, we decided to both order the panga fish, potatoes, and a salad. We'd wash it down with juices: Aśka's pineapple, and mine, grape. The only downside to this restaurant was the long wait for our meals. It was a trying time for our hungry stomachs. However, the fact that we had to wait so long was a guarantee that everything would be exquisitely prepared. After thirty minutes, dinner was served. It must be admitted that it was very good. We ate after such an expedition that our ears were shaking. After the meal, while I was in the restroom, my phone started ringing. I guessed it was Banan, but I couldn't answer it right away because I was washing my hands. A moment later, it rang again. He said they were waiting for us in the parking lot by the car. So, after leaving Kolorowa, we went there. The car wouldn't start, so we pushed it up the hillside. When it started rolling downhill, it started without any major problems. So we got into Hugo's car and drove off to find a place to stay. We called and asked everywhere, but nothing. All our efforts were fruitless. At one guesthouse, when I asked someone about accommodations, he replied, "Sir, do you have anything?" I admit it weakened my faith, but I didn't lose hope. We even called youth hostels in nearby towns, whose phone numbers we had in a special booklet. However, our efforts were fruitless here too… Until a while! Aśka found the Skalnik youth hostel in Mysłakowice, in the Bukowiec district, at Szkolna Street 1. We decided to call. It turned out there were still places available, which delighted us and reassured us – we no longer had to worry about spending a cold night in the car. Staring at the map, we drove to this town, passing nearby villages where no one would probably want to wander alone at night. We passed many ruins and neglected houses. The empty houses spoke to us with their emptiness. But we pressed on, and a local man, and then a very talkative child, showed us the way. At one point, as we drove through a village situated on the edge of a forest, I said, "You have to drive more carefully here," and then a deer crossed our path. The banana managed to brake, and the whole situation made us laugh again - because I turned out to be a prophet.
By the time we reached Skalnik, it was already very dark. We paid immediately and were assigned a dormitory room, where a backpacker was already sleeping. His name was Andrzej, and he'd come from the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. I boasted that I'd been there a year ago, when I climbed Łysica. He, in turn, showed an interest in stones—perhaps he collected them himself? Banan showed him stones he'd found in the mountain forest. Andrzej more or less told him what they were, and one was iron ore, the other something else. Our girls were showering at the time. When Banan and I went to shower, there was no hot water. We waited and waited, but to no avail. Banan, groaning, washed himself in cold water; I wasn't in the mood for such a bath. I decided to wash up in the morning. The beds in the room were narrow and bunk beds; unfortunately, we couldn't put them together. Aśka and I slept downstairs with our heads facing each other, and Anisia and Banan slept upstairs - also with their heads facing each other.
I got up a few minutes after seven, and Andrzej was still there, even though he wanted to get up at six. He preferred to sleep in longer. I went to take a shower, but again, to my chagrin, there was no hot water. Frustrated, I returned to my room, wrapped myself in a sleeping bag, and fell asleep. When I woke up, Andrzej was gone, and his bed was made. Meanwhile, Aśka was in the bathroom and came to me to tell me there was hot water. I doubted this, having had some unpleasant experiences, but I was persuaded and decided: "I'm going to the bathroom one last time to check if there's hot water." I was lucky because the hot water flowed through the pipes, through the shower head, right onto me. I allowed myself a rather long shower—in two days. My body and my aura were cleansed. I joked later that I'd created as much fog in the bathroom as there was on Śnieżka Mountain. When I got back, I noticed a Banana dowsing device under the bed. He put it there overnight so we could sleep well. He did the same thing last night at the Academic Strzesza. Banan, after all, knows how to take care of everyone, even if there are people who call a radioactive substance a piece of wood. When I went to brush my teeth, I noticed the hot water had run out again. It didn't matter to me; I managed to wash myself in warm water, worse for Banan, I thought. But somehow he managed; I think he even had some hot water. In the meantime, thinking the shelter library was a bookstore, I decided to buy a book about the legends of the Karkonosze Mountains. When I asked the lady for the price, I was told that the books weren't for sale and that they probably had to put out a notice with the appropriate information, since I wasn't the only one who wanted to buy a book from them. When we were all in the room, Aśka said to Anisi and Banan, "Today is the first of May. Did you know that Lucjan and I are celebrating our third anniversary?" Anisia replied that they knew (from the May Day brochure I'd given them at the beginning of the trip), and they all said they wished us three more years together.
After we'd all packed up and checked out, we went to the car. It was 11:00 a.m. We decided to stop in Karpacz for some waffles. Asia grabbed two waffles with Nutella and cream, I grabbed a waffle with jam, as did Banan and Anisia, and an ice cream cone. The car was parked in a prohibited area, and we even saw a parking brake on one of the cars. With a wry smile from Banan and me, we headed towards the car, but as usual, we were lucky, and there was no parking brake or ticket under the windshield wiper. We could say goodbye to Karpacz and drive through Kowary to the Western Town in Ścięgny.
On the way to town, my friend Galicjusz called me and informed me that he had unfortunately had an accident and lost his foot, and as a result, he would never be able to go to the mountains with us again – we had planned a trip to the Tatra Mountains. Meanwhile, Banan replied, "Ask him if he's drunk," to which Anisi slapped him on the head. The situation, however, was serious. I reassured him that transplants were possible these days, to which he asked if such transplants had been performed on injured soldiers from Iraq. He also asked if it would be possible to go to the mountains in a wheelchair. The conversation lasted a few minutes, and afterward, the atmosphere in the car became a bit tense. Ten minutes later, Galicjusz called me again and admitted that it had all been a joke. On the one hand, I was outraged, on the other, I was happy. When we recovered from the joke, our spirits were back on the rise.
In Western City, we threw knives and spears at wild animals, shot arrows, and tried to climb torture stakes. We also witnessed a cowboy show and even stopped at a western restaurant, though we didn't order anything. From the western town, we had a perfect view of Śnieżka – we could even see the mountain hut at the summit and the Silesian House. When we returned to the car, we looked at the monumental mountain through binoculars. Later, we also used the binoculars to observe flies. If you turn the binoculars to zoom out and hold them close to a window or TV, they work similarly to a microscope. This way, you can see that flies also have hair on their legs. Besides the flies, the views that day were excellent; there wasn't as much fog as yesterday. However, these glimpses of Śnieżka were already our farewell to it.
Hugo headed home. He sped down the street, which was surrounded by breathtaking views. We admired the views! I was just afraid that Banan, as the driver, wouldn't admire too much, as it could cost us dearly. I'm joking, of course; the views are for everyone. Besides, Banan even stopped early so we could peacefully gaze at Śnieżka for the last time during this May long weekend. The ride home was uneventful, with one exception. I spent most of the time reading Zbigniew Nienacki's erotica, "Wielki Las" (The Great Forest). Aśka and Anisia were sleepy and gave in to sleep. Thanks to this, I had my five minutes as a co-driver. Banan kept us laughing along the way with his jokes. But perhaps the funniest joke was Anisi's anecdote about Chuck Norris: "What are Chuck Norris's legs called?" Law and Justice. On the way home, we stopped to see the castle in Moszna. We stopped there thanks to Banan's book on interesting tourist spots. He suggested that on our way back, we could stop at a place mentioned in the book, assuming it was close to our route. So we did. And when we stopped at a roadside restroom along the way, Anisia seized the opportunity to throw away Banan's old shoes – she didn't hide her satisfaction about it, by the way. We were happy about it too. Soon after, we were in Chorzów. First Aśka got out, then I… Then I said goodbye to Anisia and Banan hugged me. Then Anisia and Banan went home to Ruda Śląska.
And so ended another wonderful May Day weekend in the mountains. Joanna even said it was her best May Day weekend ever.
I was still waiting for the evening, when Aśka and I were to watch our current favorite TV series, LOST, at Beata's – Aśka's friend – and, you might say, relationship – and for the moment Aśka would give me a wonderful anniversary gift I didn't know about yet. Perhaps Banan was watching Master Joda at the time.
And so the wooden chest of adventures and souvenirs closed.
I hope it will open again soon!
Thank you, Mountain Spirit, who is not evil at all, quite the opposite!
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