My final exams had just gotten over and my mother and I were already off on a trip to Poland to pay my brother a visit. For the first few days, we stayed at Gdansk and had a look ‘round my brother’s University. On the 26th of February we went to Krakow by plane. Although my mother had constantly been warning me about how cold it would be there, it was only when I stepped foot outside the plane that it hit me how bitterly cold it was. At that time, it was approximately -16 degrees Celsius. From there, we drove for 2 hours to our hotel room at Zakopane, which lies on the southern border of Poland, where it was even colder, but truth be told at those temperatures the exact numbers did not even matter anymore. It was just bitter cold everywhere.

We freshened ourselves up at the room and quickly set out for the Gubalowka mountain. At its base there was a funicular railway with a train that carried us to the top. Once there, the sight before us simply took our breaths away. Atop the mountain, as we looked over the vast snowy horizon and the snow-capped trees and saw the milky-white city beneath us, all our thoughts of feeling uncomfortable in the cold simply swept away. The snow-laden landscape which we witnessed was a truly remarkable sight to behold. We proceeded to walk for a bit and stopped by a coffee house to sip some hot chocolate. We then had one last look around amidst all the snow and took the train back to the base of the mountain, marking the end for that day’s journeys.

We started the next day with a quick breakfast at the hotel, after which we went to Bialy Potok Glade near Chocholowskie Valley for dog sledding. Dog sledding has always been my mother’s dream and was the activity she looked most forward to for the entire trip. As soon as the taxi arrived at the location, we heard a multitude of barks coming from nearly fifteen dogs. We were welcomed by a kind host after we stepped out of the car who introduced the dogs to us and gave a brief overview of what we were going to do. As I laid down on the sled and we started driving away, the feeling of it all quite overwhelmed me: the bullet-fast dogs, the icy wind hitting my face and the snowy white mountains surrounding us was an experience I shall truly never forget. After the first round on the sled, it was my turn to drive the sled and assumed the driver’s position. My mother refused to drive though, but driving the sled was somehow even more fun. After nearly 2Km of sledding with the dogs we had a chat with the host about the dogs and grew fond of them. As we left we waved a final goodbye to the pleasant drivers and the dogs and returned to our hotel. Since we still had lots of time to spare my mother hired a taxi to go to the Tatra National Park for a horse sleigh ride. To our pleasant surprise we found out that the driver picking us up was the same one who had done so for the dog sledding. When we reached there we couldn’t find anyone to guide us and found no sign of horses until a car came along. We tried talking to the driver but it was in vain for he did not speak a single word in English. We had to resort to sign language to ask him about the horse ride. We ended up booking a horse ride with him somehow by pointing to a picture with horses and nearly fifteen minutes later, were off with a horse dragging us on a sleigh. The snow-capped trees and the mountains were a breathtaking sight but the cold was starting to become unbearable. We drove for nearly half an hour before taking a turn and heading back to where we started. By this time, the wind pierced like a knife, and even worse, the wind carried snow with it. This time around though, the horse was galloping faster so we got back quicker. My legs had frozen and become numb by the end, but we managed to find a small café and gulped down some hot coffee to restore warmth to our bodies. We soon returned home and relaxed for the rest of the day.

We had done everything we planned to do and so for the next day, we got up early and just took a walk on the Krupowki street, a famous street overlooking the Tatra mountains, to do a bit of shopping. We bought a couple of souvenirs and some gifts for our relatives and relished our last moments at Zakopane. We had a quick lunch and went by taxi to the Krakow airport once more to head back to Gdansk after 3 days of exciting and truly unforgettable adventures.