Hello! It's Adam today. Jessica is sleeping in from Day 8 yesterday.
We began the day by waking up around 6:00am to leave our place in Zakopane as early as possible. After packing and some breakfast snacks (and watching some of the Dodger game), it was time to leave. It had already started raining again, so we were pretty ready to come down out of the mountains for some better weather.
The drive was mostly uneventful - just one mix up coming back through Krakow had us twisted around in a residential neighborhood, but that was resolved quickly. After about 5 hours of driving (and 3 toll booths and 1 gas refill), we arrived in the town of Swidnica in the Lower Silesian region of Poland (southwestern area of the country). The purpose of this stop was mostly just to get some lunch because it was noon and we were starving. However, the city ended up being very nice as well, so we spent some time walking around and admiring the main square. The weather also couldn't be better, and it was great to be back out in the sun.
We had lunch at a fancy restaurant in a cellar below the town hall. In medieval times, this was where they used to store the beer supply for the town - so you could say it was a very important location. For lunch, Jessica had a yummy looking salad with huge chunks of cheese in it. I had pork roulade (slow cooked, rolled pork stuffed with wild mushrooms) with potato dumplings, as well as the local brew. Everything was delicious and we left quite full.
Upon leaving, we walked around the town some more to see the church, then made the short 20 minute drive to nearby Ksiaz Castle. The castle is situated deep in a forest on top of a big hill. It is a huge palace-like castle, so it look us a long time to make our way through its many rooms and castle grounds. We learned that when this region was captured by Germany in WWII, this castle was strongly considered to be the location of the Third Reich's and Hitler's headquarters. They even built a vast underground tunnel system with elevators in anticipation of a plan that never ended up materializing. After leaving the castle (and after an ice cream pit-stop), we went on a quick hike through to forest to find a nice ledge with a viewpoint of the castle in the distance.
After a 40 minute drive, we arrived at our overnight location - a palace! It is called Warmatovice Palace and they rent out a couple of their rooms, so we figured it could be fun to stay there. After checking in, we walked around the palace grounds and saw the resident geese, ducks, sheep, and deer. Back in our fancy room, we relaxed for an hour or so before it was time to search for a place to have some dinner.
We made a quick drive to the nearby town of Jawor to a restaurant that we found online. Similar to Swidnica, this restaurant was also located in the town hall. Here, Jessica had a truffle risotto with mushrooms and vegetables. The menu was only in Polish, so we overlooked the fact that the risotto also contained pine nuts (which Jessica is very allergic to), so we picked those out carefully. I had the beef cheeks with potatoes. Both meals were great!
After the quick drive back, we didn't last too long and fell right asleep. After what we hope is a nice breakfast at our palace, we will be off to the city of Wroclaw today!
Steps: 13,881
Miles: 5.88
Stairs: 23 flights
We began the day by waking up around 6:00am to leave our place in Zakopane as early as possible. After packing and some breakfast snacks (and watching some of the Dodger game), it was time to leave. It had already started raining again, so we were pretty ready to come down out of the mountains for some better weather.
The drive was mostly uneventful - just one mix up coming back through Krakow had us twisted around in a residential neighborhood, but that was resolved quickly. After about 5 hours of driving (and 3 toll booths and 1 gas refill), we arrived in the town of Swidnica in the Lower Silesian region of Poland (southwestern area of the country). The purpose of this stop was mostly just to get some lunch because it was noon and we were starving. However, the city ended up being very nice as well, so we spent some time walking around and admiring the main square. The weather also couldn't be better, and it was great to be back out in the sun.
We had lunch at a fancy restaurant in a cellar below the town hall. In medieval times, this was where they used to store the beer supply for the town - so you could say it was a very important location. For lunch, Jessica had a yummy looking salad with huge chunks of cheese in it. I had pork roulade (slow cooked, rolled pork stuffed with wild mushrooms) with potato dumplings, as well as the local brew. Everything was delicious and we left quite full.
Upon leaving, we walked around the town some more to see the church, then made the short 20 minute drive to nearby Ksiaz Castle. The castle is situated deep in a forest on top of a big hill. It is a huge palace-like castle, so it look us a long time to make our way through its many rooms and castle grounds. We learned that when this region was captured by Germany in WWII, this castle was strongly considered to be the location of the Third Reich's and Hitler's headquarters. They even built a vast underground tunnel system with elevators in anticipation of a plan that never ended up materializing. After leaving the castle (and after an ice cream pit-stop), we went on a quick hike through to forest to find a nice ledge with a viewpoint of the castle in the distance.
After a 40 minute drive, we arrived at our overnight location - a palace! It is called Warmatovice Palace and they rent out a couple of their rooms, so we figured it could be fun to stay there. After checking in, we walked around the palace grounds and saw the resident geese, ducks, sheep, and deer. Back in our fancy room, we relaxed for an hour or so before it was time to search for a place to have some dinner.
We made a quick drive to the nearby town of Jawor to a restaurant that we found online. Similar to Swidnica, this restaurant was also located in the town hall. Here, Jessica had a truffle risotto with mushrooms and vegetables. The menu was only in Polish, so we overlooked the fact that the risotto also contained pine nuts (which Jessica is very allergic to), so we picked those out carefully. I had the beef cheeks with potatoes. Both meals were great!
After the quick drive back, we didn't last too long and fell right asleep. After what we hope is a nice breakfast at our palace, we will be off to the city of Wroclaw today!
Steps: 13,881
Miles: 5.88
Stairs: 23 flights
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