South and north, mid-winter journeys

Off to Bielsko-Biała (my first ever trip to the city) to meet my girlfriend’s family (parents, grandparents, siblings). This time refraining from any personal anecdotes (though the visit was enjoyable whatsoever), I will just focus on the sightseeing part of the trip.

We left Warsaw after 8 a.m. in the morning to reach our destination four hours later, meaning the travel time if you drive considerately and economically (after driving 10 thousand kilometres within 9 month I began to appreciate benefits of eco-driving not in town only) is comparable to a duration of Pendolino ride. Also the cost is similar if two people travel (just slightly more than PLN 200).

In late afternoon we headed to the city to roam around. To the right, illumination of Reksio, a classic dog from old-school Polish cartoons serving as a reminder Bielsko-Biała was a home to the biggest Polish “factory” of cartoons, where origins of the famous dog trace back to. Next to the barking, lit-up large dog, a small bronze (or brass) monument thereof.

Although the Christmas tide was long gone (photo taken on 3 February), the market square (one of four in the city, yet the only one not adapted as a car park) was wonderfully lightened by bright diodes. It was the middle of winter school holidays in Silesia province, so hundreds of teenagers were rambling about.

Around the end of our saunter, another classic-cartoon monument, Bolek i Lolek, a statue next to Sfera, the biggest shopping mall in Bielsko-Biała (sadly, a place whose name nearly turns everybody on and trips to which are the main pastime activity of the city’s inhabitants).

As on Saturday the weather was autumn-like (+1C, cloudy), Saturday morning brought snow in abundance. This is the sight we woke up to on Sunday around 8 a.m. By then and over the next hours a nearly 10-centimetre layer of white powder has accumulated (snow ceased around midday). I was frightened the snow would wreak havoc to the traffic and our journey home would last far longer than four hours, but by early afternoon road clearing services have done their job and the return turned out to be smooth.

Undaunted by severe weather, we headed for a short trip to nearby mountains, firstly by a cable car, then we climbed (through the ascent was anything but steep) to Szyndzielnia and somewhere further towards Klimczok. To the right, somewhere more than 1,000 metres above sea level, trees struck by gusty wind around last Christmas.

And yet another trip, towards the land of lakes. To the right, Śniardwy, the biggest lake in Poland, frozen over. The temperature was -6C, the water was frozen solid so that people confidently walked on it or rode quads. We did not venture far into the ice. The view, shortly before the sunset, magnificent in the depth of its gloom.

The major attraction of the next day was a visit to a wildlife park in Kadzidłowo (Park Dzikich Zwierząt) where many species of animals normally living in the woods or not inhabiting this part of Europe are bred (and tamed). A lovely place to pop by, especially if you have small children – in my opinion a far more interesting than visit to a zoo (to the right a flock of... errr, tell me what animals these are).