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Friday 4 July 2008 | general

Yesterday began with a visit to an outdoor museum in a village nearby.

The Girl didn’t have the greatest of times, and we left before the tour was over. No big loss — we’d been there several times before.

The only reason we paid for a guided tour was to get to go into the buildings.

They used to be open to the public, but theft and disrespect put an end to that.

Still, there was a good bit of adventure outside.

Afterward, it was time for the Girl’s nap, so I took the dog out for a walk to the river. I felt a little guilty, with everyone around me working:

But then again, throwing the toilet plunger for the dog to fetch can be tiring as well.

Not to mention how exhausting it can be to process all the beauty.

 

Finally, the girl awake, we began the afternoon’s visiting. First, to Lipnica Wielka, my home for seven years. So many people I could have visited, but in the end, we only went to the very closest of friends. It’s a question of quality or quantity — five minutes with all our friends, or an hour or so with a few of a closer friends.

We went with the latter, with the hope of seeing most of the others Sunday during an annual summer festival in Lipnica.

Before leaving, we took a walk in “centrum” — the closest thing Lipnica has to a center, anyway.

We made it just in time to catch everyone heading to church, which allowed us to meet a few more people.

Lastly, we met some friends for a late dinner in Nowy Targ. It was a restaurant specializing in traditional highlander cuisine, which means they brought out smalec as an starter.

Smalec is one of those few foods that is either amazingly tasty or amazingly disguisting. There’s no such thing as so-so smalec. I really was looking forward to it, hoping it would be good smalec: bits of bacon in it, with chunks of good meat. Our friend tells us that the best meat is from the throat. He took one look at last night’s smalec, swirled a knife through it, and declared it unfit for human consumption. “They used liver, for goodness sake!”

2 Comments

  1. PaPa

    These photos and explanations are great and Nana and I appreciate them. We can enjoy the trip with you without the rigors of climbing in and out of a car, up and down hills, etc. Nice.

  2. Nana

    Thanks for all the comments and pictures – can’t wait to hear and see more!!! These bring back so many wonderful memories of our trip there!