A day in Zakopane, the reputed “Winter Capital of Poland” (or more likely, given the number of tourists all year long, the Mountain Capital), begins in Chochołów, a small village on the way. It’s famous for its traditional wooden houses. Unpainted, untreated, they positively shine after their yearly spring scrubbing. And the irony: the village church is made of stone.
We make it to Zakopane and find a parking spot at the base of ulica Krupówki, the main tourist street. We head up the street and I provide simple instructions: “You can stop at two places each on the way back down. While we walk up the street, have a look around; on our way back down, you can show me where you want to go.” And what drew L like a lodestone? The shops that sell the plastic nonsense anyone can buy in any corner of the so-called developed world. The plastic nonsense made in China that is taking over the world.
We cross under ul. Nowotarska/Koscieliska (the one becomes the other when they meet Krupówki) using the new passage under the busy street. In the past, with all the people passing through, it was impossible to drive through this area in less than ten minutes. But that’s all that’s new: the rest is just as it was when I first walked down the street. The long line of cheese mongers all selling exactly the same product has new, younger ladies behind the piles of cheese, but that’s the only difference.
We take the funicular to Gubałówka Hill, perhaps the ultimate tourist trap of the whole area.
There are more attractions for two little girls — pony rides, trampolines, giant floating, air-filled, girl-filled balls — than one can possibly imagine, not taking into account all the plastic nonsense for sale.
We stop at Cmentarz Zasłużonych na PÄ™ksowym Brzyzku, a cemetery in Zakopane for those who have in one form or another made significant contributions to culture. Novelists, painters, composers, poets, teachers.
The girls find the grave of Kornel Makuszyłski, author of Koziołek Matołek, a series of books that were eventually turned into an animated series about a goat’s search for Pacanów, where they make goat shoes. The girls stand for a while and pay their respects, then walk down the path, with S listing all the stories about Matołek she knows and L counting.