Yet another one!

This Christmas was super hectic and busy for me so I didn't have time to take pictures. Nevertheless, I feel like I need a post for this occasion, so I'm wishing you everything you dream of!

Discovering in autumn

This autumn was a good one for us for many reasons. First of all, it was the first autumn of our little Kamila and she made it special for us. Secondly, we went to see Bohemian Switzerland and the weather was great! Also, I started jogging again and I walk with Kamila in the forest almost every day. So lots of time and possibilities for exploration of the beauty of this season.

Czech:

Walking/jogging in Szczecin:

Getting into the mood of Christmas

I love Christmas markets so much I actually should have a separate tag for this kind of posts. There is no single winter without me visiting at least one of such venues (2013 was an exception because my son was born in November). Have a look yourself:
- 2015
- 2014
- 2012 and 2012

This year we went to see our local Christmas Markets in Szczecin and maybe we will go again for a one day Berlin trip. We'll see if we manage to squeeze this one in. Anyway, the one in Szczecin is quite cool although there were really a lot of people this year. It seems like every year there are more and more. Nevertheless, Wojtek enjoyed the carousel ride, we bought a nice piece of bio cheese with garlic (felt like in France for a moment) and did a couple of sparkling photos. Oh yeah, how could I forget... The reindeers are always fun!

November

November is a special month to me. Being the ugliest of all others, I spend it mainly drinking tea, cooking warm dishes, carving pumpkin (did I mention I love pumpkin?), lighting candles, reading and celebrating. Haloween, Wojtek's birthday, my birthday... Lots of occasions to meet and celebrate. To give and receive presents. To cook and eat. To love and to be loved :)

Ps - the pumpking pie you see in the first photo is done from this recipe.

1st Szczecin MTB Marathon

After a long break from any sport activity (caused by the birth of our daughter) I got back to biking. A good occasion for that was the first Szczecin MTB marathon that took place in the beginning of October. Before that I had done some preparation and got familiar with the trail of race. And it was a good idea. I found out that very close to my place there was lots of hills with quite steep ascents and rough terrain that provide you both excitement and exhaustion.

On the day of the race it became obvious that conditions would be even harder than I imagined because it was raining during the whole day as well as a few days before. The track was muddy, slippery, difficult and full of fun ;-). We checked in at the starting point together with my best friend Michał and managed to get to the end in one piece.

After 1:22:55 I got to the finish line completely covered in mud but with smile on my face. The race was amazing and thanks to a few training sessions I had done before I was able to come as 42 on 163 competitors.

Ps - the authors of the photos are listed, the ones that have no author specified - the credit goes to Magda (Michał's wife).

Bohemian Switzerland Day 5: Bad Schandau

The last day of our journey wasn't strictly specified in our plan. We could choose from a couple of places and in the end decided to see Bad Schandau - a small German city on a way back home. Since this was our return day, we calmed down a bit and reduced the attractions for the day. Bad Schandau is well known for two things: 1) a historical tram that goes all the way up to natural reserve (the only tram that is allowed into a natural reserve) 2) a viewpoint tower. We decided to go check out the tram and miss the tower. The track led up very slowly through a forest and stopped at a very small waterfall. There were a couple of short walking routes around but we didn't have a sling this time and were tired of walking with children so we just hanged around the final stop a bit and returned to the village. The ride itself was pretty pleasant because the view on the trees and rocks was nice. After the ride and a small walk around the city we packed the kids and came back home. This was a really nice get away trip that filled up my batteries. Time to plan the next one :)

Bohemian Switzerland Day 4: Jetřichovické skály

How could we spend time in mountains without a full day of proper hiking? Impossible :) So we took our two little ones and set out to see the walls of Jetrichovice. I chose the most popular route around and I wasn't disappointed. Of course, there were quite many people, but all in all it was bearable and the route was very pleasant. We shortened the original distance we were supposed to do but it was still enough to see the spotlights of Elbe Sandstone Mountains.

The path (rather easy when it comes to technical grade) led through a series of little peaks / view points / towers. So there were: Marina Skala, Vilemina Stena, Rudolfuv Kamen and a couple of more. We didn't reach Saustejn which is supposedly fun but with two little ones and my stomach starting aching (after surgery I shouldn't be doing any sports in at least 3 months so I pushed it a little bit) we decided we had enough for the day.

What we both really liked about the Elbe Sandstone mountains is that they offer an Alpine-ish look. I mean that the rock formations scattered around make the area look rough - more like mountains rather than hills. Which is good and we enjoyed it. Of course, 700 m is not really an alpine elevation but as for such little mountains they offer very versatile surroundings.