Winter at last! (Gubałówka)

I love winter, I really do. I think I like it better than all the other seasons. But I mean real winter, with snow, snowmen, sledging, warm coats with fur over the hood, wearing hiking shoes all the time, drinking tea with lemon, ginger and honey... I could go on like that for long but I guess there's no need. Anyway, Szczecin is a fussy place when it comes to winter. Some years you'll see one, others not particularly. Some years it will last from Christmas till April (2010 - that's you I'm talking about!) and others it will take like a few days somewhere in January. It may give us -20 dg Celsius or no frost whatsoever. So it's always a guess what's it gonna be like this year and how long it will last. That's why when winter comes to us it's a must to take advantage of it!

We went with Dorota and Bartek (my sibling-in-law) to Gubałówka. Not many people know you can actually ski in Szczecin and Gubałówka is the place for that. We never tried that (maybe this winter will be our first time?) but it is kind of a big deal to be able to go skiing in the plains that our city is situated in. There are 2 skiing routes, both around 250-300m long. And the surrounding is good for other winter activities, like sledging, cross-country skiing (off piste) or walking. We chose the last option for the day :)

There is not much to write about this walk. The paths are great and as you will see in the photos, I took a pram out there and managed not to knock it down from the hill. I mean, maybe it wasn't like the place was adapted to wheels but we made it and most of the time it was just fine. The views were great, lots of virgin snow, not many people, super fun for Wojtek. I'm pretty sure we'll do more of these walks.

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).