Another Day in the Village

It's drizzling again when we wake up. The forecast looks better for tomorrow so we'll try our Table Mountain hike then. After another yummy breakfast, this time with sausages instead of crêpes, we dally till 10:30 before heading out.

Railings along part of the main street in Kudowa Zdrój

We rely on the excellent map we got from the local tourist office and follow the creek uphill to the edge of town, across the highway, and up to the old railway right-of-way. The trail fizzles out just as the rain starts. This time, it's a real cloud burst and by the time we find some shelter under the porch of a defunct hotel, we're pretty wet. A cyclist from Czech joins us until the rain slows to a drizzle. We head back to the hotel and pick up another bottle of decent plonk (oxymoron?) at the local Tesco. Clarisse plays her video game; I watch football until it's time to head out for dinner.

At the suggestion of the woman in the tourist office, we try the Czech restaurant Zdrojowa with mixed success. The table cloths haven't seen the inside of a washing machine for far too long and the loud music is obnoxious. The latter is turned down on request as we're the only ones there. The menu is in Polish, German, and Czech and the waitress's English translations are sketchy. We try two versions of schnitzel (one with bacon (19 zł), one with mushroom sauce (26 zł)) mostly because that's all we can suss out. The waitress can't remember who ordered which of the red and white wines (100 ml only - but charged for 150 ml) and then gives us each others dinner. The food is tasty and there's a nice variety of veggies on the side - but no potatoes and no bread. For dessert, Clarisse ordered cake (7 zł), and I ordered pancakes with bananas (12 zł). My dessert was huge: 2 pancakes with a currant compote, a piece of apple strudel, a whole banana cut in half length-wise covered in chocolate syrup, 4 scoops of whipped cream, and a scoop of ice cream. I don't think that's what I ordered. The bill came to 90 zł , as the two glasses of wine were 17 zł and my dessert was 21 zł Because Clarisse was feeling really wiped to due very bad allergy symptoms, we didn't bother questioning the bill and just left a 100 zł note behind as it was only $35. I think we'll try our host's dinner (20 zł each) at the hotel tomorrow. Oh, and although it was clearing and almost sunny on the way there, it was pouring rain when we left (with no umbrella). At least there's good wine and a Barcelona football game in the room.