Boleslawiec Shop
I have been to Poland many times and one the most memorable trips was during the dead of winter, around the end of January a few years ago. This might have been a mistake but how can you say no to adventure? At the time we lived in Germany and my friend and I would drive my little car the 3 hours on the autobahn zooming along at about 100 mph (and we were the slow ones) until we were forced to a screeching halt at the Polish Border. I cannot tell you how many near death experiences we had making these trips (there have been over 30 trips so far) but I can tell you that I had plenty to write home about. I often made these trips with one or two girlfriends and this one particular trip was with two of them and we were using my friends mini van, I was driving. We usually made the Polish border around 6am and by the time we got into Poland it was another 45 minutes or so until we reached Boleslawiec. At first glance it is easy to be deceived into thinking the roads are nice, similar to Germany and well kept. Let me assure you, this was an illusion. As soon as you make your turn off that initial road into Poland, to whatever small town, you are routed onto a very TINY two lane “highway” where the shoulders are worn away and the semi trucks seem to play chicken with you. In reality they barely fit on their side of the road. Let me also assure you, this particular road into Boleslawiec is the smallest and most narrow two lane road I have ever been on. On this trip in January, a winter storm had left approx 6 inches of ice on the roads. Not snow, not patchy ice, but a solid 6 inch sheet of ice that went on for miles and miles. When I first realized what we were approaching, it was too late to break so we literally popped up onto the ice and proceeded to half coast half slide. All we could do was drive/slide until we got a grip on the car. I have never experienced anything like it. My only regret was that I had enough sense to stop and take a picture. I was driving that day and almost lost control of the car several times. The crazy thing was, little three cylinder cars, which are common there, were passing us on this icy “highway” of death. They had to time it right because this was the only road for large trucks to come back and forth on from the border to the small towns and they went just as fast. I can remember clearly how these trucks ZOOMED past and how it would shake our car and we would slide even more. After about 5 miles of ice sliding along this road, we caught sight of what appeared to be one of those large ice and snow plows we frequently saw at home. In Germany they ran constantly keeping the roads so clean and clear that ice and snow hardly had time to accumulate. Once we saw this coming we had high hopes that they were just a little behind on road maintenance and the roads would surely be cleared by the time we were headed out of Boleslawiec later that day. Sadly, that was not to be. We should have known that if this road had ice thicker than my tires, it was suffering from a serious lack of maintenance. Maybe they liked to slide from town to town, who was I to say? As the plow neared got closer, we nearly lost control again but this time from laughter. The driver, who was completely exposed to the elements (the cab was an open air cab) which at the time was about zero degrees, had the biggest grin plastered across his face and it never faded. Thinking back, I realize that he must have been frozen in place. Although, I could not figure out why he was so happy. The next thing we noticed was that the front part of the plow, the part that runs along the road and keeps it clear was lifted and missed the street by at least a foot. It was sort of floating above the icy road. So there you have it, they clearly have plows and people to drive them but I suppose that freezing into place is a job hazard. I’ll never forget the look on that drivers face. Again, a Kodak moment that I missed. Shame on me. I have alot of funny stories about my trips to Poland and the craziness that happens when you have pottery on the brain. I have decided it is a temporary disorder that begins to take effect near Dresden. I highly suggest going if you can ever manage. My only advice against it would be to think twice before going in the middle of winter.
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Tooo Funny!