Our Last Day in Poland: The Park Linowy Disaster 😂

It was our last day with the family before we had to pack everything into the car and drive to Warsaw.

So, naturally, we wanted to do something fun together before leaving.

Originally, my cousin wanted to take her son and Adrian to the cinema. Then she considered taking them to play paintball.

But I suddenly had another idea. I asked her if the park linowy was still open.

If you've never heard of a park linowy, it's basically a ropes course in the forest. You climb from tree to tree, cross different obstacles, walk over ropes and bridges, and sometimes zip-line from one tree to another.

It sounded perfect for Adrian. I thought he would absolutely love it. And honestly... I had no idea what I was getting us into. 😂

Getting Ready

When we arrived, the boys were given all their safety equipment. They had to put on their harnesses and learn how to clip themselves onto the safety ropes.

Before they could start, they had some practice on the ground, learning how to move the clips from one section to another. Everything looked very professional and safe.

And Adrian was VERY excited.

He had already decided that he didn't want to do some tiny course for little kids. No. He wanted the big one. Something challenging. Something for older kids.

Unfortunately, he was a little bit too short for the course he wanted to do. But because he had his older cousin going with him, the staff decided that it should be okay. So off they went!

And Everything Was Fine... At least in the beginning. They started climbing, and Adrian seemed perfectly happy.

I was thinking: "See? I knew this would be fun!"

Well... That didn't last very long. Soon, Adrian got stuck up there.

And the worst part was that other people were coming up behind him, so suddenly there was a little traffic jam in the trees. The rope was moving and shaking. Adrian started getting nervous. Then he started crying.

And very quickly, our fun family activity turned into: "Can someone please get my child down?" 😂

We had to call for help

Luckily, they weren't very high at that point, so the staff told Adrian he could carefully walk back along the course. If he couldn't do it, they would bring a ladder and carry him down.

And yes, we actually saw them bringing ladders for people a few times while we were there.

So apparently, Adrian wasn't the only person who decided: "Yeah... I'm done." 

Maybe a Smaller Course?

Once Adrian was safely back on the ground, we decided that perhaps the big course wasn't such a good idea after all. There were several different routes in the park, depending on the height and age of the children. So we decided to try something smaller.

Meanwhile, my husband followed my nephew doing the bigger courses. 

The whole park was in the forest, with the courses built between the trees. There were all kinds of obstacles — ropes, bridges, platforms, nets and things you had to climb over or balance on before moving to the next tree.

From the ground, it actually looked really fun. From the trees... Well, that's a different story.

I should probably mention that I am terrible with heights. And when I say terrible, I mean that even standing one metre above the ground on something that is shaking would probably be enough to give me a panic attack. 😂

So there was absolutely no chance that I was going up there myself. I'm also not a fan of those suspension bridges you often see in the mountains in Taiwan. You know the ones. You step onto a bridge. It starts moving. You look down. And suddenly you're wondering why you thought this was a good idea. 

No thank you. I'll stay on the ground.

Then I Saw the Videos...

Later, when I watched the videos my husband had taken from the course, I realized that it looked much scarier than I thought. And much higher! And this wasn't even the highest course.

There was another route that went all the way up toward the tops of the trees. At the end, you could slide all the way back down to the ground. It looked absolutely crazy. We didn't see anyone using that highest course while we were there, though.

And honestly... I wasn't surprised. 😂

Adrian Tried Again

After his first little disaster, we tried another route. It was smaller. But Adrian still couldn't get through it.

So we tried another one.

And then another.

Eventually, we ended up on the smallest route that wasn't specifically for really tiny children. And even there... It wasn't exactly easy. There were tears. There was a lot of encouragement. And there were several moments when I wasn't sure whether he was actually going to finish.

What surprised me most was that Adrian had climbed much higher things in playgrounds before. Things that were shaking. Things without safety ropes. And yet here, with a proper harness and safety equipment, he was absolutely terrified.

Maybe knowing that he was actually high up made the difference. Or maybe once he got scared on the first course, he just couldn't get that feeling out of his head.

Either way... He was NOT impressed.

Eventually, after a lot of struggling, Adrian managed to finish one route. One! And honestly, I was proud of him. He was scared, he cried, and he wanted to give up, but he still managed to finish it.

Meanwhile, my nephew got much luckier. He managed to complete two routes.

Normally, you pay for one route of your choice, so he definitely got his money's worth. 😂

"The Worst Day of My Life"

And then came Adrian's review. I asked him what he thought about the park. His answer? Apparently, it was... "The worst day of my life." 😂😂😂

Sorry, Adrian. I really thought this was going to be fun! I imagined you running around the trees, climbing, zip-lining and coming back down asking to do another route.

Instead, I apparently created the worst day of your life. Mother of the Year. 😂

Would He Do It Again? Maybe. I actually think that if we came back when he's a little older, he might have a completely different experience.

He would probably be taller and more confident, and maybe the bigger courses wouldn't seem so intimidating. And now he knows what to expect. But I definitely wouldn't force him to do it again. After all, I understand the fear. Because if you put me up there, I would probably be the one crying and asking for the ladder. 😂

So I really can't judge him.

And Then It Was Time to Leave

And just like that, our last day with the family was over. It was supposed to be a fun and relaxing way to spend our last day before driving to Warsaw. Instead, we got: Climbing. Crying. Ladders. Fear. One successful route. Two successful routes for my nephew. And one child declaring that it was the worst day of his life. 😂

But honestly, it was still a pretty memorable way to finish our time with the family. And that's something I like about our trips to Poland.

Things don't always go according to plan. Sometimes we go mushroom picking and find almost nothing.

Sometimes we collect berries and Adrian steals mine. Sometimes we harvest honey.

And sometimes I have the brilliant idea of taking my child to a ropes course... only to discover that he absolutely hates it. 😂

Maybe next time he'll be older and he'll want to try again. Or maybe he'll remember this as the day his mother betrayed him and took him to the trees.

Either way... I'm pretty sure he'll remember it.

And soon it was time to pack the car, say goodbye to the family and head to Warsaw. Our Polish summer was coming to an end.

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Polish Mushroom Hunting, Wild Berries & Harvesting Honey

If there is one thing that immediately makes me think of a Polish autumn, it has to be mushroom picking.

It is such a Polish tradition that I honestly can't imagine growing up in Poland without at least going mushroom hunting a few times.

And of course, when we went back to Poland this summer, we had to do it too.

Well... It wasn't exactly the perfect time for mushrooms. 😂

But we tried anyway!

Mushroom Picking — A Very Polish Tradition 🍄

Mushroom picking is a big part of Polish culture.

It is something people have been doing for generations, and it is often a family activity. Parents take their children, grandparents teach their grandchildren, and somehow everyone seems to have their own secret knowledge about where the mushrooms are hiding.

And there is always that one person in the family who somehow finds mushrooms that nobody else can see.

Traditionally, people go very early in the morning. I'm talking about 5 or 6 AM.

Yes. On purpose. To go into the forest. To look for mushrooms. Apparently, serious mushroom hunters don't have time for sleep. They have mushrooms to find.

When the season is really good, you can apparently walk into the forest and within minutes already have several mushrooms in your basket.

Unfortunately, we were visiting Poland in mid-August, which isn't really the peak mushroom season.

The main mushroom season is usually later in the summer and especially in autumn, with September and October often being the best months.

And this year, the weather wasn't exactly helping us. It was HOT. We had temperatures over 30°C, very little rain, and the forest was quite dry. And mushrooms... Well, mushrooms like moisture.

So we were basically looking for mushrooms in a forest that was thinking: "Nope. Not today." 😂

Still, we were lucky enough to find some mushrooms. And we found quite a few chanterelles, or kurki in Polish. These are one of my favourite mushrooms, and we collected enough to take home and cook later.

So even though it wasn't a perfect mushroom season, I wasn't complaining.

We were actually pretty happy with what we found.

Adrian, on the other hand... At the beginning, he was enjoying himself. Walking through the forest. Looking for mushrooms. Checking what everyone else had found. But after a while... It was getting HOT.

And then came the question: "When are we going home?" 😂

We had already been walking around for at least two hours. And honestly, I couldn't really blame him.

Walking through a forest in 30°C weather is not exactly the most relaxing activity. Especially when you are wearing long trousers and long sleeves.

But unfortunately, you don't really have much choice. There are ticks. There are mosquitoes. There are all kinds of little creatures waiting for you in the grass and bushes. So even though it was hot, we were covered up. Which meant we were basically walking around the forest dressed for autumn... in the middle of summer. 😂

And Of Course... We Needed Berries Too 🫐

After mushroom hunting, we decided to look for something else. Wild blueberries. Or, more accurately, bilberries.

By this point in the summer, the season was already coming to an end, so the berries were pretty small. But that didn't stop us. My uncle had a very simple rule: We weren't going home until everyone had a full jar. 😂

So we started collecting. And somehow... I was the first person to fill my jar! Victory!

Except...

Adrian decided that my berries looked much more interesting than his. So he basically robbed me of my berries. 😂 And there went my full jar. 

Back to the forest I went. I had to collect them all over again. I'm not entirely sure Adrian was still enjoying the activity at this point. I think the heat, the forest and the berries had already become a little too much for him.

But hey... At least we got our jars filled!

Round Two... And Absolutely No Mushrooms 😂

A few days later, we decided to try mushroom picking again. Maybe we would have better luck? Nope.

Actually... It was even drier.

We walked through the forest and found almost nothing. Not even many of the mushrooms you definitely don't want to eat. 😂

At that point, we gave up.

I kept thinking how nice it would have been to come back in September or October, when the forest is full of mushrooms. Because that is when I really remember mushroom picking from my childhood. Cooler weather. Damp forest. And mushrooms everywhere.

The Next Day... Honey! 🍯

The next day, we had another very Polish activity waiting for us. Honey harvesting.

My uncle keeps bees, so we got to see how the honey goes from the beehive... to the jar.

And it was actually really interesting.

This was only part of the honey harvest because there were still plenty of framesin the hives that were ready to be harvested.

First, we had to uncap the honeycombs. Basically, the bees seal the honey inside the honeycomb with a thin layer of wax. So we had to remove that wax before the honey could be extracted. Everyone helped.

And my husband actually did a pretty good job! I think he was taking his new job as a Polish beekeeper very seriously. 😂

One thing I found really interesting was how different the frames looked. Some were light. Some were much darker. And no, it doesn't mean that the honey is dirty or bad. The difference comes from how the frames have been used. New honeycomb is light in colour. But when the same frames are reused over and over, especially when bees have raised brood in them, they gradually become darker. Over time, the wax can become almost brown. 

You could also see darker areas inside some of the honeycomb. Those were often pollen stores, which the bees collect and keep as food. So basically, the whole frame is like a little bee pantry. 😂

Once the frames were uncapped, they went into the honey extractor. This is basically a big machine that spins the frames very quickly. The spinning force pulls the honey out of the honeycomb. And watching the honey drip out was probably one of my favourite parts. There is just something about seeing fresh honey coming straight from the comb.

After extraction, the honey is filtered to remove small pieces of wax and other bits. And finally... It gets poured into jars.

That's it! 

From the bees... to the honeycomb... to the extractor... and finally into the jar.

Another interesting thing is that honey doesn't always look the same. Some honey can be very pale, almost white. Some is beautiful golden yellow. And some is much darker, almost brown.

The colour and flavour depend a lot on which flowers the bees collected nectar from. So different plants can give the honey completely different flavours and colours.

And honestly... Polish honey is SO good.

Maybe I'm just nostalgic. Maybe everything tastes better when you know where it came from. But I absolutely love it.

And every time we visit Poland, we bring a few jars back to Taiwan with us. Because apparently, going back to Poland means coming home with half a suitcase full of food. 😂

Little Sum Up

This is one of the things I really enjoy about visiting my family in Poland. It's not necessarily about doing big tourist attractions. Sometimes it's just... going into the forest with your family. Looking for mushrooms. Picking berries. Helping with the honey harvest. Eating something that came from the garden.

And spending a few hours doing things that people in my family have been doing for generations.

Living in Taiwan, I obviously have a very different everyday life now. I can go to a supermarket and buy pretty much anything I need. I don't have to wake up at 5 AM to look for mushrooms.

And I definitely don't need to walk through a forest in 30°C heat wearing long sleeves and long trousers. 😂

But when I go back to Poland, I actually really enjoy doing these simple things. Even when Adrian is complaining that he's hot. Even when we don't find any mushrooms. Even when I have to refill my berry jar because someone decided to steal mine.

These are the kinds of memories that make our trips to Poland special.

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