We left the hotel in Poland feeling clean, rested and ready to explore. We arrived in Malbork on Wednesday afternoon, already having a plan to visit a large playground with a ropes course on Thursday afternoon and the castle across the river on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately neither panned out. After school and lunch on Thursday, the girls and I headed out in search of Jumpy Park Linowy which we eventually did find, only to discover it was closed. I convinced the girls to walk another mile+ to a different park, Dino Park Malbork, only to find that one also closed. We were all very disappointed! We did get a nice walk through the forest and get views of the castle, but that didn’t cheer the girls up at all.

On Friday afternoon, we tried the same routine, this time hoping to go inside the castle. Unfortunately, by the time we go there they were no longer to selling tickets to enter (even though it didn’t close for another hour). The girls were actually happy about this development. 🙂 So we walked into town where they got an ice cream and we looked at the shops. I have to say, the only pretty thing in Malbork is the castle.

The other big disappointment was the campground we were staying at. It had a great location and lots of space, but was surrounded by a loud street on two sides and a busy train track on another side. But the worst part was the facilities. Ugh. So we were glad to say goodbye on Saturday morning.

We arrived in Szczecin that evening, in time for a quick jaunt into the city center for pizza dinner. The campground was right on the river and the staff was very friendly. We were sorry we could only spend one night there, but we have some plans to meet up with friends and family over the next few weeks, so (for the first time), we are on a schedule.

We said “goodbye” to Poland on Sunday morning, crossing the border back into Germany, with mixed feelings. The hotel was the high point, Malbork was the low point and the rest was everything in between!