Kabaty Las

I live next to this extremely beautiful forest.  You can see it from my window.  To get from my apartment to the forest it's a quick walk.  (Similar to the distance of my home in Layton to the Elementary School I attended.  Or half the distance from Temple Square to the Gateway).  I love living so close to the forest.  C'est magnifique.  

 This forest reminds me a lot of the sacred grove.  It is so beautiful and so peaceful.  You can hear birds singing and little animals scurrying their way up the tree.  This morning, on my run through the forest, I noticed a wood-pecker working away at a nearby tree.

This forest is very large.  (I'm sure that the signs posted outside the forest tell how large it actually is, but I can't read them).  The forest is broken up into 31 sections and I've explored 11 of them.  There are lots of different paths to take and the trees have painted on them bikes with a Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, or Black stripe below it.  Michal was telling me that the color indicates the level of difficulty for bikers.  He "thinks" (but can't remember) that Blue or Green is the easiest.

 At the end of the forest, there is a clearing where families can get together and have a BBQ or just relax.

The forest also has these very unique shelters that are scattered all throughout.  I find them very interesting.

A few days a month, I am asked to substitute at the American School of Warsaw in the math department.  The bus ride home is about 45-60 minutes (depending on transfers, na zadanie, and catching the bus on time).  Or, I can walk home through the forest and it takes me about 60 minutes.  One day I just missed the bus, and instead of waiting 20 minutes for another one to arrive - I decided to hike through the forest.  I had my camera with me, and I casually strolled through taking lots of pictures.  While it took me about 90 minutes to get home - I really felt peaceful from my walk.  Since then, I've decided to take advantage of this forest more often.  It's great to get away from all the cars and noise and stroll through the greenery.

During the winter you will find countless cross-country skiers who come here and make their way through the forest on their way home from work.  (It cuts their commute time in half, plus they get a great work-out!) However, I'm glad that it's finally turning into Summer here and that I can make this stroll a daily routine.