Fifteen years in a childhood paradise

of course." Part of the back rest had come down to give us all enough room to recline comfortably for the night. I tucked my feet next to Günter's seat. We thought that was marvellous, and when Vater got our rugs out and tucked us up, we thought we would go to sleep. But sleep would not come. We were far too excited.

"I can see some snow, Günter," I whispered excitedly, peeping behind the curtain as we were heading south with the steam engine chuffing and puffing and belching black clouds of smoke.

"We must be getting near Katowice," said Günter, showing that he had learnt his geography.

The next stop was Katowice, the lights were reflected in the snow. Lots more people joined the train, and some tried to get into our compartment, but as we were lying there like herrings, no one could come in. They had to make themselves comfortable in the cold corridor, and when I had to go to the toilet, I had to walk over many bodies. In the morning we saw that some people had sneaked into the red plush seats of the first class compartment. Well, some people were lucky. After a while the train stopped at Kraków. There were more people, all seemed to be heading for Zakopane. Meanwhile the weather was getting colder and colder. We pulled our rugs tightly over us, and peeping through the curtains, we could see that the windows were freezing up. If we wanted to see anything we had to blow and make a peep-hole in the ice. Eventually we must have dozed off, for we suddenly woke from a big commotion on the train. Outside, the frosted windows were showing daylight. People were getting their things together. We must be close to Zakopane. And then the train stopped with a loud swishing noise. We had arrived.

Very much awake now, we scrambled to the exit door. Vater was first. He was leading us to a cab-stand. They were all sleighs drawn by a single horse, which had a bell around its neck. All three of us could sit on the seat facing the front, behind the driver. The scenery was like in fairyland. It had been a very cold morning (about --30C°) and hoar-frost was on all the bare branches of the deciduous trees, and also on the fir trees. Steam was puffed into the air through the horse's nostrils and the sound of the single bell was all one could hear. Houses swished by, until the driver stopped the horse in front of a large hotel. Not far from it we could see some gentle ski-slopes. There was no stopping us.

"Quickly, Vater, let's get into our room and then we want to go skiing," we both said in unison.

"First you need some breakfast," he answered, "and then you should have a bit of sleep. You didn't sleep much in the train."

"No, we don't want to sleep," was Günter's quick reply, and I nodded agreement. "We are not tired."

We had our breakfast, changed quickly into our ski-gear, and went down to the ante room where our skis had been placed. Vater booked us straight into a ski-class for beginners. He didn't need to learn, as he could

67