Trip To Poland

My Trip to Poland through Golden Frontier

http://goldenfrontier.org/

Before I left for Poland, the few friends I mentioned this trip would say "Poland?" with a questioning look of why.  I probably thought that at first.  It seems that Americans think it better to try and support a trip to the newly opened Cuba or take a cruise than go to religious and historic Poland.  I have to give the people of Poland credit for turning things around after the destruction in WW2. There are war memorials and reminders throughout the city of Warsaw.  The people will not forget what took place here and Americans seem to forget history. I know first hand when giving tours.  This is a nice trip.  Poland is predominantly Catholic and does not take in refugees.  The crime rate is the lowest in Europe.  We've been truly blessed with weather on this trip. It was rough before we came and predicted bad when we left.

While at the Chicago airport, I got a call that I won a door prize (gift certificate) during a senior expo that I attended and I picked it up on my return.   I told the caller I was currently traveling with Paula Staab-Polk.  She happened to have a Premier Pass to a ViP lounge and was allowed 12 guests so guess what we did...wine.
This is our guide, Barbara Bienek.  She was a welcome site at the airport with her hand held sign for our group.

One of our first stops was to see the MONUMENT TO POLISH FIGHTERS OF WARSAW UPRISING.  Here are some reviews on Tripadvisor.  I believe our guide said American presidents have visited here except Trump.  We had Mass in the Cathedral and keeping with tradition on past pilgrimages, Fr John told of Saint Marie Rose DuRocher.   Then we had dinner and there was live string music.

The next day we had breakfast in the hotel and then off to Mass at church of the Holy Ghost .  Our Saint of the Day was St Pope Callistus I.
After church we walked through what was known as the wall of old Warsaw.  We saw the river for the first time and there were love locks on the railing just like we saw in Germany.  Our guide told us about the movie "The Zookeepers Wife" that took place on the opposite of the river.

She also told us that Warsaw is the location for a true story from the Nazi Holocaust of the movie "The Pianist".  Here is a picture of our local guide who was very knowledgeable.  We wore handsets and ear phones to here her.

 Here she showed us some typical fast food.

Afterward we toured the reconstructed Royal Castle.  It was the target of bombing in WW2 by the Germans.  I didn't take any photos since my camera flash was not allowed.  Some flashes went off and corrected on the spot.
We had lunch at the Polin but we only saw the un-ticketed area.  There was an exhibit where people could paint a name or something in red on a rock and place the rock in a living memorial square on the floor.  While I was there, a girl had painted a rose.  I showed her my name tag and a curator told here my name was Rose just like she had painted.
Here's a group photo taken at the Museum of the History of Polish Jews.

 This is the Monument to Ghetto Heroes.  Our guide showed us the opposite side of the memorial and pointed out the image of the Jews heading to the train station but that the direction they were going was opposite direction of the train station.  See photo here. 
From there we followed the path from the ghetto to where the train station used to be but now has a monument.

We visited the Polish Tomb of the Unknown soldier.  We didn't watch the changing of the guard but you can see it on YouTube here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rZmQnrsJDo

Sunday a small group of us returned to the Polin museum.  We needed 2 cars so I went via taxi with a group.  Another took advantage of an uber app to get there since we usually had a bus for our group.
Then at 1:30 we left for Mass at St Stanislaw Kosta Church.  This is the burial for Fr Popietuszko who was martyred and buried outside of the church under a cross with boulders in the shape of a rosary.  We had Mass in the underground chapel and toured the museum about Fr Popietuszko.
Afterward we returned to the hotel and I got souvenir pins for my sons at the Hard Rock Cafe.
Judy and I had a gelatto in the mall.

Monday we left Warsaw on our way to Kracko.  We stopped at Jasna Gora, a monastery.  We saw the museum of the Mary queen of Heaven and had Mass there.  The Mass readings at Częstochowa are always the same ~ August 26.  Our saint of the Day was St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.  

This couple was in traditional dress and posing with visitors.

 The pope said Mass here:

 Here is the inspiration of the hermit monk

First excursion in Krakow was to see the Krac's Dragon also known as the wawel dragon. The beast roams the skys searching for livestock and children to eat and catch. Knights and warriors were unsuccessful at killing the dragon.  A boy fights the beast under the kings orders.the boy named krak puts three koaked and roasted sheep full of sulfur and burning spices next to the dragons cave.the beast swallows them whole.the burning sulfur burns the stomach of the beast and it drinks half the vistula river to help it its bulging blistering heart and gut erupts and bursts splattering blood and guts in the river killing it for good.  Krac's Dragon symbolizes evil.  Later, large bones were found in the river believed to be from the dragon.  These bones are hanging above the door to the basillica to ward out evil.

Reminds me of the fire breathing dragon in Vandalia.
Today I saw the Royal Archcathedral Basilica of Saints Stanislaus and Wenceslaus on the Wawel Hill in Krakow with the Wawel Dragon (Polish Legend).

Then we saw St Mary's Basilica in the square. There's a special opening of the icon like a book at certain times.  Those that wanted to take pictures had to pay and got a sticker to wear.

 Afterward we heard the hourly trumpeter in the tower.  You can hardly see him in the top window.  Afterward he waved his shiny trumpet to the people down below.

Here's a better video.

We had Mass at St Barbara's church and saw the trumpeter do an hourly sample warning from the middle ages.  Our Saint of the Day was St Ignatius of Antioch.  Later we were on our own and I went with a few to  Schindler's List factory (museum). Paula had Uber on her phone to get there since it's not part of the day.

  

Wednesday Oct 18, we visited the Chapel of the miraculous image of the Merciful Jesus and the tomb of St. Faustina

We had Mass in the chapel and I somehow volunteered to do the reading.  When it was handed to me, I realized that the reading had some pretty tricky names to pronounce.  However, I was told that nobody noticed.  Here's the audio and you'll see why.

http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/17_10_18.mp3

{this space reserved for photo being sent.  You know who you are}

A lone priest was saying mass in the main chapel so we couldn't go in.

St Faustina's gift shop had a life sized statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  One of the sisters took this but this cheap Polaroid camera is bad.  After this I pulled out my cell phone which was in airplane mode the whole time.

Across the way we stopped at the new John Paul II Sanctuary with the pope's relics.  I had to lighten this photo up since the Polaroid I brought was very blurry on many photos.

The altar had some of the pope's blood and the vestibule had the smock that the pope wore when he was shot.

Afterward we went to the Wieliczka Salt Mine which is open year round.  It was nice outside and kind of a shame to be underground.  It was pretty dark inside.

You can see the panorama of the Kinga Chapel (named after a Hungarian princess) which dates back to 1862 here: 
https://www.wieliczka-saltmine.com/files/zwiedzanie/trasa_turystyczna/multimedia/panoramy/kinga1_out.swf
The next day our calves were sore.  There was a cramped elevator but still many stairs.
In the evening we had dinner in a restaurant and this is mushroom soup in a bread bowl with Delores:

Pork with pastry stuffed mushroom.  But I'm not too crazy about pictures of our food. They get old fast.

Church of St. Peter and St. Paul after dinner.

St Andrews church is to the right. There are statues of the Apostles in front. 
 https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g274772-d593040-Reviews-Church_of_St_Peter_and_St_Paul-Krakow_Lesser_Poland_Province_Southern_Poland.html

Thursday , Oct 19, we had an excursion to Wadowice (birthplace of Pope John-Paul II), Kalwaria, and Auschwitz.  In Wadowice we had Mass in the cathedral that Karol went to church. Our saint of the day is St. Isaac Jogues and St. John De Brebeuf. St Issac Jogues had his fingers chopped off and tortured by the Indians.  This priest needed special dispensation since the missing fingers needed to touch together during Mass.
Wadowice is famous for its cream cake and most of us had our at the same place that the pope had his cream cake.  Among us, Tim had a birthday so we sang happy birthday and he had pope cake.  I took a selfie after my cake in the square.  The apartment where the pope was born is right behind me and we had a great tour guide of the building/museum.

 We saw the room that the pope was born in and outside the window his mother could see the clock on the side of the church which reads "Time flies eternity awaits".   At the end of the tour there was a mechanical story line (see the crank on the bottom)

Afterward, all but 4 in our group left for Achwitz tour. On the way there we passed "Energy Land" which looked similar to Disney Land.

Map of the points where the prisoners came.

This is a vial of ashes.

 This is where the camp gestapo was located.  Prisoners suspected of involvement in the camp's underground were resistance movement or preparing to escape were interrogated here.  Many prisoners died being beaten or tortured.  The first commandant SS-Oberstuererfurer Rudolf Hoess, who was tried and sentenced to death by Polish National Supreme Tribunal was hanged here on 16 April 1947.

 Before the war, this building was a munition bunker.  From 15 Aug 1940 - July 1943. In Autumn of 1941, the largest room which was used as a morgue, was used by SS authorities was adapted for use as an improvised gas chamber, the first of its kind in Auschwitz.   Using the gas produced by pellets Zyclon B, many thousands of Jews were murdered here by the SS within hours of their arrival at Auschwitz.  Several groups of Soviet POWs were also murdered here in this way as were sick prisoners whose return to work was considered unlikely. Poles from outside the camp who were sentenced to death by the SS summary court were shot here.   After the establishment of Auschwitz II - Berkenau, of two more improvised gas chambers in spring and summer of 1942 for the mass murder of the Jews, the gassing was gradually stopped. Later with the completion of of Auschwitz II - Berkenau of four purpose built gas chambers with crematorium the burning of corpses was also stopped. The building was subsequently used for storage and then as an air raid shelter for the SS. The incinerators, chimney, and walls were dismantled, and the holes in the roof where Zycon B were poured were sealed.  After the war, the museum partially reconstructed the  chamber and crematorium. The chamber and crematorium were reconstructed using original components as were several openings in the gas chamber roof.

Then we went to Berkenau (also known as Auscwitz II) and it is simple but much larger so we only went to check out a few barracks.  You can see the two concentration camps were not far apart.  They were liberated by the Russians in January 1945.

This is where I left the flower that I brought with me.
https://goo.gl/maps/dBeKDfbf8Fr 

Since we got back late after a long day, we had dinner at the hotel and afterwards a few of the ladies got together for drinks.

Our last day was spent at Zakopane with Mass at Gubalowka Hill

On our last day here, we went to a ski resort, Zakopane, bottom near Check boarder.  It was a real foggy start to the day but cleared up by the time we got there. The pope enjoyed skiing here. It's a real tourist town for sure. The buildings were uniquely wood patterned.  We had Mass in a cathedral.   From the cathedral steps you can see a mountain that has a mythical shape of a sleeping knight with a cross on to of the hill where his nose would be.  Rumor has it that if Zakopane needed his assistance, he would rise.  The inscription on the gate below Totus Tuus.

After Mass and before shopping, we stopped to see Holy Family Church in Zakopane - the oldest Roman Catholic stone church in Zakopane.  You can see it here.   Our meet up point was at that cathedral in the background. Here's a selfie from a ladder tower at the end of the shopping district.

Many of the booths carried the same stuff at the same price except that Paula and I found some wooden bracelets for less in one booth that we bought.  Found this fellow in native dress just before our group met to leave.  
          
Then we headed for the hills literally.  We had a group photo taken near the Check boarder.  There was some snow left on the hill tops from the previous week.  There will be more after we leave next week.  There was a tourist horse carriage in front of our bus as we got off for at group photo with the  hills in the back ground.

We had a great farewell dinner with music and Polish dancers at a restaurant that translates to "Gray Smoke". These young dancers will be performing in Texas in the near future.

On the day we left, Paula and I went to get some last minute items in the market just as they were opening and then met our group at the nearby basilica.

We had Mass at the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi known for its stained glass windows and toured the monastery.  The side chapel had copy of the Turin Shroud. My pictures of the stained glass had to much glare.  I guess you had to be there.  I found this picture online which seems to be the most popular and gorgeous known as "God the Father".  It's God's creation with earth wind and fire.  I was impressed with its visual image.

I thought this wooden cross was extraordinary.  You can see the painted walls.

Pope, John Paul II visited the basilica twice, in 1979 and 1991 and we could sit in his marked pew that he was in.  Our guide got a special key to see this big Nativity scene of collage of the churches in Krakow.  I didn't catch all that was said about it since I was way in the back.

This was my last photo in Poland in front of St Francis Basilica. I'm dressed for travel in comfort.

In my suitcase, among my clothes, I found a dog hair and one of my long hairs before I had it cut.   There were very few pick up trucks in Poland like we see in the states.  More like little work vans replaced the macho machines that most men feel they need.

The only regrets were for others in our group; one that was ill and one that lost a wallet (but got it back less cash).  I have a memory that will last a long time.  All the beautiful churches I've seen speak of a much greater beauty in Heaven that we will never understand until we get there. I've been blessed to have seen this.  Now to pick up the door prize I won at the senior fair.  😃😃