Blogs from Poland, Europe - page 185

Our pilgrimage to Poland ended with a trip to the Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa, Europe’s most famous shrine. The shrine gets its fame from the icon of the Black Madonna which has been the source of numerous miracles. The origin of the icon is unknown but one legend says that Saint Luke the Evangelist painted the portrait on a table made by Jesus himself. Saint Helena discovered the image while in Jerusalem searching for the Holy Cross and took it home to Constantinople where it would remain for the next five hundred years. In 803 the image was given to a Greek princess as a wedding gift. The bride placed it in the royal palace at Belz where it remained for about six hundred years. In the fourteenth century the city where the image ... read more

I’ve read about it in books and watched it in movies but nothing can compare to the reality of being there. I don’t even know where to begin writing about the experience. The day I spent at Auschwitz is something that will take a lifetime to process. It put an entirely new dimension on something that I have heard about my entire life. When I walked out of the camp that day any doubt that something like that could have actually happened was removed from my mind. But it wasn’t so much like I ever doubted it, it was just that believing something like that really happened is almost impossible to do. But after having been there; after seeing the countless belongings that remained: luggage, shoes, hair, braces and canes; having walked down the same path ... read more

Poland has never been a place I’ve really wanted to go to; in all honesty I’ve given it very little thought and had low expectations when I did actually go. I wasn’t surprised that when we arrived in Krakow it was foggy and dreary, but in spite of how it started Poland surprised me. I can’t say it was a really fun trip, it was more of several life changing experiences piled into one weekend. We were constantly in motion moving from Krakow to the Divine Mercy Shrine to Auschwitz and then to Czestochowa. We were so busy that if lunch wasn’t on the schedule, and it never was, then there wasn’t even anytime to eat. But it was a sacrifice and that made Poland a pilgrimage, not a vacation. We left Thursday, September 22 in ... read more

Everytime you arrive in a new country its a bit challenging to get oriented. Especially when the language resembles Japanese more than English. A's have curly cues on them and actually sometimes I think they forget to add vowels. hmm. Anyways, after a quick nap from my 530 am arrival, I headed out to see the town. I love it here. Like Germany, everyone is beautiful. And surprisingly, for as little English as any one in the train station spoke (0 words), everyone around town is sooo helpful and really fluent. SO great. After a little self guided tour, I sat in the huge town square (largest in Europe) and just drank wine and had some 10 course meal for like $10. Love it. Then I went to the top of the main castle (yes don't ... read more

Arriving in Krakow, Brase and I were still making our multiple daily offerings to the porcelain gods. Luckily, we finally found a pharmacy which gave us the pills to begin curing our affliction. Sadly, the cruelty of the porcelain gods prevented us from enjoying this city as much as we could have.... read more