A final message from Dad

A final message from Dad:

"What a wonderful and beautiful Pilgrimage this was! I am sorry to see it come to an end, but thinking about it we can continue to live it everyday! We were very blessed to have Fr. Joe lead our spiritual journey and for Dennis to be our Pilgrimage leader. And what great tour guides throughout our journey!  What also was very special were all of our fellow Pilgrims. They are all beautiful people and we were so blessed to get to know them. I was so happy to share my faith and this Pilgrimage with them all!

Visiting Poland was also special to me, as this is my heritage and I was able to be in areas where my parents were so many years ago. And getting to meet a cousin and his family while we were there was just wonderful. I thank The Lord for blessing us with so many beautiful experiences throughout the Pilgrimage. We learned so much!

But making this trip extra, extra special was being able to share it with my beautiful daughter Lindsay! Spending this special time with her, sharing our Faith and our experiences, and talking with her is something I will treasure all of my life! I appreciate her husband Joe, my wife Marilyn, and my son Justin for encouraging Lindsay to be with me on this Pilgrimage. That was truly a gift for me.

I thank The Lord for keeping us all safe and bringing us all back to our families. I thank Fr. Joe for sending me that invite last Fall. This Pilgrimage will be with me forever!"

#3!

I finally remembered the third thing.  Joe helped me.

Requesting water to drink was a bit humorous at first:

Staff: "What would you like to drink?"

Lindsay: "Water please"

Staff: "Gas or no gas?"



I love sparkling water, but "gas or no gas" gave me a little smile each time!  I think I'm going to start using this one at home!

A few funny anectodes

I should have thought to post these three things as we traveled, but it was difficult to summarize everything at the end of each day.

1. Sleeping arrangements:  Most of the rooms in Europe have 2 twin beds.  Dad and I figured this would work out well.  I should have taken some photos, but the bed situation was humorous.  We always had twin beds, but the proximity of them to one another was interesting!  In Rome and Warsaw, the beds were only about 1" apart.  Not what was expected!  However, as the trip went on, we were happy to find out that in Czestochowa and Krakow the beds were a good foot or two apart.  Amen!

2. Belt: I bought a new, reversible belt for this trip.  I thought I was being smart.  The second day in Rome I decided to reverse my belt.  Instead of reversing, I yanked the hook off and broke the belt.  Why does this matter?  I had purchased a passport holder that was to be hidden inside my pants, hanging off the belt!  Thank goodness Dad brought an extra belt.  I ended up using his for most of the trip.  I finally found a new belt in Krakow!

3. I can't ever remember!  Maybe when Dad reads this he will give me a hint!

Last Day of photos - Sunday

Sunday (as mentioned before) was spent at Auschwitz and Wadowice (the birthplace of JPII)

Entrance into Auschwitz I ("Work makes one free")

Inside Auschwitz I.  This was a former Polish Army barracks, before the Nazis took it over.

Entry to the execution area.  Many prisoners were shot in that courtyard.  The adjacent building was used mostly for torture.  St. Maximillian Kolbe died there.

Shoes found after liberation.  The amount of belongings left was staggering.

Outside the gas chamber and crematorium.

Birkenau

Birkenau - many of the wooden stables were burnt at the end of the war.

church in Wadowice

Town center of Wadowice

"The Pope's Cake" a delightful pastry, famous in this area because JPII enjoyed it!

Pictures from Zakopane

Dad and I made it safely back to the U.S. on Monday evening.  I have a moment now to update a few photos from the last two days.

First, here are the photos from Saturday in Zakopane (in the mountains to the south of Krakow)

outdoor shrine at Our Lady of Fatima

Zakopane

Local sheep's cheese

Potato pancake for lunch

It was unfortunately very rainy in Zakopane.

Here we are with Dad's cousin and his family

The last day in Poland

As you will note, the last few posts have not had pictures.  We have had some pretty long days, late nights and tomorrow (Monday) we have a very early wake up call to get to the airport for our 6:30 am flight to Berlin!  Eeek! 

So this post will also have no pictures.  But I will add them when we get back to the U.S.

Today was our last full day in Poland.  We had two stops – Auschwitz-Birkenau and Wadowice. 

I am extremely thankful for all of the prayers for me and our pilgrim group.  I cannot imagine visiting Auschwitz-Birkenau not on a pilgrimage.  Being a part of a faith-filled group made this sorrowful place more bearable.

We spent almost 3 hours touring.  The majority of the tour was in Auschwitz I – the original part of the concentration camp.  It was built in former Polish Army barracks.  There was an exhibition giving an overview of the camp and process of the Nazis.  I was sad, but ok.  We then went to the part of the camp that was filled with remnants – shoes, combs, pots, pans, suitcases – and the worst, hair.  Many Jews had their hair cut off and it was used to make hair fabric.  It was very sad and sickening to see it all there piled up.

Auschwitz I was not exactly what I expected, look-wise.  We did enter a gas chamber and crematorium.  I couldn’t bring myself to take a picture there.  An uplifting moment was visiting the final cell of St. Maximillian Kolbe.  We laid flowers and prayed.

We took a short bus ride to Birkenau.  Birkenau was part of Auschwitz, but was built later.  It looks much more like what you read in books (like Night, Maus, etc.)  It was much more open and the barracks looked as I expected from those books.

We had lunch, and then headed to Wadowice.  This was a more uplifting stop!  It’s the birth place of Karol Wojtyla.  We had our final mass the church where he was baptized.   A new museum has opened in Wadowice for St. John Paul II right next to the church.  (It was actually his home, until age 18).  The museum has only been open about 3 weeks.  It was beautiful and went from his birth to death.  I was touched by two things especially:

1.   Near the end, there was a beautiful interactive display on JPII’s travels.  I was happy to see a photo from his trip to Japan in 1981 (I think).  He was speaking in Peace Prayer Park – where Joe and I visited.

2.  As a priest, bishop and cardinal, Karol spent a lot of time with young people (teenagers and college- age).  He taught them at university and took many trips into the mountains (Zakopane area) with them.  There was a wall of testimonies near the end that had quotes from the young people he was with.  I didn’t have time on our guided tour to read them all, but the ones I did read were wonderful.  No wonder JPII had such wisdom on relationships, marriage and family.  He truly loved and understand love.

We are headed to the airport early tomorrow.  Please continue to keep us in your prayers, as we all travel home on Monday.  

A second message from Dad!

A second message from Dad!

“Saturday May 3 was a wonderful day with a trip to Zakopane, a city in the mountains of southern Poland.  Lindsay will share more on that.

Saturday evening was very special for Lindsay and me, as we were able to meet for the first time, a Polish cousin and his family and have dinner with them at their beautiful home in Krakow.  His name is Zbigniew Huchla and he is the son of one of my dad’s sisters – Hania.  Also there for dinner, was his wife, daughter, son-in-law and one of his granddaughters. 

He shared with us a family tree on My Heritage.com that he has been working on, and gave us a beautiful Szopka  (a Christmas manger scene) and a hand-carved statue of the Blessed Virgin holding Jesus that he carved out of a Linden tree.  We were so touched!  Lots of wine, ham, soup and bigos were shared around the dinner table with much talk getting to know each other.  What a wonderful evening!  I am thankful that we were able to connect with a part of my Dad’s family and learn more about my Polish heritage.