Friday in Krakow

Today we started with Mass at Wawel Cathedral, where St. Stanislaus is buried.  This is in the heart of Krakow, very near to the seminary where Karol Wojtyla (Saint John Paul II) attended.  It is also near the castle in Krakow.  At mass, Dad read the first reading and responsorial psalm, as we were at the burial place of his namesake (Stanilaus).   He did a great job and we are all encouraging him to become a lector!

After Mass, we had a tour of the Cathedral.  Before being pope, Karol Wojtyla was the bishop of Krakow and this church was his seat.  It was very beautiful, filled with much Polish history.  I wish I had brought a recording device to tape what our guide, Agnes, shared.  It was too much!

We then began our walking tour of Krakow.  We visited the bishop’s house and the church of St. Francis of Assisi (where Karol attended regularly, as they were across the street from one another).  The architecture in this church reminded me of St. Casimir’s in Cleveland.  They had a beautiful pipe organ in the back of the church, and I was very happy to hear someone practicing during our visit!

When then went into the town square of Old Town Krakow.  Krakow, unlike Warsaw, was untouched by WWII – at least in regards to demolition.  Though the Nazi’s occupied Krakow, they did not bomb anything there, so all of the buildings are original.  It is like “new old town” Warsaw, but much bigger and with a greater sense of history. 

 

St. Mary’s church is in the heart of old town.  A few times a day a trumpeter comes out of the tower to play for all.  We had quite a bit of free time here, so dad and I had a nice afternoon with a new friend, Patsy.  We had a Polish lunch of pierogi’s, kilbasa and sauerkraut.  (I have to ask our tour guide, Agnes, but I am thinking there is a difference in pierogi from north to south.  The Warsaw pierogi’s were great, like Babci’s, thin dough, boiled and fried.  Today’s pierogi in Krakow had a thicker dough and were only boiled.  I am wondering if the “American pierogi” is really a Krakow pierogi.  Babci was from Warsaw, so maybe there is something to that…….)

We did a little shopping, walked all around the square and then met up with our group to head back to the hotel to freshen up.  We returned to old town Krakow for dinner.