Eastern European Adventure Part VIII: The Kneeler

"How to pray?  This is a simple matter.  I would say:  Pray any way you like, so long as you do pray."  ~Pope John Paul II

As I mentioned yesterday, Poland turned into quite the Pope John Paul II pilgrimage for me.  I toured all over the country to see churches where he said Mass, houses where he was born, windows from which he spoke, clothes that he wore, you name it.  My favorite item, however, was tucked away in his former apartment in Krakow.  It was not mentioned in any guidebook or tour map.  I suppose that it is not really anything overly impressive, but it had a huge impact on me.

This was JPII's kneeler, on which he prayed for years.

And if you looked closely, you could see that the padding was worn out where he knees rested.

I actually got a little choked up in the room looking at this.  Think of all of the prayers offered by JPII in this very spot.  All of the hours spent talking to God.  Petitions that were granted, and some that were not.  Prayers for the faithful, the sick, the dying, his beloved Poland.  Prayers for justice and peace and kindness.  Prayers for you and me.

While in Poland I purchased a book all about JPII's everyday life called, He Liked Tuesdays Best, which was written by one of his Papal secretaries.  The book talks about how consistently, and how often, JPII prayed.  It is no wonder that his kneeler was worn out.  It made me ask myself, if I had a kneeler, would it look similar?  Or would it be in fresh, pristine condition?  I know the answer, and I don't like it.

I don't want a new kneeler.  I want one that is old, ragged, and worn out.  Much like the one you see above.  God speaks to us in mysterious ways.  Apparently, for me, that includes  an old piece of furniture tucked away in a tiny room in Poland.

Eastern European Adventure Part VII: Krakow, Poland

So we boarded another overnight train, this time en route to Krakow, Poland.  I just have to tell you, it was even worst than the first overnight train.  Seriously, it was miserable. And I am NOT any sort of high maintenance, princess and the pea kind of girl.  If I hated it, you would too. How did none of the guidebooks or the trip advisory posts I read not tell me that it was going to suck?  Anyway, it was super hot, the bed felt like a cedar board, it was super loud, we stopped and started like 500 times.  For real, horrible.  HORRIBLE.  But, the upshot of all this is that I made it to Poland, which was easily my favorite country on the trip!  I absolutely loved it!

Summary of Krakow:  Small, quaint, quiet, great square, Bl. John Paul II, amazing churches, rolling hills.

Day 10:  May 11

After surviving the overnight train experience, we set out to see Krakow.  I loved it from then on.  We wandered around the beautiful town square, did the Rick Steeves walking tour (which is good except sometimes he means right instead of left...), checked out the Wawel Castle, and generally just wandered.

St. Mary's Bascilica

Old Town Square

There used to be a moat around the old town, but the city
has now turned that into a beautiful park that goes all around it.

Artists selling their paintings on the street.

The Royal Way

Me in front of St. Mary's

Wawel Castle

Wawel Castle

Breakfast latte and meringue.  SO good!

The only thing I did not like about Krakow......freaking birds.  You know that I have a fear of birds ever since I watched that Alfred Hitchcock movie The Birds in the 4th grade.  These big fat suckers were everywhere and they were not scared of people and a couple of times they were going straight for my head.  And everyone feeds them.  I even saw a homeless person be given bread and feed it to the birds.  Right in front of me.  Grr.

The birds, however, were offset by all of the nuns running around, which I absolutely LOVED about Poland.  They were everywhere!  I may or may not have gotten so excited that I snuck pictures every time they were walking by.

Don't worry, I did the same for the priests.  I'm an equal opportunity clergy photo stalker.

Anyway, after our general wandering and clergy stalking, I set out to do some Pope John Paul II specific sightseeing, which was awesome.  I am a total JPII junkie and have been ever since I read his biography while helping tutor the Hepburn children in high school.  Getting to see so many places that were important to him was really awesome, and made me even more excited about what I had planned for Day 11!

John Paul II Center

JPII Museum in his former apartment.

Me and JPII

JP II statue outside Wawal Cathedral

JPII Center

"Poland has given the Pope to the world, Cracow has given Peter to the Church."

I also went to the Archbishop's Palace where he lived when he was the Archbishop of Krakow.  He used to talk to people, especially young people, outside of this window.  The night that he died, hundreds of people kept vigil in the street, and all fell to their knees upon the news of his passing and flocked to place flowers and candles throughout the next week.

JPII's window.

Statue inside Archbishop's Palace

Photo inside the Palace of JPII giving communion to former Auschwitz prisoners.
This picture has even more meaning after I visited the camp myself.

I think my favorite stop that day was at St. Francis Bascilica.  This is the church where Pope John Paul II presided during his time as Archbishop of Krakow.  The coolest part for me was finding (thanks to Rick Steeves and his book on Eastern Europe) the spot near the back of the church where JPII most liked to sit and pray.  Sitting there, seeing what he saw, praying as he did....it was amazing.

View from his favorite spot.

Plaque marking his spot.

For dinner we hit up this awesome restaurant that I have to admit, I had my doubts about.  It was a totally laid back, traditional Polish place.  I freaked out and wanted to go find a burger, but Miss Canada held it together for me and ordered us some amazing food, including friend perogies, which I loved!

Day 11:  May 12

Because of my JPII junkie-ness, I was super excited to do a Footsteps of JPII tour when I was in Krakow.

I started the day with a stop at the JPII museum in Krakow, which is actually a former apartment of JPII when he was a priest.  It was cool to see where he lived, and to see some memorabilia that formerly belonged to him.  It also held the favorite item I saw during my JPII touring, which you'll hear more about tomorrow (because you know, I like to drag things out as long as I can!)

His cardinal shoes.

Love this painting of the last photo of JPII.

His former apartment.

Then I was off for the tour.  This consisted of a drive through the Polish countryside, seeing the house where JPII was born and raised, the church where he was baptized, a monastery where he frequently made pilgrimages, and the Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy where St. Faustina's remains are housed.  It was completely amazing.  It was a really moving experience and I am so glad that I was able to see these things!

Papal robe.

Rosary he used while praying on the radio every Saturday.

Photo above his childhood home in Wadowice.

Statue outside childhood home.

Church where JPII was baptized.

Kalwaria Zebrzydowska (monastery)

View from the monastery.

Me in front of the monastery (note to self, those pants are too large)

JPII statue at monastery  

Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy

Inside the Sanctuary--I got to attend a Rosary, which was beautiful (and I got to kneel next to a nun!)

St. Faustina

  Stay tuned tomorrow to hear about my favorite piece of JPII memorabilia.

Eastern European Adventure Part VI: Budapest

From Vienna, we headed off to Budapest, Hungary.  I have to be honest with you and say that other than the beautiful view of the Danube at night, Budapest was easily my least favorite place I've been in Europe.  I am glad we went there and got to see it, but I have no desire to go back.

Summary of Budapest:  Big, spread out, beautiful at night, expensive, conflict, struck a deal.

Day 8:  May 9

We arrived in Budapest after a short train ride from Vienna and headed to our apartment.  I have to admit that when we saw the building that looked like it was dilapidated and falling apart, I was pretty nervous.  Like, real nervous if I'm being honest.  I took a picture to show you guys what I mean.

But when we walked inside, it was probably the nicest apartment we stayed at.  Phew.  Bullet (maybe literally) dodged.

Anyway, we only had about 36 hours in Budapest, so we ended up doing the hop on/hop off bus tour because it seemed to be the best way to see the main sites in the city.   I am so glad we did this because everything is SO spread out in Budapest that I don't know any other way to actually see the things you want to see.  Plus the tour gives a lot of info on history, and in particular the Communist rule in Budapest.  It was really sort of eye opening to me because I have to admit, I knew very little about this history.  It was amazing to realize the struggles and sacrifices that the Hungarian people made in order to get out from under the Russian rule.  It was equally amazing to me to realize that not that long ago, even when I was a little kid, people from the US could not travel to Hungary.  Just amazing.  And I think that learning about this struggle really gave me some insight on the people of Hungary, and the difference between them--most of whom lived through that--and Americans, who have always been free.  It was really fascinating.

Anyway, that was a soapbox.  Here are some of my favorite sights from the tour.

Castle Hill

Chain Bridge

Great Synagogue 

Chain Bridge over the Danube

Freedom Bridge

View from the Buda side of the city.

Parliament

St. Stephen's church

During the the tour, I shot this picture.  I have to say, I saw a lot of domestic disputes when I was in Budapest.  I mean seriously, I counted 5 times where I saw women beating the crap out of men or screaming their heads off at them.  These two were the funniest.  See the girl crying behind the tree?  When we pulled up in the bus, she was beating the crap out of this guy.  Like punching him, all up in his face, crazy.  Then she went and cried behind the tree for a while.  Genius dude in the red just kept talking.  Cousin Swiss Mister kept saying, "Shut up, dude, shut up, don't keep talking," but this guy didn't take his advice, and before we drove off the chick was back up in his face.  Drama, drama.

After about an hour and a half, we hopped off the bus and grabbed some lunch.  And four desserts.  We couldn't decide which ones we wanted.  It was vacation, so we ordered them all!

Which one do you think was the best??

 Then we went out to find the Ronald Reagan statue in Budapest.  We were quite excited to take our pictures with our favorite president.

That night we took the night bus tour, which I have to admit was absolutely beautiful.  The city all lit up along the Danube River was amazing.  This was hands down my favorite part of our Budapest adventure.

This next picture is not as cool of a picture, but I love it for what it stands for.  For years, there was a flag with a red star on it--representing Communism--that flew over the top of the Parliament building.  Today, the Hungarian flag is proudly displayed.  I just couldn't help but think what a feeling that must have been in 1989 when this flag went up and that red star went down.

Day 9:  May 10

This day ended up being a little family bonding for me and Cousin Swiss Mister.  We decided to get up early and go on a little run.  I thought I would show him up, but he has super long legs, is stubborn, and runs sort of like a gazelle, so he held his own.

After that we headed out walking around and decided to have lunch.  That's where things got interesting.  Cousin Swiss Mister was dying, and I mean DYING, to eat at Hooters.  Now, I think this is stupid on so many levels, primarily because I hate the idea of Americans eating at chain American restaurants in other countries.  Much less Hooters.  But, then he made me an offer I couldn't refuse.  If I would eat at Hooters with him and talk him up to the waitresses, he would (1) buy my food, including fried pickles and drinks; (2) upgrade me to a business class ticket on the flight home; and (3) take my photo at three tourist locations of my choice that afternoon.  Hooters, here we come.

The happiest Cousin Swiss Mister was the entire trip.

Despite Cousin Swiss Mister's best efforts, and me following the script to make him sound like a nice, rich, American guy, we failed in our attempt to find the mother of Cousin Swiss Mister  Jr.  Shocking, I know.

After that, we were off to take the photos I bargained for.  :)

St. Stephen's

Under the dome at St. Stephen's

Alter at St. Stephen's

Collecting on Cousin Swiss Mister's promise to take my picture.

So the architect who built the Chain Bridge was really proud of these lions,  so when some kid
at the opening of the bridge pointed out that the lions didn't have tongues, the architect jumped
off the bridge into the water.  Crazy, right!

Another jumping photo.  Took some skill to pull this off in a dress and not flash  everyone in town.

Sean doesn't quite have the jumping photo down.

Then it was time for Cousin Swiss Mister to bow out of the trip.  Even though there are times I want to strangle him for being on his iPhone non-stop or oogling a 21 year old, I just love that guy to death.  I always hate having to say bye to him.

After he left, Miss Canada and I met up with a colleague of mine from back home for a drink to talk about all of the adventures to this point.  We also ended up planning a trip for next year to Montana for the Bucking Horse Sale.  I'm pretty dang excited about this prospect!  And then we headed off to the airport for the next overnight train experience.  You'll hear about it more tomorrow, but let me just tell you that it was not fun.  Not fun at all.  Stay tuned for the Krakow update up next...