Day 19 - Warsaw to Krakow via Czestochowa

Drive to Krakow through Czestochowa

A little math lesson?  How much did we pay in dollars and how much gas did we get in gallons for our car?

Up at 5:30a with the light pouring through the window so turned over and rolled out again at 7:00a.

Unusual lock: push up on button on the bottom and slide the steel piece left to unlock or right to lock.
Time to get packed, fed, and off to Czestochowa. The trick will be getting out of Warsaw without hitting any roadblocks and finding our way to 7 then E67. We'll try the GPS and see what happens first.

So we take our backpacks and some miscellaneous items to the car, add more money to the meter to give us to 10:30a and go off to find an open restaurant for breakfast. The ones on the Miasta Square don't open until 10 so we'll try the walk to Stare Miasto (Old Town). Lo and behold, a great place with outdoor seating so we order a Continental breakfast of 2 croissants, cream cheese, jam, fresh fruit slices of banana, blueberry, cranberries on the vine and a large American coffee.

Sharing our breakfast

It was quite cool outside and the waitress was surprised we wanted to sit out there but we need to enjoy the cool weather as much as possible before returning to hot Florida next week.


We notice a church steeple and decide to use our remaining minutes on the parking meter to check it out. We pass by a handcraft shop and pop in since we're both looking for handcrafted souvenirs and gifts. I end up with a cross since I don't have one in my home. The minutes have flown and so must we to get back to our car.

The GPS is giving us great directions UNTIL we hit road construction yet again. So we drive in a direction we believe will get us out of her area to stop her from saying "make a u-turn"!  We do and she gets us on our road. We HAD planned to take the E67 almost all the way to Czestochowa but Little Miss GPS has us exit. We should have known she would do this to us again!

We are traveling on and on on two-lane roads and some are barely wide enough for passing traffic in the opposite direction. This 2.75 hour drive to Czestochowa has now turned into a 4 hour route compliments of the Tom Tom even though it says "fastest route" at the bottom of the screen!!! When will we learn?  Tom Tom, it seems, is notorious for giving poor directions in Europe according to our hostel friends. We did see a lot of the countryside. And Melodie has a great observation. The route we took to Czestochowa was much longer than the direct route we could have taken but perhaps a higher being wanted us to "feel" the experience of a small pilgrimage to this holy site.

Quiet please, appropriate clothing needed, no smoking, dogs, ice cream, bubble gum, or cell phones, and watch out for pickpockets or frauds.

The Monastery Basilica

There have been other instances of events that were unplanned and decisions made at the last minute which took us off our route and ended up giving us just what we needed at the time. For example, when we left the Jewish cemetery, we wanted some lunch and changed our walking path to opt for a chance at a restaurant in what appeared to be a shopping mall some half mile down the street.  Inside we saw kiosks of sandwiches but Melodie insisted I inquire at the Info Desk for a REAL restaurant.  Directed upstairs, we found the WIKING pronounced Viking in Polish. Significance? Melodie's late husband was Norwegian.  Changing our plans days before in Krakow, we attended the Jewish festival thinking it would be an acoustic festival only to find out it was a REALLY BIG DEAL with amplification and big screen projections. We figured we could easily get dinner here but the restaurant said they only took reservations and they had been booked for weeks.  No room in the inn! But the waitress asked us to wait as she did some checking and returned to be able to give us a table for two for dinner where we could hear the music. Hmm.  At Malbork Castle, we tried to have lunch at one of the basement cafes but it was full. Continuing our tour, we happened upon another restaurant across the courtyard and found ourselves in a beautiful gothic room with artfully served meals and much quieter atmosphere.  God does provide.

We reached Czestochowa and weren't prepared for the overwhelming awe and majesty of the place. And to think we had considered skipping this stop last night when we were "dog tired".

Basilica

Chapel of the Sacred Heart

Basilica Pipe Organ

We checked out the information building and read that we probably wouldn't see the unveiling of the Madonna. Disappointed, we decided to tour the Basilica which is magnificent! Taking a side hall, we ended up in the Madonna's presence with the walls filled with medallions, rosaries, crutches, and other offerings left by healed followers. We hadn't missed her after all!

Tears welled up at the sight of her and the loving holy grace of the place covered me.  We sat and prayed and left just before 3:30p Mass was about to begin. This painting was made by St. Luke on a tabletop said to have been made by the carpenter Jesus. During his work, Mary appeared to him and told him the story which became his gospels.  To read about her journey of miracles, go to http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/BLACKMA.htm

Look closely and you can see two slash marks on her right cheek where a soldier tried to destroy this painting but failed.

Special Mass events are planned throughout the year like one with bikers filling this green. The World Youth Event in 1991 with Pope John Paul II drew 1,700,000 youth.

We walked around the exterior upper walls and saw where outdoor Masses are said with seating on the lawn below for 2,000+. We took some photos of the huge Stations of the Cross which are viewable from ground level or from the upper walkway where we were and passed these pilgrims from Italy;

I hope the video plays. Let me know.

St. Pope John Paul II; and some cannons that were perched at one of the corners of the monastery. And then it happened, the bells started "singing" and I found it odd that I could put words to the melody. It was "Serdeczna Matko", the ONLY Polish hymn that I know which was taught to me by my Auntie Jean for Grandma and Grandpa Solinski's 50th Wedding Anniversary Mass. What are the chances of that occurring when I haven't heard it at any time during this visit including my Sunday Mass with Slawek and family? I burst into tears and missed my Polish roots and childhood family even more.

Poland's favorite son, St. Pope John Paul II

Let me know if the plays or not.

We passed a group of Italian pilgrims with their priest saying the Stations of the Cross then finished our outside tour and headed out at 5p for a quick bite and the remaining hour drive back to Krakow.

Would YOU climb to the top?

Trying new and unusual food has become a habit so I ordered the Zapiekanka: mushrooms, cheese, and ketchup on French bread.  Not bad but I probably wouldn't order it again.  Not big on ketchup.

This time WE chose the route and will keep to the motorway so I can average 143 km/h.  Can you translate that to mph? I like these Polish roads with their "suggested" speed limits which aren't enforced. But you had BETTER move to the right when a faster car gets on your bumper! We got back to our home-away-from-home around 8p after a brief stop at the Lidl for groceries.

Tomorrow is a down day of laundry, planning one last grocery stop to replenish food and items that we used during our stay and buying our last roundtrip tram tickets to Krakow for Wednesday to see the opening of the wooden Gothic altar at St. Mary's in the Main Square.