Started today with a talk and tour of the Divine Mercy shrine, which features a big and unattractive church built around the 2000s. At least the tower provided a beautiful, eerie view of Krakow Old Town in the distance and the grounds below. There's a little cemetery just outside the main communal building area- I wonder how it feels to live and work only a quick walk, not even across the street, from a place where people you knew and esteemed are buried, where you will be buried some day.
Blessed Mother (oh no, I'm journaling in Polski accent!) sent us an English speaking sister who welcomed us to a talk she was giving that morning- very little about Saint Faustina, a bit about her journal, and more of a meditation that anything. It was not the most core-shaking of our adventures thus far (cannot believe that we return to Rome in two days- less! I was sad to leave Warsaw), but I am continually floored by how everyone we meet seems to amble across our path exactly when we need them, and be so kind and generous with their time.
Back to the Milk Bar for lunch- I love that place, it is the perfect lunch spot on a busy day, in the center of things but out of the way from the busy tourist spots, cheap and delicious. Good thing, because the afternoon became frustrating. We were unable to make it to Schindler's Factory, and the Old Synagogue closed just when we arrived. Foiled, we went back up to Wawel Castle with the exact amount of time to take an audio tour of the Cathedral. Again, so beautiful, and the bell tower was something else. The stairs were steep and the passage dark, but there was a beautiful view from the top and though this whole time I've thought that Poland is very different from Rome, at the top of the bell tower looking down it occurred to me that the difference is Gothic. There is no piazza at the bottom of the tower, rather, there's a fortified castle at the top of a hill and a spooky, misty Poland beneath. There are spires and steeples and brick mixed with stone. It's old, but it's not the same as Rome, and I love it.
The tour after the descent only grew more interesting- the history of Polish saints and monarchs are told in the crypts around and beneath the cathedral. One side chapel was built by an Italian contemporary of Michelangelo, yet did not seem out of place. He used the red marble the Polish are so fond of. Another chapel was painted in 1902 and was as beautiful as any baroque I've seen, though a little less worn than most frescoes. Beautiful art is still possible- it isn't entirely lost to time!
Beneath the main altar is a small stone chapel like something out of an Arthurian legend, where John Paul II said his first Mass, either ever or as Cardinal. The audio tour had been funny; it was pre-recorded, but we knew we were all synced because we would look at each other and make faces over the same things. When we came to the stone altar where our Polish pilgrimage patron said Mass, we all dropped to our knees without a word.
The crypt was meant for Polish monarchs, and had sarcophagi from centuries back, but deep in the crypt was the tomb of the Polish president who died en route to Russia in 2010. Allen and I agreed it said a lot about the Polish people and this president. Faith is so present here.
After our tour finished the castle closed for the evening and we went to the dragon at the bottom of the hill; Dylan nearly burned his face off. People screamed from the wall above us; we went to Mass at the Divine Mercy chapel, which is beautiful. The walls of Polish churches are covered with cases of jewelry, gifts to Our Lady, or tokens from miracles, crutches and the like. The ceiling was starry blue and though the mass was small, for a Tuesday night it was amazing.
We made a fantastic dinner and ended our day at the apartment playing games. We thought we'd played until midnight before we looked at the clock and it read 9; we insisted we play more, just to prove we were not old, that we had some life in us. Now I am very exhausted. Good night!
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