Krakow

I am currently now in Krakow.

This needs to be edited but I want to make it live. I keep losing posts!

I made some edits/changes to the previous post but would guess it still needs some work!

On the way to Krakow, Dean gave us a history of the EU. I didn't realize it had been around for so long. There are 27 nations in the EU with 17 using the Euro. There are 50 countries in Europe and there are some who hope for a United States of Europe. In June 2014, Croatia joins the EU. There are also candidates like Turkey, Iceland, Serbia, and Montenegro. Turkey's membership is problematic for many reason. Some involve the history, with Turkey invading Christian countries, and Christian countries uniting to fight them. Other involve the size of the population and territory. Both are huge and give them some advantage. Finally some are concerned about being responsible for guarding their borders, which include hot spots like Syria and Iraq.

As a result of the war, Poland is 95% ethnic Poles. The number of Jewish people is only in the thousands.

So I have been eating a big breakfast each morning. I may need to wake up early to keep that going. Mostly yogurt, fruit, and granola. It actually is good to have the energy in the morning. I'm a five more minutes sleeper!

On the Seattle - Frankfurt leg, I sat next to a woman named Annie. She was actually going to Israel to visit her boyfriend. We exchanged information because she goes there all the time. I am going to try to meet up with her when I go and possibly go to Petra with her. She is from Canada so it could be Alice all over again! Alice and I met via the port via email and decided to travel together without ever meeting in person. We have been friends for over a decade! I went to visit her last year in Hong Kong.

Also it is certainly fall. It's not as cold as I thought it would be yet. So it's bearable. Trees leaves are beautiful colors and quite lovely and of course falling. It sounds like snow could be on the horizons. I think I am ready.

I wanted to mention that the restaurants that play music for some reason always play Lionel Richie's Say You, Say Me. It's quite funny to me. That could end up being the theme song of this trip.

So en route to Krakow we stopped in Czestochow to see the Black Madonna. She is hidden from 12 to 1:30 daily. The legend says that St. Luke created the painting of Mary and Jesus out of the wood from the Holy Family's table, which is why she is brown. It was hidden and discovered by Helen (Constantine's mom) who was on pilgrimage looking for the Cross that Jesus was crucified on. She brought it to back with her, where it stayed until the Turks invaded Constantinople. It was spirited off and on its way to Krakow. When they made a stop, the horses refused to move when the journey was supposed to start again so that was seen as a sign. An abbey and monastery were built. Others say that they are brown because of soot from candles people lit over the years. Hard to tell. They are certainly very, very brown.

It's a place of pilgrimage for Slavic Catholics. I have to tell you it's the first time I have seen this dedication and devotion at a pilgrimage site. It was actually very touching to see the reverence and respect. When we went there was service so I stayed to take the Sacrament. It was extremely crowded even in the down season.

I was stopped by two young ladies who I thought wanted me to take their picture but they wanted to take a picture with me. They loved the hair. That was actually very fun!

We arrived in Krakow. I went to the Main Market Square, which was established in the 13th century when the city was rebuilt after being invaded by the Mongols. It was an important meeting place and had a lot of markets, that moved into a shelter during the colder months. But alas, I must depart. More history later.