Pilgrims' Lack of Progress

 

Today has been an interesting day.  We woke up at 4 am to make sure we were ready to catch our 7:35 am flight to Vienna.  We boarded the bus and as we headed for the airport, Father Bateman asked us to start with a prayer and then launched into a mini-homily about bearing wrongs patiently.  And then he broke the news that the flight we were supposed to catch from Vienna to Florence had been canceled.  In order to get us to Florence, Austria Airways broke the group into three smaller groups.  One group was supposed to fly to Stuttgart after a 10-hour lay-over in Vienna, and then go to Florence.  One group was supposed to fly to Rome after a 9-hour lay-over in Vienna, and then go to Florence.  The third group had to stay in Krakow until tomorrow afternoon and then fly to Florence.  This group would not land until tomorrow evening which meant missing the things we were supposed to see there.  Ed and I were in the third group.  At first, the idea of missing Florence was distressing, but blessing often come in disguise.  These were the blessings of this delay:

1. We were with a great group of people - Mike and Suzanne Landis, Perpetua Staub, John and Nancy Newbold, and Cathy from another parish.  The airline had chosen people from our larger group at random but all of us except for Ed are on the RCIA teams at our respective parishes. 
2. We were able to go back and see many things that we had missed in the rush of the last two days.  Half of us chose to go see the Oskar Schindler Museum and the Jewish Quarter. (More on that later.)
3. Several in our group just took the opportunity to rest and recollect.
4. The other two groups had to deal with yet another complication - both of the connecting flights they were to take from Vienna were canceled yet again.  For some reason - WE ARE NOT TO GO TO FLORENCE.  Who knows from what God in His providence has shielded us?!
5. Ed and I had a chance to revisit Krakow's Old Town and just enjoy an afternoon together.  (Also more on that later.)
6. We have a lovely room in the Hilton Garden Inn right next to the airport.  We received vouchers for a breakfast, lunch, and dinner at the hotel restaurant. 

After we got straightened out this morning, our Polish guide who had been with us for the past

three days found out that we wanted to go to the Jewish Quarter.  She gave us a ride there and made sure we knew where to go and how to get there.  We grabbed bagels at a place called Bagel Mama (staffed by a native New Yorker) and went to see some of the sights described in our tour book by Rick Steves (Thanks, Sue, for that wonderful birthday present - it was used quite hard today!).  Here are some of the sights we saw in the Jewish Quarter.


A monument to those Krakow Jews who were killed during the Nazi occupation

The sign behind us honors a family that was in this building for hundreds of years - wiped out in the holocaust.

As we were walking, we ran into our guide again and she offered to take us to the Oskar Schindler Museum across the Vistula River.  I'm sure many of you have seen the Steven Spielberg's movie Schindler's List.  How fascinating to learn more about this man who did so much good and to stand where he had once saved countless lives from deportation. On our way to the museum, we stopped in Heroes Square which is located where the square of the ghetto once was and from which many Jews were deported to the death camps.  The square is filled with 68 very large empty chairs to symbolize the 68,000 Jews deported from there.  All but one face east toward Jerusalem. 

This chair does not face east.  It is the site upon which many Jews were executed.

Ed, Perpetua, Suzanne, Cheryl in Schindler's Factory

The Hall of Choices records how people chose to act or not to act in the face of injustice.



A close-up of the pillars and walls
Note the many acts of mercy, some large and some small, that made a difference in lives of fellow human beings. These acts are recorded in many different languages.

After lunch in the Film Cafe of the museum, I, of course, had to buy more books (if our suitcases weigh too much for the airlines, we're leaving Ed's clothing behind).  Two of our group decided to head back to the hotel which left Ed and I to find a taxi and head for Old Town. 
We bought some trinkets at an outdoor market and then headed into Market Square.  We stopped at St. Mary's Cathedral to look for the trumpeter of Krakow.  The old legend is that the bugler would open the window in the steeple and play the bugle to alert the town to the approach of any enemies.  The tune comes to an abrupt end to symbolize the death of the bugler as he is hit by an arrow.
We then went to Cloth Hall and did a little more shopping.  Amber is a very important product of Poland and there were many stands selling amber jewelry.  We then took a taxi back to the hotel, rested a bit, and then met the rest of our group for dinner in the hotel restaurant. 

Cloth Hall in Market Square

 

 

 

That's all for this evening.  I have many more pictures but am still getting the hang of working on public computers when I can find them and getting photos from all my different devices.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring.  We are trying to be patient and grateful for the good things that come from His hand.  He has a reason for everything.