Krakow

Will, a good friend of ours, told us to see Auschwitz as the last site we visited in Poland because of the trauma of it. In retrospect, this was good advise, but it didn't work out that way. The heavy feelings generated by my experience at Auschwitz stayed with me. My sadness probably colored my experience of Krakow, although I was still able to experience Krakow as a charming city with great food.

The city is going through a restoration period of the old part of town. Note the difference in these two buildings. The one on the left has been rennovated and the one on the left is still waiting for someone's tender loving care.

Beetroot soup. The color is a bit off putting, but it was surprisingly delicious.

In Poland we are back to the Roman Catholic church, which in Poland is socially conservative which puts the church at a bit of odds with the current pope. Poland is deeply religious. It has more church parishes than it does hospitals or schools, and unlike Italy, people in Poland still attend mass. As you may recall, Pope John Paul II was born in Wadowice, Poland. Being socially conservative the church struggles with Pope Francis's attempt at inclusion, as well as his edicts about a humble life style. According to one article, the Polish cleric are particularly sensitive to this as some Polish clergy have a very lavish life style.

Certainly the churches that we saw were anything but modest, but I don't think that this makes Polish catholic churches the exception.

We did a tour of the city and realized we had not seen most of it. Many of us wished we had one more day, but I was ready to move on.