April Resolution

Better late than never...I've officially made a belated "New Year's" resolution. I've promised to spend a bit more time out here updating everyone on my adventures - and misadventures - here in Poland. I'm not committing to daily updates because the weather is far too grand to be sitting around the apartment, but I will make every attempt to get out here weekly at a minimum.

Craig and I drove to Kraków Thursday so I could apply for a permanent passport. Even though my temporary passport was valid for a year I was fearful I would misplace all the receipts and paperwork the Consulate provided me in Florence. Since Craig's passport expires in September (and many countries will not allow you to travel if your passport's expiration date is six months or less from the current date) we decided to make the trek. Once we get the passports back I will begin making plans to visit Rome. The way my luck has been in Italy I don't want to risk making any flight plans until the passports are in hand (and allow them enough time to clean up after today's earthquake)!

Back to Kraków...This was our third trip so the standard tourist sites weren't on our agenda. Instead we wandered into the Kraków Ghetto. This is where all the Jews in the city were forced to live during WWII. I've read alot about the war and the injustices to the Jewish people so it was kind of mind-numbing to be walking through the ghetto. It certainly is a beautiful city - even more so when you think of all the people have been through.

We managed to book a room in a hotel right in the heart of the stary miasto (old town). Our window overlooked the square (Rynek) and provided exceptional views of the square. I could not have asked for a better location - and the room was beyond incredible!

On Saturday we decided to take advantage of the 3M-issued GPS we just acquired and travel about two hours northwest to the city of Czętochova. I had heard about the Jasne Gora (Black Madonna) and thought it would be a nice place to visit, so we set the GPS and headed out of town. It was a wonderful day for a drive even though I really don't care for two-lane roads, especially when you have to pass tractors, semi-trucks, people on bicycles...argh....Check out a map of Poland and see how many highways/freeways you can find. I guarantee you will not need more than one hand (check that - two fingers) to count them all. Oh, by the way...there are prostitutes lining the roads hoping to entice the truck drivers. All shapes and sizes. We even saw some negotiating going on at one point. And we are on our way to see a church!!!

The detour proved to be a good one; unfortunately, we drove all that way and are still not sure if we even saw the Black Madonna!!! We saw a beautiful Basillica, some smaller sanctuaries, the 12 stations of the cross and a lot of people celebrating mass but I'm really not sure if we did, or did not, see the Madonna. Guess it makes sense to read about where you are going before you get there!!! We thought we could go back when Erica comes for a visit in August; however, hundreds of thousands of young people make a pilgrimage to Czętochova every August. Check out Wikipedia - it is impressive!

I have a few rants now...

With the warm weather the number of gypsies have increased and they are becoming far too persistent. What bugs me the most is they drug their babies so it appears the kids are always sleeping helplessly in their parents' arms. Then they send the older kids into the outdoor restaurants to beg with a dirty paper cup. It pains me to see this - especially when I'm told they actually make a decent amount of money bugging the tourists. Some of the women have tailed us for a block hounding us for a hand-out. I have three words for them - GET A JOB!

Once again the post office out-did themselves. It took me over an hour to mail two packages (Kelly and Valerie I hope they get there soon)! I stood in one line, filled out two forms, lost one form, found a form only to be told my packages were too large for the window - but was assured my debit card would work in the other line. (yea, right)! After standing in the "big package" line I found out the forms I filled out weren't for packages, so had to start all over again. Returning to the line I watched as two separate people barged to the front of the line saying, "I only have one letter can I sneak in"? (My Polish is getting good enough now I can eavesdrop a little). After reclaiming my rightful place in the front of the line I was told they don't take debit cards (huh????). Painfully, I waited for them to weigh and calculate costs hoping I had enough cash in hand. WRONG!!! To the ATM I went - returning once again to the end of the line. Finally, I make it back to the window, hand over my cash as the postal worker grunts and gives me a receipt. I was the one who should be grunting and crabby!

FYI: The picture above is a traditional Easter bread (yes, I said bread)! They were selling them at an outdoor market in Krakow.

Challenge: This weekend the temperatures were 25 - 26 celsius. Convert that to see how nice it really was. I hear there was snow in Minnesota (sorry...just had to say that)!