Day 5- We had an appointment (booked online) for 10:20 at Shindler's Factory. We paid when we got there, 50 PLN ($13-Youngest two were free). We went back and forth on taking the tram verses driving. We decided to drive. I recommend if you have the ability to figure it out and can, take the tram. It was just taking so much time to figure it out that we thought driving would be easier. Parking was very difficult to find. We found it and had to make a mad dash to get there. Come to find out, if we had been a few minutes late, it would have been okay still I think. Also, when we came out, the que was super long, so morning reservations are a good idea! I'm not sure if you had prereserved your ticket, if you could have skipped the line or not.
This memorial was amazing and very moving. It portrayed more about Jewish life in Krakow than about the factory itself and Shindler. It was very informative with good visuals and a lot of reading. Jon and I wanted to read everything, but that just wasn't possible with the kids with us. So we read opposite things and shared what was important more or less. I don't think our kids got a whole lot from it unfortunately, We walked through what was portrayed as a ghetto, reading many quotes from Jews that lived there. Jon and I definitely learned a lot more that we did not previously know about the Holocaust.
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| Outside the gate at the factory |
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| Jon and I outside the gate |
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| There are only two small sections of wall remaining of the Jewish ghetto in Krakow. The long part between the arch wall and the cherry blossom is one part. |
Afterwards, we went to the Shrine of Divine Mercy. Since it is the Year of Mercy, I felt it was only appropriate we visit here. Saint Faustina was a mystic whom the Lord appeared to in 1931 and told her to have a painting made of the image before her (of Him) and the words "Jesus I trust in you" on the bottom. When the painter did paint it, she cried, because it could not possibly portray how beautiful Jesus is.
Not in the beauty of the colour, nor of the brush lies the greatness of this image, but in My grace.
— Words attributed to Jesus by Faustina in her diary
Here is the image with St. John Paul II before it. The image has Jesus raising His right hand in a blessing, and His left hand over his heart. From his heart flows two rays, one red and one pale (blue). The red symbolizes the blood and the blue the water.
While there, we got to go inside the chapel that houses the image, with the remains of St. Faustina below the altar. During this time, Adoration was also taking place. There is also a small kneeler with a relic, one of her bones I believe. None of us went up to look because it felt inappropriate during Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
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| This is the basilica. |
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| The kids with a statue of St. Faustina (or St. Caustina per lil' bit) |
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| Kids with Divine Mercy |
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| This is the little chapel where the image is and where we went to Adoration. |
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| A picture of me! That never happens :) |
Our feelings were that there wasn't much to see and it is a place for quiet prayer. We had planned an entire afternoon here, and with mass, probably only needed two hours. Granted, if we didn't have children who were tired and at the end of their ropes, we could have appreciated the time of praying a lot more. The grounds are beautiful for walking. The sanctuary, being post-modernism, really disappointed us and did not lend well to meditative prayer for us. Post-modernism is the complete opposite of Christianity, so it was a bit surprising and felt out of place. There were bookstores that were incredibly inexpensive. I've been wanting a picture of a nursing Mary for a long time, and got a large one for only $15!
If you missed the other posts, here they are:
Day 1: Reservations and Day 1
Day 2: Bastei Bridge
Day 3: Old Town, Krakow
Day 4: Salt Mines and Kalwaria Zebrzydowska
Day 5: Shindler's Factory and Shrine of Divine Mercy
Day 6: Auschwitz Memorial
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