Poland Day 5 - Shindler's Factory and Shrine of Divine Mercy

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.

Outside the gate at the factory

Jon and I outside the gate

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.

This is the basilica.

The kids with a statue of St. Faustina (or St. Caustina per lil' bit)

Kids with Divine Mercy

This is the little chapel where the image is and where we went to Adoration.

A picture of me! That never happens :)

There is also the Divine Mercy Sanctuary that was completed in 2002. This sanctuary is huge. We joined everyone in praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3pm (the hour of Our Lord, when He died), and then attended our first Polish Mass. Let's just say, Alleluia and Amen were the only things we understood! For a 3pm mass on a Wednesday in April it was very full.

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

Poland Day 4- Wieliczka Salt Mines and Kalwaria Zebrzydowska

On the 4th day, we left the house later than intended and headed to the Wieliczka Salt Mines. This mine is 1,073 feet deep and over 178 miles long. It's massive. The mine has been open since the 13th century producing table salt, but stopped production of table salt in 1996 because of the low cost of salt. It is on the UNSECO list of world heritage sites.

Info for anyone going: They do English tours every 30 minutes. There is a family ticket for 2 adults and 2 kids, so we had to buy an extra kid ticket. I think under 5 was free. No backpacks, but there is a luggage room. Plenty of parking available. The tour begins with you getting your own headpiece that the guide speaks in. The tour lasts 2 hours, and then there was also a museum available that was included in the price of the ticket. Because our day got started so late, and we were all getting tired, we skipped the museum.

The tour was amazing. You got to see different statues all made out of salt, walk through the mines like the miners, even along the tracks they used. There were 3 artificial lakes made for the tour, but they were cool. There was a small chapel we got to walk through. At this point, we learned there were 26 chapels total throughout the mines (Hello Catholic country!) Then we got to see the most beautiful of chapels that was huge and beautiful. My husband and the kids loved touching the walls and licking their fingers, and that's how we kept the 2 year old happy. It tasted just like you'd expect salt to taste.

An example of some of the statues and scenes in the mines

Some of the support beams within the mine. They were massive.

More statues... You could touch all of this and lick your fingers and taste the salt.

The mines

There was a very large church inside. It was all built out of salt and absolutely amazing.

The altar in the church. The chandelier is even made out of salt. 

Family in front of the salt altar.

In front of the salt statue of St. Pope John Paul II.

An amazing Last Supper picture carved into salt.

Mary in the chapel.

Afterwards, we ate lunch at the mine with some traditional Polish food that was yummy- Periogies, Cabbage leaf rolls, and bigos (sauerkraut with sausage). It was fun to try these foods! They also had a kids play area, so we let the kids play for 15 minutes, then headed out of the mine. I also purchased a few bath salts, foot scrub, and body scrub for super cheap.

By this point, it was already 4pm. We had wanted to visit Kalwaria Zebrzydowska, a Catholic shrine that sees tons of visitors each year. It is 8 miles from where St. Pope John Paul II grew up, and him and his father spent a lot of time here. He even went back many times as Pope to walk the paths and pray alone. I totally recommend this place for Catholics, especially with children. There is the main Basilica, and then tons of chapels all over the hill. Here is a map (notice you can move the map to see all of them) We walked to a few of the chapels,but not many since it was so late. It was incredibly peaceful and quiet, even with the kids. They loved running through the woods, trying to find the next chapel. It was nice to give them that freedom, while we walked along quietly meditating on God's creation and getting the chance to view some of the chapels. I can completely see why the Pope would sneak back here to walk and pray. Most of the chapels weren't open, but you could still peak in. We are unsure if they were closed because of the time of day/time of year or are always. We got back to the car, made sandwiches for dinner, and headed home.

The main Basilica.

Basilica from a different angle.

My baby girl and I in front of the church.

The girls taking a peaceful moment to teach their baby sister a prayer.

An example of one of the small chapels. They have outside amboes and the kids loved getting up in them.

Who is this handsome young man??

sweet sisters

Us girls with Saint Pope John Paul II. No doubt about it, Poland loves this great man.

Part of the beautiful grounds.

This is love.

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

Poland Day 3- Old Town, Krakow

Day 3- Polish love color and it's very evident in their churches and pottery. We did not take pictures inside of the churches, as it wasn't allowed, but I did include some links to beautiful images I found online.

First we walked through the gate, then through the Cloth Hall. Nothing too exciting even though this is aparently a very popular destination. Lots of stalls of vendors selling junk we didn't need or want.
St. Francis Basillia (?)  Included a 10 min audio guide for free that was really well done and told a lot about the church. The kids all got one as well, and really enjoyed it and it helped them. This church was beautiful. No pictures inside, but you can see an image of how colorful and gorgeous it is here. Then we got to go to adoration with the exposed Blessed Sacrament.

Then we went to St. Mary's in the square. Walked in and Mass was still going on. Therefore, we went to Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. Then we went back to St. Mary's. There's an entrance to the church to pray, then there's an entrance for tourists who have to pay. We went in to pray. We got to walk through Holy Doors while here. During the year of Mercy, if you walk through Holy Doors, say the Creed, think about the Lord's Mercy, pray for the Pope's intentions, and receive the Eucharist, you get a plenary indulgence. We were able to do all but receive Communion. This Church was beautiful from what we could see. We stayed in the prayer area and prayed and looked around while praying. We weren't that interested in paying to see the rest. We also got to go to adoration here. There is a famous altar piece that is beautiful and I believe was lost/stolen during WWII, but we did not pay to go see it up close. Again, as you can tell, lots of color.

Afterwards, we sat in the square for a while and heard the trumpeteer of Krakow. Legend has it that the firemen would climb the tower and blow the bugle to sound a fire alarm, or if an enemy was attacking. Once, when the city was under attack, a man sounded the alarm, and was either shot by an arrow, or had his throat slit mid-melody. So to this day, they stop in the middle of the tune.  The kids loved listening to it. It plays in each direction.

Then we headed to Wawel castle, with a stop in St. Peter's and St. Paul's. We got to pray in the Blessed Sacrament chapel while here. As we were exiting, they had some very graphic anti-abortion pictures. We ended up having a long discussion about abortion. We weren't exactly ready, but it opened up the door.

We finally arrived at Wawel Castle. We were too late to visit the treasury and other things (That are free on Monday, but only until 1pm), but we were fine with this. We then went in Wawel Cathedral, where yet again, we got to pray before the Blessed Sacrament. It was just after 3pm, the time of our Lord's Death, so we lead the kids in a decade of the Divine Mercy Chaplet (Their attention spans were done at this point in the day, and we were lucky to get one decade!) We could have paid to see the crypt and bell tower, but we decided not to. We later regretted this when we found out John Paul II said his first mass in the crypt. We also could have paid for an audio guide, but realized it after the fact. I love audio guides, so was a bit disappointed. Truth is, by this point in the day, we were pretty tired and warn out.

Afterwards, we walked out of the castle and down to the Vistula (the river). There is a legend of a dragon in the dragon's cave that Hannah knew all about and wanted to tell us about, so we went down to find the cave. It was closed up, but there were some awesome rocks to climb. The kids spent a good 45 min climbing them and having a blast, while I sat with our stuff and people-watched. Then we headed back, grabbing ice cream on our walk to keep the kids walking without complaining. Eggy burritos for dinner with discussion of concentration camps, Oscar Shindler, and how everyone is important and God made everyone for a reason (The kids' conclusion after discussing more about the camps). Then baths and bed for exhausted kids.

A daddy and his girls

The Cloth House in the background

St. Mary's Basilica. The tower on the left is where the trumpeteer still plays every hour.

Wawel Castle

How Beka rolls on vacation.

Wawel Cathedral. So many different styles for one church!

Yes, she just had surgery two weeks ago. She looks so grown up with the side ponytail!

Our family with St. Pope John Paul II

Climbing on the rocks of the cave of the fire-breathing dragon

It breathes fire about every 5 minutes. 

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

Turin and Cinque Terre, Italy

We just got back from a 5 day driving trip to Italy. Our trip started off Monday morning leaving at 9am. We arrived in Antagnod, Italy at about 7pm. We stayed here. This was about an hour from Turin, where we would head on Tuesday. All of the apartments in Turin were super expensive, so I decided to stay an hour away, and found this great place for €80 for the night. I thought it was a place Jon would love. Well, in hindsight, considering the price of gas and the amount of time it took to get way up the huge mountain, and the throwing up by the youngest getting car sick, it wasn't necessarily worth saving the money on the apartment lol. However, it was absolutely beautiful and Jon did love the place we stayed. Our only complaint was we had to wait for the woman that spoke English to come check us out, and it took over 20 minutes waiting for her. However, watching the moon rise from behind the mountain after the kids went to bed was amazing.

Tuesday morning, our plan was to leave at 8am. Because of kids, we went to check out at 8:15 and didn't get to check out until after 8:35. We headed back down the mountain, this time having two girls get car sick from the crazy roads. Then we headed to Turin, Italy. We learned earlier in the year that the Shroud of Turin was going to be on display. If you don't know what this is, it is the cloth they believe Jesus was wrapped in when he was buried in the tomb. I'm not positive if it is or not, but either way, going to it made me consider what Jesus did, and imagine the Crucifixion in a way I had not previously done. The Shroud rarely gets put on display, but Pope Francis asked that it be displayed this year, and well, if the Pope asks... So we got to go see it! 

Our appointment was for 1:30 pm. We arrived and walked first to the Basilica of St. Don Bosco (Basilica of Our Lady Help of Christians). When we walked in, Mass was taking place. It was during the Gospel reading, so we decided to stay for the Mass instead of looking around during Mass. At the end, we headed in to the Reliquary. I have never seen so many relics in all my life. According to wikipedia there are 6,000 relics! A relic is something that belonged to a Saint. They also had several of St. John Bosco's relics- His prayer book, his rosary, scapular, etc. We also got to see a wax statue that after later research I believe held his incorrupt remains. 

The sideways relics of St. John Bosco because I can't figure out flipping pictures again...

The wax body

Then we headed for the Basilica where the Shroud was on display. We arrived a bit early, and there was a food area, so we went to use the bathrooms and grab a bite to eat. After waiting in line with the kids for 20 min for the bathroom, we got in to discover they were the lovely hole-in-the-ground toilet, and we all decided we didnt have to go that bad. I just can't. Jon was grabbing food for us, which was this fried pastry ball thing with rice, cheese and ham in it. It was weird at first, but by the end, we all really liked it.

We headed in to the Shroud exhibit. A friend had recommended taking our stroller, as there was a stroller/wheelchair lane. If you know me, I NEVER travel with a stroller in Europe. In fact, I was frustrated walking through Turin with it. I just throw the toddler in a baby carrier. But this time, I listened to my friend and was SO THANKFUL! Right after we got in line, a man came up and asked if it was just the 6 of us. He pulled us and sent us down the side and we passed hundreds of people that were in groups of about 50, and just passed and passed and passed them. It was amazing, especially having 4 little ones with us. We were so grateful for the stroller line and to be alone! 

After all the lines, we went in to a room where a video was shown to us. It was very well done, with an image of the shroud and they would show one part of it, and explain what it was in 6 different languages ("the head", "blood from the crown of thorns", etc). When we got inside the church itself to see the Shroud, they also let us go to the very front because of the little kids, so they could see. We had about 2 minutes in front of the Shroud, where they said a prayer before the Shroud in Italian, and we had the chance to look at it and think about what Jesus had done for us. It was not this huge, glorious, hear-the-angels-sing moment, but it was still very surreal and I'm glad we went. I hope the older three remember it for ages to come.

After this, we headed back to the car and began our three hour drive to Levanto, Italy. The toddler had fallen asleep, so we refused to stop extra and were able to make it with just one quick stop. We parked our car at the beach, walked to where we were suppose to pick up the key, then he walked us through the small village to the apartment. It was an amazing apartment and very large for what I was expecting! I loved that it had a washing machine, to wash the clothes that had gotten thrown up on, and to wash beach clothes! The shower didn't drain very well, probably due to the beach sand and rocks, but that was the only thing even slightly wrong with it. I promised the kids that after grabbing a bite to eat, we'd walk down and check out the beach, but not swim. What was I thinking??

"You can step in it but dont get all wet"

What was I thinking lol??

We headed to bed, and got up early the next morning. We were here to see the 5 villages of Cinque Terre. As tripadvisor says, this area is named for the 5 towns of Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore on the Mediterranean Sea, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (We keep adding these to our list of things we've seen!) We went and paid for our apartment and bought our train tickets while there. We headed out for Riomaggiore, the village the furthest away, with plans to hit all but Monterosso on the first day. The villages are all very small, and about a 2-5 minute ride between each. We got to Riomaggiore, walked up above the train station and took in the amazing views. We were going to walk the trail around to the next village, a 30 min walk along a trail on the mountain above the sea, but it was closed because of a rock slide. This proved to be a huge problem later in the day. Then we took an elevator to the top of the village, saw the village church, and walked back down through the village. Jon and I got some fried calimari to snack on and the kids begged for a nutella crepe. Instead, I got them a nutella formaggi (sort of like a pizza crust I guess) They loved it. Score for making them try 2 new foods on vacation! 

On the train to Riomaggiore

Looking down at the marina while near the top of the village of Riomaggiore

The village of Riomaggiore

Then we got on the train to head to the next village, Manarola. Unfortunately, the train passed it and didn't stop! We ended up in Monterosso. Frustrated, we looked to see when the next train going back was. We had to buy new tickets to head back. Waited for about 30-45 minutes, and got on a train to head back. And for some reason, again, it passed the village and we were back in Riomaggiore again!!! I was so mad and frustrated, and so were so many other people on the train. This time, instead of trusting the train schedule, we went and asked the Ticket Information counter. Next train in 45 min. So we had time to kill again. I went and bought my husband some lemoncello (liquor popular in the area) as a peace offering. He laughed. And we finally made it to Manarola after spending way too many hours on the trains. 

This was the town I absolutely did not want to miss. I had seen pictures, and they were beautiful, but I knew seeing it would be even more beautiful, and it was. We walked down the steep hill from the train station to the water. I bought everyone gellato to make up for all the train rides, and we decided to take the trail along the coast to the next village while eating gellato. We saw several people walking back and realized that that trail must really be open. As we walk around away from the village, there is a beautiful cove where people are diving off the rocks and swimming. I wanted to swim there so desperately, but we didn't bring our suits that day. Unfortunately, as we walked part of the way, the trail was indeed closed, but we were able to see the next village from the trail. We then found a small park, and took a 30 minute rest to let the kids play and have some kid time. By this time, we were all done, and ended up skipping Vernazza and Corniglia, There is no way I could convince anyone else, and I realized it's just part of traveling. :)

Manarola

Eating Gelato. Just behind my husband's head, you can see the trail that we started to take to walk to the
next village. Above his head is the playground where we let the kids play for a while.

Such a cool and beautiful village!

The gorgeous cove where people were swimming.

We headed back to the apartment, ate dinner, and went to the beach to swim for an hour or two. That helped make up for the day. Our apartment was across the street and down the sidewalk to the beach. The first night we went, we took back so much sand and rocks. The second night, I suggested going up to the restarant and bar areas, and seeing if there was a shower. I was so glad we did! Going home was much better after everyone rinsed off haha.

After the 2nd night at the beach, I changed my Thursday plans. We were going to go to Monterosso and spend the day on the beach there. However, I realized the beach by our apartment was just as great, without having to take the train back all dirty. So we took the ferry in to Monterosso and spent the morning there. 

It was Corpus Christi, the Feast of the Holy Eucharist and a Holy Day of Obligation in Italy (celebrated on Thursday in Italy and Sunday in US parishes), so we had found out in advance that there was a Mass at 11am. We arrived in plenty of time to the village. Unfortunately, we didn't look to see where the Church was on a map. We figured the village was suppose to be pretty small that it'd be easy to find a church. We found one, which wasn't the one we planned to go to, but the sign on the door said Mass at 11. Unfortunately, by 11:10, there still was not Mass. We guessed that there was only daily Mass at one of the Catholic Churches, and we were at the wrong one. So we found another playground, and let the kids play while we grabbed some Italian croissants to snack on. Then we headed to the beach part of Monterosso, and ate lunch at the train station. Funny, I would normally never eat at a train station, but this wasn't what I expected at all. It was on the second floor, open and breezy, right near the water, and the best fried cod and calamari I've had since living in Europe. We were very happy with the meal we ate out. We took the train back, changed in to our beach gear, and spent the afternoon hanging out on the beach.

Beaches of Monterosso

train station lunch

Train station lunch with my Sangria and a sleeping baby and Jon's latte.

On Friday morning, we got up and made the 12 hour drive home. It's an 8 hour drive per google, but when you add in an hour stau and kids, potty breaks, food breaks, etc. it adds up. As do the tolls, gas, etc. For anyone curious to make a similar trip, between the €40 vignette in Switzerland, the €50 tunnel toll*, and the Italian/Swiss gas prices, we spent approximately €280 on those things. If we were going to just Cinque Terre, we could have flown Ryan Air to Pisa for less. But since we were going to see the Shroud, driving worked for our large family. 

Overall, we had an absolutely wonderful time. I think I did a decent job of planning something for each of us to make us all happy on this vacation, which is somewhat difficult at times for 6 people. 

*This was round trip tunnel fee on the way to Turin. I think it was €30 something for one way. Unfortunately, we didn't use it round trip, and came back through Lake Como since we came from Levanto instead of Turin and there was no tunnel. 

**I put links, prices, complaints, etc because I often share these posts with other people in the area.