A Mystical, Medieval Atmosphere

Dzien Dobry! (jyen dobri) means Good Morning or hello. First, let me finish where I left off...we did have a fabulous dinner on Sunday night. When we arrived at the restaurant, we had a table for twelve. In fact, we were the only customers in the restaurant for the entire evening. It felt like we had our own beautiful, private dining room. In the US, if you were the only customers in a restaurant, it would feel like you picked a bad place, but in Europe and many other places, it doesn't seem to be an indicator. Anyway, our food was wonderful and the evening was great.

In the morning, we boarded our bus at 7:30 am for a very full day. Our first stop was the town of Czestochowa, which is pronounced (chestahovia). It is considered to be one of the principal centers for the religious life in Poland. The main attraction in this town is the monastery and church that were built in the 14th century and it is here that the beautiful painting of the Black Madonna is housed. In the Christian world, only Lourdes in France and Guadalupe in Mexico receive more pilgrims. Many people believe that it was a miracle that the Madonna turned black, but in fact it is only because of the candles that are burned in the church. To protect the painting, they make very elaborate, jeweled coverings for the Madonna, so all you can see of the original painting is her face and hand and the face of baby Jesus.

Krczma is the name of the quaint little restaurant that we stopped for lunch. When our meals are part of our tour, it is always a set menu, and then we come along with our "vegetarian condition". Everyone else in our group had Golabki, which is pronounced (go-womb-kee). It was a cabbage roll stuffed with a mixture of pork, beef and rice. Then they had shredded carrots (they are very big on this side dish) and a little cabbage. We had the same two side dishes and our main course was a 5" x 5" block of cheese that had been deep fried! Talk about a cheese stick on steroids. I ate two bites and knew that if I ate anymore, it could be a bad decision. Luckily, Dan and I packed some protein bars for occasions such as this.

After lunch we continued on our day headed for Oswiecim, better known as Auschwitz. As we traveled through the countryside of Poland, I was really struck by how beautiful it all was. The farm houses and buildings were so neatly maintained, and the rolling pastures reminded us all of Wisconsin. What a contrast for what we were about to see.......