Easter & Poland

Easter Brunch with host family the ladies have cooked and baked all week without eating any of it. They fast from eggs, meat, fish and milk products during lent, in the  orthodox faith.They fast and have a lot of rules that we may have had when i was growing up. I don't see the catholic faith doing now. 

Easter bread made with eggs and milk in the shape of a cross on the top. This bread is taken to the monastery or basilica at 11:30pm and the people pray until 4am when the priest blesses the food (a basket with bread, red eggs, some meat, house wine and food that will be eaten at the Easter meal. We got up at 3:15 to walk to the monastery. As we were walking many people were walking back already. I asked the kids if service was over and they said no. But, when we got here it was over! So we had a lovely walk in early morning of Easter.  It was cloudy so we didn't see the full moon either.

School was on vacation now for a week and a Monday so Tom and I headed to Chisinau to catch a plane to go and visit Poland. We had a flight to Warsaw and then we trained down to Krakow.

 We belong to a group called Couchsurfers where you request to stay with people in their home and they host you for a day or 2.  It is a site that you have to fill out a profile for and then people look at your profile agree or turn down your request.  We were invited to stay with a young woman from Krakow in her apartment for the week.  She is a law student and her girlfriend is studying to be a chef for the family restaurant in Krakow. Joasia made us traditional Polish foods, helped us buy our tickets, came on the bus with us when we went to the thermal springs on the Slovakia border, told us of great places to go and the times to go to avoid crowds, where free events were in the city, she was wonderful and witty and a lot of fun and spoke Polish which is the 3 most difficult language in the world as well as English. . We understood nothing in Polish, Joasia was a gift!!!    

Below you will see random pictures taken in Krakow on very cold days with freezing rain and snow. 

 Central square of old town inside the city gate, St Mary's Church behind where a trumpet is played to mark the hour from all four directions of the tower. Below is the church of the 12 apostles.

 Memorial to the king who united Poland in the 13 or 1400's, and below is the Warwal castle. Krakow was not hit by bombs in the
                 II World War so the old stuff is old stuff

 This is one of the few original places of the Jewish district of Krakow. The area use to be slummy but is being re-gentrified and is now restaurants and shops and very clean and cute.

 A bridge connecting the 2 sides of the river Krakow is built on. Below is a photo from the bell tower of Wawal Castle's Cathedral. 

Now we go to Warsaw. The town was completely leveled by bombs during the war, There are a few corners on buildings that are original but not much else.It has been recreated post WWII from paintings done before the war. The history was interesting but not like Krakow. below are the pics from there.

 Any one know who this guy is? Hint he is from Poland, Look at what he holds in his L hand...

 This bench plays Chopin's music they have them in the old (new) district of Warsaw .

 Memorials built by the soviets when they were the occupiers after the war.

 The old central square that is really only 60 years old.

 An Easter display in one of the old churches that I thought was interesting...

 The little mermaid. She and the mermaid in Copenhagen are sisters and both are viewed as protectors of the City they are found in.

 This is a replica wall of the old Warsaw ghetto. And below is the court of justice with a memorial to the Poles that tried to fight the Germans while the Soviets sat across the river and waited to help until the Germans took Warsaw.

 We had one day in Warsaw and then had a 6 hour lay over in Kiev, Ukraine.  The next blog tells of our day in Kiev and then back in Moldova.  Love from Poland... Marc