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Day 3, Thursday, June 15th

Prague, Wroclaw, Warsaw

We journeyed by bus through the Czech countryside, crossed over into Poland and kept driving. I had no idea that the rules and regulations for the bus drivers were so strict. We had two drivers on this section of the journey since it was so long. And we got pulled over at the border into Poland to check the vehicle and give the drivers sight and hearing tests. We all wondered if they did this with everyone coming into Poland or if the fact that we were 44 people from the United States and we were being harassed had a part in this temporary setback.

They drivers can only driver so many hours in one day and then they need rest on the following day. I can understand it all since our safety was in their hands. The second driver left at that time. Stayed at the very modern Novotel Centrum in Warsaw. We arrived around 8:30 pm when our scheduled arrival time had been more like 7:00 pm.

Because of the time delay at the border we did not stop in Wroclaw at the university there, but instead, kept driving. We were all very tired at the end of this travel day.

Day 4, Friday, June 16th
Warsaw and Neapokalanow

In the morning we visited the picturesque residence of the Polish monarchy. It had all been rebuilt since much of Poland was destroyed during World War II. This palace had such beautiful wooden inlaid floors all with at least two different kinds of wood. One floor had nine kinds of wood in it! Again we saw everything except the kitchen! LOL! We then traveled to Lazienki Park, the summer home of the king.

We had just walked all over the wooden inlaid floors at the palace, but here we had to put on slippers to walk on marble. Go figure? We had to take them off to come down the steps, and then had to put them back on over our shoes as we finished the summer tour. To me, the most interesting thing about these two residences was that in the public palace there were many references, saying, murals, etc. to the Catholic faith, but in the private summer residence at the park (beside a man-made lake) the art depicted more the gods of love as well as other pagan figures. There was also an interesting display of the seasons of one's life: childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age. I guess we have to remember that their life spans were much shorter than ours today.

We had lunch on our own and then traveled to St. Maximillian Kolbe's location with simple one story buildings. It really is a self-sufficient little town. The little chapel where we had Mass was a simple wooden structure -- nothing fancy at all. Mistakenly some of us went into the basilica that has been built there -- the Immaculate Conception Basilica. Another spacious and beautiful church although the outside architecture was more modern.

The story of Father Kolbe's decision to form a media ministry was one that caused grief for his superiors in Poland, but on the other hand, one that reached millions of readers in Poland. One of the publications or holy cards that I collected there talked about St. Maximillian Kolbe being named the saint of the Internet. Very appropriate in my estimation since he moved his Militia Immaculata to Japan and started publishing there. He had plans to also move on to India, but World War II interrupted those plans.

I would recommend the book "A Man for Others" by Patricia Treece that is a very readable biography of his life. (I am reading it now.) He suffered in silence most of his life and then gave his life for another person at Auschwitz. More about that