New site for the travel updates

Www.blog.travelpod.com/members/suek287

New blog page

As I said earlier, I am having some problems with downloading picks on this blog so I have set up another page that my technology seems happier with. Check it out, let me know if it is family and friend friendly. Thanks.here it is: blog.travelpod.com/members/suek287

We're in Krakow

We made it ! I took a bunch of pics tha I was going to post but my I pod and I are having an argument in how to do it. Hoping to get that problem ironed out. We are all quite glad to be off airplanes. Are getting settled in at the Divine Mercy Pilgrimage House. Will blog more later.

Poland weather for 29 May

2 more sleeps!

It's getting close. Doing laundry, some packing and taking care of some of the details. Have looked at the weather forecasts for Poland. Looks fairly decent.-I have a mental"to do list" playing on a continuous loop.-laundry,kitty litter boxes,packing, clean out pots beside front door, dishwasher....laundry,kitty litter boxes... remember passport....

10 days to go !

I am getting really excited ! 10 more days and we will be on our way. Got my lit of things to do and things to buy. As always, I will never get everything done that I intend to but the important stuff always seems to get done. Here's the itinerary for the trip: Day1: May 27th Monday, 2013: Vancouver/Frankfurt Board your Lufthansa overnight flight to Frankfurt. Dinner & breakfast will be served en route. Day 2: May 28th Tuesday, 2013: Frankfurt/Krakow - Touch down at Frankfurt International Airport. After entry formalities, connect with your flight to Krakow. You will be met at the airport by your Tour Manager (Mr. Jan Milencki) and transferred to Lagiewniki Pilgrimage house. After checking in there is time to unwind and relax before dinner. Day 3, May 29th Wednesday, 2013: Krakow City tour - Open buffet breakfast - Mass at the Shrine - Guided tour of Wawel & Cathedral including the States room (Entrance fee included) - Walk along Kanonisza street pausing at building 21 “Deanery” one of Krakow’s finest buildings, but also the house where Pope John Paul II resided at while living in Krakow - 11.45am Visit the Mariacki Church (Entrance fee included) and participate in the opening of the Wit Stwosz altar - Lunch on your own - Continue to Kazmierz quarter where Schindler’s List was filmed, visiting the Church of St. Stanislaw on the Rock, Poland’s second most important pilgrimage shrine. Late afternoon at leisure. - Dinner at the Pilgrimage House. (3 Course menu) - Overnight Lagiewniki. Day 4, May 30th Thursday, 2013: Kalwaria/Wadowice/Auschwitz/Lagiewniki - Open buffet breakfast. - After breakfast, drive to Kalwaria-Zebrzydowska, the only Calvary on the UNESCO list and the only place to combine a sanctuary for the passion of Christ and a Shrine for a miraculous image of the Blessed Virgin. - Continue to Wadowice – hometown of John Paul II and his childhood home which is now a museum and the Church of the Presentation of the Virgin Mary where he was baptized. - Visit Pope’s home turned into a museum (Entrance fee included) - Mass at a local Church - Lunch on your own. - Depart for Auschwitz, the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz (included) where millions were killed during World War II including St. Maximillian Kolbe who starved after volunteering his life for that of a fellow prisoner. - Arrive Auschwitz – guided tour of the camp. - Return to the Pilgrimage house of the Divine Mercy - Dinner at the Pilgrimage house, (3 Course menu) - Overnight Lagiewniki. Day 5, May 31st, Friday, 2013: Lagiewniki/Tyniec/Wieliczka - Open buffet breakfast. - Morning visit to Kameduli Monastery at Bielany (Women cannot enter the complex – except Sunday and only at the Church). - On to Tyniec. - Visit the Benedictine Monastery. - Mass at the Monastery (subject to confirmation) - Lunch on your own. - Continue to Wieliczka to visit Europe’s oldest salt mine (Entrance fee included) which has been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The mines are a unique place where many generations of Polish miners have created a world of underground chambers and decorated chapels carved out of salt including the famous Chapel of St. Kinga - Guided tour of the Salt Mines - Return to the Pilgrimage house of Divine Mercy. - Dinner at the Pilgrimage house. (3 Course menu) - Overnight Lagiewniki. Day 6, June 1st Saturday, 2013: Lagiewniki/Czestochowa - Open buffet breakfast. - Check out of the Pilgrimage House. - This morning we will visit the Divine Mercy Shrine in Lagiewniki, where Saint Faustina, the Apostle of Divine Mercy, lived and died. Enjoy a guided tour of the shrine. - Celebrate Mass at the Chapel. - Depart to Czestochowa. - Lunch on your own. - Guided tour (included) of the Shrine to see the Black Madonna Shrine and the Treasury Room where you will see an impressive collection of many precious gifts received by the monastery throughout the ages, and some free time at the Shrine. - Check into the hotel. - Dinner at the hotel. (3 Course menu) - Overnight Czestochowa. Day 7, June 2nd Sunday, 2013: Czestochowa/Wroclaw - Open buffet breakfast. - Check out of the hotel. - Mass at the Jasna Gora Monastery. - Continue to Wroclaw. - Lunch on your own. - Afternoon visit to the Panorama of Raclawice (Entrance fee included) a monumental cycloramic painting depicting the Battle of Raclawice. The painting is one of only a few preserved relics of a genre of 19th century mass culture, and the oldest in Poland. - Guided tour of Wroclaw including the Old Town seeing Bernadine Church and Monastery, Cathedral, and the Town Hall. - Continue to Ostrow Tumski and Piaskek Island with churches, bridges, Cathedrals and narrow alleys. - Check into the hotel. - Dinner at the hotel (3 Course menu) - Overnight Wroclaw. Day 8, June 3rd Monday, 2013: Wroclaw/Poznan - Open buffet breakfast - Check out of the hotel. - Depart to Poznan. - En route we will stop to visit the Salvatorian Fathers’ Seminary at Bagno (near Oborniki Slaskie) - Continue to Trzebnica visiting the Basilica of St. Jadwiga - Mass at the Church - Lunch on your own - Continue To Poznan - Check into the hotel - Evening at leisure - Dinner at the hotel - Overnight Poznan. Day 9, June 4th Tuesday, 2013: Poznan/Lichen - Open buffet at the hotel. - Check out from hotel. - Panoramic tour of Poznan to visit Ostrow Tumski, Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul (Entrance fee included), Town Hall, Old Market. - Lunch on your own. - On to Lichen, probably the second famous sanctuary, after Czestochowa. This Marian shrine is devoted to the Virgin Mary in Poland. - Check into the Pilgrimage House. - Dinner at the Pilgrimage House. (3 Course menu) - Overnight Lichen. Day 10, June 5th Wednesday, 2013: Lichen - Breakfast at the pilgrimage house. - After breakfast mass at the Basilica of Lichen. - Day at leisure. - Dinner at the pilgrimage house. (3 Course menu) - Overnight Lichen. Day 11, June 6th, Thursday, 2013: Lichen/ Plock/ Niepokalonow/ Warsaw - Breakfast at the Pilgrimage house. - Check out. - Depart for Płock to visit the convent where Sr. Faustina lived in 1931. It is here, that Jesus appeared to her bringing the wonderful message of Mercy for all of the mankind and asking her to “paint a picture according to the image that you see.” Faustina arranged to have the vision painted into the picture with the inscription “Jesus, I trust in You!” - 12:30 we celebrate Holy Mass. - Lunch on your own. - On to Niepokalanow Sanctuary and the Franciscan Monastery linked with St. Maximilian Maria Raymond Kolbe - a martyr from the death camp in Auschwitz. Meet the priest from the Niepokalanow Sanctuary who will explain to us the story of St. Kolbe and take us through the museum. - On to Warsaw. - Check into your hotel. - Dinner at the hotel. (3 Course menu) - Overnight Warsaw. Day 12, June 7th, Friday, 2013: Warsaw - Buffet breakfast at the hotel. - After breakfast, Visit St. Stanislaw Kostka Church, burial place of Beatified Fr. Popiulszko - Mass at the Church. - Tour of Jewish Ghetto. - On to the Old Town and tour of the Old Town including Market Place, Barbican, Cathedral, Market Square and Sigmund Square. - Start a guided tour of the Royal Palace (Entrance fee included). - Lunch on your own. - Royal Route and a visit to Lazienki Park with its enchanting gardens, Chopin monument and Palace on the Water. - Dinner at a local restaurant in Warsaw. - Return to the hotel. - Overnight Warsaw. Day 13, June 8th, Saturday, 2013: Warsaw - Open buffet breakfast - After breakfast carry on to Wilanow. - Guided tour of the Wilanow Palace & gardens. (Entrance fee included) - Mass at a local church. - Return to the hotel - Lunch on your own. - Afternoon at leisure. - Dinner at the hotel. (3 Course menu) - Overnight Warsaw. Day 14, June 9th, Sunday, 2013: Departure - Early morning departure for the airport for the flight to Frankfurt and connecting flight to Vancouver. ╺ Hotels: ╺ Lagiewniki: Pilgrimage house Dom Duszpasterski or similar www.milosierdzie.pl. ╺ Wroclaw: Scandic Wroclaw 4* or similar www.scandichotels.com ╺ Czestochowa: Hotel Mercure Patria 3* or similar www.accor.com ╺ Lichen: Pilgrimage house Arka or similar www.arka.lichen.pl ╺ Warsaw: Hotel Novotel Centrum 4* or similar www.accor.com