For some reason this portion of yesterday’s post, did not post. Here it is again.
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The next morning we are in Gdansk, Poland. This is one of Poland’s most beautiful cities – the Jewel of the Baltic. The Solidarity movement led by Lec Wolensa in the 1980s at the Gdansk shipyards established the right of workers to establish their own unions. With Pope JPII’s patient leadership and prayers, Poland became free of Soviet control in 1990. I understand Poland’s current government is anti-migrant and pro-Catholic faith – an oxymoron it seems.
We are shuttled into town. We find St Mary’s Basilica, the largest brick church in the world. It is under renovation and it is too early to do the tour. We walk through the gorgeous long wide cobble stone street lined with outdoor cafes, flowers and little shops. Wow, absolutely beautiful. We find an ATM and get some Zloties. The tee shirts are about $17CDN so not to expensive. We stalk up on gifts for the family.
We head back to St Mary’s and climb the 90m high tower through first a spiral and then a wider staircase. The views of Gdansk form the top are stunning on this sunny day. We made it – over 300 steps up and then down again! We love Poland – its people, its food, its perseverance, its faith!
We stop for tea. Then walk thru amber jewellery store lined streets. Amber comes from Russia next door but it is traded here in vast quantities. A few more photos before we walk across the pedestrian draw bridge to the shuttle. Plan to take it easy the rest of the day as we cruise out-of-town.
We meet Jack and his wife Cammy from Leesburg for a drink and make plans to cruise to the Holy Land together. We have dinner next to some Japanese. I ask one of them if they could take our photo and if they know how to take a picture on my camera. Her answer is “I am Japanese”. The world is a ghetto!
Jesu ufam tobie. Jesus I trust in you. St. Faustina pray for us.
mattersofthemoment 