On the road to...the Papal visit

Bartosz holds up a ticket and invitation to attend the visit by Pope Benedict. The invitation asked that you bring a rock and a candle.

After our visit to Auschwitz, we drove back to Bartosz' house and spent a quiet evening checking e-mail and calling home. There is this thing called "Skype", where you can call for free over the internet on your computer. It's pretty cool!

Then it was Saturday. You could feel the excitement in the air everywhere, this was the day that Pope Benedict was making his official visit to Krakow! And WE had tickets (well, we did, and about 500,000 others)...thanks to Bartosz and Magda!

This particular day, I took about 200 pictures, so I am still organizing them and preparing them to post. We began the day at Bartosz' early, since the streets were closed in town. We watched much of the preparation and procession (which we later learned passed right outside our hostel!) on TV. Bartosz showed me the tickets to get in. We then parked close to town and walked - and watched and joined the throngs of people gathering to see their Pope make his first official visit. It was a bit cool and very damp that day but nothing deterred the pilgramage.

We walked among thousands. Most carried flags, indicating their country or their Pope. We spent many hours sitting and waiting, watching the people and singing songs. It was amazing to be part of this very faithful people!

Everyone was preparing...