Easter in Poland

We got back yesterday from spending a the long Easter weekend in Krakow, Poland. We've only been to Poland one other time and that was to Gdansk. We loved Gdansk and had heard from friends and read in books that Poland was awesome. It lived up to all that and more. The people are so warm, friendly and helpful. The food was really good and surprisingly international. The history and architecture were amazing and also heartbreaking. I'll write several posts with pictures from each day. I'd say the most surprising thing to me about Poland is how religious (specifically Catholic) it is. We checked out a bunch of churches and because it was the holiday weekend they were packed. Not normal religious holiday packed, but more packed than I've ever seen a church. On Good Friday we went into a church where there were at least 8 priests hearing confessions and there was a line that was 150-200 people long waiting to whisper their sins, say their Hail Mary's, and have their souls be clean as a whistle. One of our taxi drivers said over the weekend most people would go to church on Good Friday, twice on Saturday (the morning was a mass and breakfast), on Easter, and then again on Monday.

Our hotel was right across the street from a seminary and I have never seen so many young, good looking guys in dresses in my life. I Googled the Krakow seminary later and learned that one of Poland's biggest exports is priests. Most people know that the Catholic church is very short on new priests and I learned that for every 100 working priests, Poland is training just over 22 to take their place. Compare this to Italy, which I expected to have a higher number, but they are training just half that amount, with 11 priests in training for every 100 currently ordained.

Here are some pictures of the main square which is one of the main attractions when coming to Krakow. Also, there is a picture of me with the best Cesaer salad I've had since moving to Europe. Who'd have thought I would find it in Poland!