Tuesday, August 16, 2005
Three days, over 80 kilometers walked. Thankfully, Poland is remarkably flat; even though I didn't have real sneakers, my yuppy tigers kept my dogs to a low whimper.
Day 1: Wasosz to Rogi, 26 km. We left Rudnik at 3 am to make it to Wasosz in time for the start of that days trek, and to meet up with our group . Six days before pilgrims had left from Warsaw, Rzeszow, Wroclaw, and other cities; our band of 180 was part of a larger Warsaw pilgrimage that traveled as a pack, and that numbered in the thousands. And so we walked, and walked, and walked....our contact and den mother was a nun from Rudnik who was traveling with a group of kids from the orphanage she runs. Aside from the fact the kids were awesome and pretty hilarious, the nun herself has quite the story: born in a concentration camp, she was given to a Polish family because doctors thought her mother and twin sister wouldn't survive the birth. But survive they did, and when the war ended four days later, they moved to Germany and then the US. The nun didn't learn until she was in her forties that she had a twin sister. The sister had even written the concentration camp to contact her, but when the nun wrote the new york address she received no reply. Finding her long lost sister would, supposedly, take a minimum of 5 years. But with the help of a casual conversation and a friend of a friend, she was put in contact with her twin in less than 24 hours- and they were reunited for their 50th birthdays, 50 years after they were separated at birth.
If that wasn't enough, the nun had taken her vows the same hour (even accounting for the time difference) of the same day her twin sister had gotten married.
Day 2: Rogi to Dabek, 33 km. The best part of the day was when we passed a thoroughly confused cow who just stared at the procession, and thoughtfully turned his head back and forth watching the people go by. Until the REALLY best part of the day, which was Odeviz and I and the kids getting to sleep in a hayloft. Hay EVERYWHERE. so cool.
Day 3: Dabek to Jasna Gora, 27 km, plus hours and hours creeping up the main street of C-towa, because over a 100,000 people came to see the Black Madonna, the painting in the Jasna Gora monastery which is the ending point.
Day 1: Wasosz to Rogi, 26 km. We left Rudnik at 3 am to make it to Wasosz in time for the start of that days trek, and to meet up with our group . Six days before pilgrims had left from Warsaw, Rzeszow, Wroclaw, and other cities; our band of 180 was part of a larger Warsaw pilgrimage that traveled as a pack, and that numbered in the thousands. And so we walked, and walked, and walked....our contact and den mother was a nun from Rudnik who was traveling with a group of kids from the orphanage she runs. Aside from the fact the kids were awesome and pretty hilarious, the nun herself has quite the story: born in a concentration camp, she was given to a Polish family because doctors thought her mother and twin sister wouldn't survive the birth. But survive they did, and when the war ended four days later, they moved to Germany and then the US. The nun didn't learn until she was in her forties that she had a twin sister. The sister had even written the concentration camp to contact her, but when the nun wrote the new york address she received no reply. Finding her long lost sister would, supposedly, take a minimum of 5 years. But with the help of a casual conversation and a friend of a friend, she was put in contact with her twin in less than 24 hours- and they were reunited for their 50th birthdays, 50 years after they were separated at birth.
If that wasn't enough, the nun had taken her vows the same hour (even accounting for the time difference) of the same day her twin sister had gotten married.
Day 2: Rogi to Dabek, 33 km. The best part of the day was when we passed a thoroughly confused cow who just stared at the procession, and thoughtfully turned his head back and forth watching the people go by. Until the REALLY best part of the day, which was Odeviz and I and the kids getting to sleep in a hayloft. Hay EVERYWHERE. so cool.
Day 3: Dabek to Jasna Gora, 27 km, plus hours and hours creeping up the main street of C-towa, because over a 100,000 people came to see the Black Madonna, the painting in the Jasna Gora monastery which is the ending point.
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