Krakow. Part One: Milan

Whenever I hear the name Krakow, I think of an old Calvin and Hobbes cartoon where Calvin is sitting in class at school and his teacher asks some question to which the answer is Krakow. She calls on Calvin to answer the question, and he replies, "Krakow" (but you don't see him in the cartoon frame). Well, it turns out that Calvin is imagining that he's doing battle with aliens, and "Krakow" is the sound that his weapon makes when he fires it; he has no idea that he has answered the teacher's question.

So I spent the week of Easter in Krakow, in the southern part of Poland. I traveled with a deacon from Spokane whom I have known for several years now. He will be ordained a priest this June.

We left on Easter Monday morning, bright and early, but almost missed our flight because the taxi was so late in showing up. We arrived at the airport with less than twenty minutes to spare. Because direct flights to Krakow were on the spendy side, we decided to connect in Milan, which saved us a considerable amount of money. The only problem was that we were to have a very long (all day) layover in Milan. We brought books.

Well, arriving in Milan, we decided that it might be worth it (since we had all day) to make the hour-long journey into the city and spend the day there instead of at the airport. So we bought round-trip tickets for the shuttle that travels back and forth between the airport and Milan's central train station.

There wasn't much in Milan that we wanted to see, aside from the Duomo (the main church, or cathedral) which was in the main square. What an impressive structure! It is quite the Gothic structure. There was a bit of scaffolding on the facade, but this photo gives you an idea of what the church looks like from the front.

It was nice to spend a bit of time in the Duomo in prayer, though there were a lot of people milling about. I remembered something I had heard about the tomb of St. Ambrose in Milan, so I asked one of the policemen at the door if he knew where the saint was buried. He directed us to the church of St. Ambrose, a 20-minute walk away. (Interesting, I thought, that the cathedral in Milan was not built at the site of Ambrose's tomb.) The weather was perfect, and aside from having to lug my suitcase through the streets of Milan, the walk was quite pleasant. We arrived at the church of St. Ambrose around noon.

By far the most interesting thing about the church is the tomb of St. Ambrose himself, and when you see the photo, you'll understand why:

Yes, those are skulls. St. Ambrose is entombed in a glass coffin, flanked by saints on either side, and it's just as if they dressed him in his episcopal vestments, laid him in the tomb, and let the centuries take their course. This was the first time I had ever seen a display like this. Even in Rome, where the faithful are accustomed to chopping saints' bones into tiny pieces for the sake of garnering a relic, the bodies that are visible (i.e., in glass coffins or windowed reliquaries) generally have masks over the faces. This was quite impressive.

After a pizza lunch in a local cafeteria, we returned to the church of St. Ambrose, intending to spend some time in prayer there. However (and we expected this), the church was closed for the afternoon meal and nap. So we headed back to the Duomo, where we prayed after walking through the apse of the church (behind the main altar), which had been closed off to visitors when we visited earlier. There is a crypt chapel below the main altar, and the remains of St. Charles Borromeo (a former archbishop of Milan) are contained there.

Now, Easter Monday in Italy is a holiday, so we assumed that the shuttlebus would be operating on the holiday schedule. Therefore, the plan was to take the 4:00 p.m. shuttle back to the airport in order to check in before 5:30. Well, when we arrived at the dock where the shuttle was expected to be waiting for us, we found that the shuttle was not waiting for us, and a bystander said that it had just left, and that it was full. Thinking that it made sense for the bus to leave (because it was already full), we planned on catching the next one at 4:30, which would barely get us there in time.

We boarded the bus at 4:20 and waited patiently. 4:25. 4:28. 4:30. 4:33. 4:35. 4:37. Finally a man sitting in front of us got off the bus and talked to the bus driver, who was chatting outside with someone on the street. When he came back on the bus, he informed us that the bus would not be leaving until 4:45. The ride could take up to an hour, and if we arrived at the airport at 5:45, we would be out of luck. I made the executive decision to take a taxi.

So, we got off the bus and (almost) ran to find a taxi. We found the nearest taxi stand, and I asked one of the cabbies if it would be possible to get to the airport within 45 minutes. "Lo facciamo possibile," he said: "We'll make it possible."

So we sped off. Rather, we tried to speed off. We hit every red light on the way out of the city. I was on edge, thinking we'd never make it to the airport in time, but once we made it to the highway and hit 135 kph (about 80 mph), I started feeling better. The worst part was watching the fare meter spin - it almost made me nauseous!

We made it to the airport on time - with a few minutes to spare, in fact. The meter nearly hit 90 euros, which, in the long run, we were happier to pay than itinerary change fees, hotel fees, etc. When we handed the cabbie the 90 euros, he counted it and said, "It's too much," and handed back 20 euros. We asked if he was sure - we were, after all, very grateful that he made the extra effort to get us to the airport speedily - and he said, "It's for the poor." There are still good people in the world, aren't there!

It was night when we arrived in Krakow, and once we finally found our hotel, we were relieved that the day was finished. They say that vacation is supposed to be relaxing, but when you travel like we did, you have to spend a day or two unwinding from the stress of the trip itself!

More on Krakow to come...