Our last stop on our two-month journey across Europe is Krakow, Poland. The Main Square in Krakow was one of our favorite city squares on our trip. We got to see a castle on the river and explore an Easter Market.
We were at Krakow during over Easter weekend, which was a really interesting time to be in Poland and a very interesting timing for the ending of our trip.
We had a weird decision to make heading into Krakow. Most things, like everything basically, was going t be closed on Easter Sunday. But we heard about this amazing Easter tradition called Smygus Dingus (no, really) wherein residents of Krakow celebrate resurrection by dousing each other with water – water guns, buckets, balloons, cupped hands, whatever it takes. The idea of getting to participate in a cultural festival was almost too good to pass up.
There was only one problem: Monday was the day we had been planning to visit Auschwitz and we didn’t want to miss that extremely meaningful, albeit heartbreaking, experience.
Long story short, we decided to go to Auschwitz and I will say more about that in the next blog. But we also came back to the Main Square and searched for some Smygus Dingus activities. We were a little disappointed with the latter, but the whole situation reminded me of a very important lesson before we headed home.
Life is a choice. And it isn’t always as straightforward or as exclusive as we imagine. We went to Auschwitz and it was a different experience than I was prepared for (next blog promo) but we also went to the Square and celebrated our last evening on this crazy journey.
I’ll never forget the last picture we took in Europe, Kylie jumping into my arms with a Krakow church in the background. We had been to one of the most terrible places in history that morning but were celebrating with thankfulness that evening.
Life is confusing and all over the place. Our Europe trip, just like that last day, was not always easy. I told a friend recently that even though Kylie and I struggled at some points to love each other well, I wouldn’t trade it for anything because we had to fight through it, figure things out together, and in the end, we love each other well by overcoming our failures at loving well. If that makes any sense.
It is even more appropriate for this metaphor that it was Easter weekend, a time of complicated mourning and celebration. I’ve come to believe that mourning and celebration are not opposite, but a strange sort of cousins.
This is what Krakow will forever represent to me. It is Wawel Castle and Schindler’s workshop; legends about dragons and horrid realities of the Jewish ghetto. Death, burial, and resurrection. Our Lord’s story isn’t complete without all three. How can I expect that my story will be complete without all three as well?
