With World Youth Day week coming to an end, we started our day by celebrating our final mass at the university as Bus 11 at 8am. We departed the university in Kraków and headed off for a short bus ride to the shrine of St. John Paul II. It had only been recently built and some of it had not yet been finished. In this shrine, we were able to appreciate the different paintings that depicted St. John Paul II's life in the years when he was a pope.
This was followed by a half hour drive to Wadowice. This town is very significant in the life of St. John Paul II as it was the town where he grew up. He left the town when he was 18 and went to Kraków.
During our short stop, we were able to enjoy a 'Kremowka' which is a small cream filled cake that is famous for that fact that it was St. John Paul II's favourite cake. Many of us tried the cake and thoroughly enjoyed it.
We also visited the Basilica where St. John Paul II was baptised which was absolutely immaculate, and we were in awe with its beauty.
We got back on the bus and travelled only a few minutes down the road to a restaurant where we devoured a lovely Polish lunch with soups and different types of meat. We then continued the long drive to Zakopane with minor pit stops along the way...
Finally!!! After a long day of travelling, we arrived in Zakopane. We put our bags into our rooms, and headed downstairs to dinner. We met up with all the other bus groups who also travelled the same journey as us. Our bus grip commenced the retreat program in the evening; where we reflected on the past 2 weeks of what has been a very busy pilgrimage. We were then able to chill and relax after the long journey that we had!