By VANESSA GERA
Associated Press Writer
Tens of thousands of Poles bade farewell to President Lech Kaczynski on Sunday at a state funeral filled with pomp, pride and an outpouring of patriotism that his divisive and unpopular leadership had never generated.
Mourners applauded and chanted "We thank you!" as the caskets bearing Kaczynski and his wife, Maria, were carried slowly past pale-toned Renaissance buildings for burial among kings and poets in the ancient Wawel Cathedral.
"Poles finally appreciate him," said Ryszard Stolarski, 56, one of many weeping mourners. "I never imagined that Poland would honor Kaczynski in this way."
Many world leaders, including President Barack Obama, could not be there because their travel plans were wrecked by the enormous plume of volcanic ash that blanketed Europe.
The funeral came eight days after the Polish air force Tupolev 154 crashed on approach to Smolensk, Russia. The worst tragedy to strike Poland since World War II killed the first couple and 94 other people, including top civilian and military leaders.
In some ways the tragedy, and Russia's response to it, appear to have begun the long process of finally healing wounds that have soured the two nations' relations for decades.
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