Germany

We left Switzerland and headed for Nurnberg. I had no idea what we were going there for, but Greg said it was home to some important WWII sights. I soon learned that Nurnberg was the city where the Nazis held their war rallies. We saw huge stadiums and parks, all of which was built and devoted to causing hype and excitement over Hitler and his power. I learned a ton of WWII history, and even enjoyed myself in the process!

From Nurnberg we went to Eisenach. Why would we go there? Well we wanted to visit the Wartburg Castle - the place where Martin Luther hid when he was excommunicated from the Catholic church. Not only did we see that, we also saw Luther's house AND the place of Johann Sebastian Bach's birth. Bach's birth house is a huge museum - tons of info from his life and music. They even had a section explaining polyphony, urtext scores, and more.

We made a quick stop in Dresden, especially to see the Frauenkirche. This was once a very old, Lutheran church until it got bombed during WWII. It sat in ruins for years until 1992 when the two decided to rebuild it. They used as many of the old stones in the building of the new church, each of which is visible on the exterior of the church. Next on the list of German cities was Leipzig. Yet another city of music. I went to Bach's house and to Mendelssohn's house. A highlight was visiting St. Thomas Church: Luther preached there, it turned Lutheran after that, then Bach came along and worked there for 27 years. It is quite a place of history and I enjoyed every moment.

We made another quick stop in Wittenberge, being the good Lutheran's that we are. The Luther museum was excellent - we enjoyed seeing Cranich paintings and woodcuts, and some of the original versions of Luther's German bible. We also saw the place where Luther burned his bull of excommunication. And, of course, we saw the castle church where Luther nailed his 95 thesis.

Now we are in Berlin. We have been here four days and have only scratched the surface of what can be seen here. War is a much more present, real topic in this city. You can easily see places where the destruction of war happened. The Berlin wall, although no longer physically here, continues to have a presence that effects the majority of the city. We've visited churches, synagogues, wall sights, museums, and monuments, all of which have been very good. I really enjoyed seeing the East Side Gallery: a section of the Berlin wall now under monument status because of the art that was painted on it shortly after the fall of the wall.

That is the quick German update. We eat allot of wurst, normally drink more than 2 liters of beer a day, and ride the Metro everywhere we go because the city is so big. Off to Hamburg tomorrow and then back to the Netherlands!