Lutherstadt

We made it!! We arrived in Berlin Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. It was a long flight and unfortunately, I couldn't sleep, but I didn't mind! We checked into our hotel and then went to Checkpoint Charlie, which had a museum that we walked through featuring information and displays on the Berlin Wall. It was interesting!! That night we had dinner in our hotel. The food is pretty good over here!! We had this noodle looking thing and some beef tips. I tried German beer and was not a fan, but I am not generallý a beer fan anyway! The next day we got up and went to the Dietriech Bonhoeffer archives and listened to a man speak about Bonehoeffer. It was a very interesting speech!! We then went to the American Church in Berlin and talked to the pastor there, who used to be Pastor at Nazareth Lutheran Church in Cedar Falls. The church there was beautiful, with scenes of Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms on the outside and a statue of Martin Luther as well on the church. It also had some stained glass windows depicting scenes from the Bible with a little plaque either underneath it or beside it with the Bible verse it depicts written in German (and luckily in English as well). There was a really interesting window with an eye behind and above the altar, and someone asked about it and Pastor Ben said that some people want to get rid of that window...some see it as the eye of God watching down on God's children, which would be a comforting thought, however, some people still see the eye of Hitler, which undoubtedly would be disturbing. It's sad that Hitler still affects people today in that way, especially in a place where most people find hope, peace, and security.

After the church visit, we went on a tour of Berlin. That city is gorgeous and we saw a lot of cool things. My favorite was the Berlin Cathedral, which was huge and beautiful! If I ever figure out how to post pictures, I will definately post one of it! We also saw a memorial of all the Jewish people that lost their lives in the Holocaust. There were tons of stone blocks of all different sizes and at different heights, to give a feeling of disorientation, which was the point, to make us feel disoriented, which is a representation of what the Jews must have felt during the Holocaust. We also saw the Brandeberg Gate, and not too far from there, for all you pop culture fans, is the hotel where Michael Jackson held a baby over the balcony and had pictures splashed all over the tabloids. Just an interesting bit of non historical info.

After the tour we traveled to Wittenburg, the home of the Castle Church, where Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses. I am so excited to be here, it has so much Lutherán history and the historical section, called Lutherland, is beautiful!! That is all I have for now..I will write more when we visit the Castle Church and the monastery given to Luther and Katie as a wedding gift by Frederíck the Wise's brother. Until then...stay tuned for more!! :)