A Weekend to Remember

We went to Berlin last weekend to meet up with some fellow members of our church back home, Holy Cross Lutheran Church.  They were on a tour of Germany and we were able to join them for the week-end in Berlin.  We arrived a day early and decided to take a fat tire bike tour.  The tour was fun and informative.  We saw many hidden places in Berlin that were reminders of WWII that we would probably not have noticed or found on our own.

We stopped by this old section of the Berlin Wall that still remains.  

We also stopped by the Reichstag - Germany's Parliment building.

This is a picture of a Memorial of Murdered Jews.  There is a museum underneath this memorial which was emotional to view due to the pictures of how Jews were taken away to concentration camps and how they were treated.  All the names of the Jews that were killed in the war are written on the walls inside.  We were told that it would take seven years to read all the names.

There were signs all over the city indicating where East and West Berlin were separated.

Checkpoint Charlie

There is a special line of cobblestone defined on the streets in Berlin showing where the wall used to run to divide the east and west.  Jack is standing where the wall used to be.

There were many old sections of the wall which are now 

decorated and on display throughout the city. 

FYI: This is the famous hotel where Michael Jackson held his baby over the railing.

Brandenburg Gate

 We took a riverboat cruise in the evening with the church group.

We went inside the dome of the Reichstag building.

 This is the famous Pergamon Museum which houses ancient antiquities.  This is the ancient city entrance to Pergamon, a city in Turkey.  This is the original that was brought to Berlin and assembled back to its original state.

This is the gate entrance to Babylon.  Once again, this is the original gate and colors that have been preserved since the time of Daniel in the Old Testament!

On Sunday, we went to the town of Wittenberg.  

This is the town that Martin Luther preached and lived.  This is the door to his house.  

Luther's wife, had this door made for one of Martin Luther's birthdays.

Here is the chapel that Martin Luther preached in.  

This is also where our church had a small church service and where Vivian had her first communion.

The church service Bulletin

Vivian taking her first communion.

Receiving a blessing afterwards.

 Our family with Pastor and Kristin Wangelin

Our church group in front of the Town Hall in Wittenberg.  

We are posing in front of a statue of Martin Luther.

This is the door of the city church where Martin Luther hung his 95 Theses.

We had to say good bye to everyone on the tour and head back home to finish two more weeks of school!  Ughh.  Before heading home, we stopped at a famous Brauhaus in Wittenburg to celebrate Vivian's first communion and enjoy some good German food.

Guten Appetit!

 

We had a lovely time seeing friends from Holy Cross and it was a wonderful experience for all us to celebrate Vivian's first communion here in Germany, right in the town where Luther lived and preached!

Now we are anxious to finish up school and get on with our next stop, AMERICA! 

We can't wait to go.

Happy Fourth of July to everyone at home!  

We will miss being there to celebrate our American holiday.