Trip: Wittenberg and Berlin

Once I made it past the horrible delays in Amsterdam of 4 hours, I was able to find another flight that got me to Munchin (Munich), Germany around 1300 on Tuesday, December 22nd. We (Tim and I) had to wait for his parents and brother to arrive on their flight (which had been delayed like mine but they had to wait longer in the terrible T2 line as well as find little flights that would eventually get them to Munchin instead of one direct flight) until around 2000. But we made it all safely to Germany : )

WITTENBERG

The next day, we embarked on a little adventure to Wittenburg and Berlin. Wittenburg is the famous place where Martin Luther hung the 95 theses and basically gave 95 points where the Catholic church was failing at obeying the Word of God. Tim was explaining to me a few moments ago that the main reason why the 95 theses was tacted upon the door was because the church, at the time, was heavily steeped in something called "sales of indulgences" where the church would sell pardons or prayers (etc.) at a price which would supposedly guarantee the people either a free ticket to heaven, a shorter time in purgatory...etc. This idea of selling "spiritual" things at a price really upset Martin Luther and provoked him to find other areas in the current established church that was not biblically correct. This event happened on October 31st, 1517 and brought forth what we all know as the Protestant Reformation. It reminded me alot about my studies this past semester in one of my main papers regarding the The Pardoner's Tale in Chaucer's The Cantebury Tales. It also reminded me of the reality that God's Word should be our sole guide - not to follow the trends of culture or the idea that seems right in our own eyes, but we are to look through His eyes and look into the Word of God in order to discover the truth of how to love, honor, and serve Him.

The Schlosskirche in Wittenberg where Luther hung the 95 Theses

Mike (Tim's Dad) and I enjoying walking around the Schlosskirche. FYI: I did my best to dress as European as possible, even Tim said the other day that I fitted in really good, hahaha. Mission Accomplished ; )

Memorial of the 95 Theses that Martin Luther hung on October 31st, 1517

BERLIN

It's fun to go back and visit a place that I have already had the opportunity to visit (i.e. Berlin!). After Wittenberg, we headed off to Bohnsdorf to stay at a lovely little hotel called Plovdiv (cool Bulgarian owners!). We stayed in this town because Delpha (Tim's Mom) has some relatives who came from this town and after looking in the phone book at the hotel, she was able to find people who still lived in the town with her family's last name. Really cool! Plovdiv, the hotel, was really neat. We all hung out for a while for dinner and in the hotel room, but the real fun began when the boys (Tim and Philip) decided to infer that the owner of the hotel was actually Count Dracula...and the legend still lives on to this day. Another side note, at one point I told Mike and Delpha that we were going to go see the Reichstag the next day in Berlin and I said, "Aren't you all excited? It's so cool to think that the Reichstag is still intact." And Mike looks at me and says, "But I thought you said it was in Berlin." Ummmm - get it?!? Yeah - it took me awhile, but we all were laughing about it for a long time. Good English Grammar Humor.

We visited the Reichstag, I enjoyed revisiting the lovely S-Bahn and U-Bahn, we got to see the Brandenburg Gate, Charlie's Check Point, and Museum Island. We went into the Pergamom Museum which is, in my opinion, the best one since I've seen the rest of them. In this Museum you area able to see the actual Pergamom for what is left of it, as well as the Ishtar Gate, and a bizilion different ancient things that will never cease to fascinate me. Everyone really like it - even though we only had about an hour and a half to see the Museum before it closed.

The pictures are not uploading for me so I will have to do this another time! Once again, thank you all for your wonderful prayers, encouragement, and support the past few weeks, months, and even years which have led up to this relationship with Tim.

"The thing that awakens the deepest well of gratitude in a human being is that God has forgiven sins." Oswald Chambers