Ah, the perfect vacation. It will be a long time before we can do something like this again. Anthony has been wanting to take me to his old mission for a while, but between finances, pregnancy and nursing babies, it's never been a good time. This year, he had a work conference in England in January, so we thought, "why not?" My parents heroically accepted to watch our kids for 10 days. So we met in Germany after his conference - Jan 18-27 (counting air travel days).
Day 1 (Tuesday) - Stuttgart
Anthony wanted to see a little of south Germany, but still be close enough to get to Berlin. So Stuttgart became our starting point.
Turns out it's not really a tourist site, but it was a great place to catch up on jet lag, see a busy modern German shopping district, buy a fun new game, and get some insanely delicious doners and gelato (I'd return to Stuttgart just for those)!
Riding the Rails
One of the big treats of Europe is experiencing superb public transit. We used the U-bahn, S-bahn and Strassen-bahn (did I forget one Anthony?) to get around. (Anthony informs me I forgot the Regional-bahn). I loved traveling by train from city to city. We talked, ate, read and slept without any driving stress. It was also fun to see the countryside of Germany - even if it was covered under feet of
cold January snow.
I got a kick out of seeing the rented gardens along the rail. People in cities who want to try their green thumb can rent a 50-square-foot garden in the country to tend. Clever idea. And it makes me grateful for all my free backyard dirt!
Our travels took us from Stuttgart, to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, to Dresden and finally Berlin.
Day 2&3 (Wednesday-Thursday) - Rothenburg ob der TauberRecommended by the Duffin clan, we were so delighted by our stop here. Rothenburg over the Tauber river is a well-preserved medieval city. The houses, streets and protecting wall all stand much as they did 500 years ago. We stayed in the atmospheric Gasthof Goldener Greifen (the mayors old house). I discovered one of my most favorite German meals here too - Spaetzle.
We spent Thursday visiting the church and two famous museums in town. I learned some crazy things about old-time laws and punishments. In some ways it sounded barbaric, in other ways it kind of made sense. I mean, if you were caught quarrelling with a neighbor, you both had to stand in the town square locked to each other for a day. How many poor sport soccer parents would we have with punishments like that? It kind of makes me wonder how people 500 years from now will view our system of lawyers and courtrooms to "prove" (or artfully convince) one's innocence. The big claim to fame of the city is the original well, which brought life-giving, fire-stopping, water in from the river. It's underground canal was kept top secret so enemies couldn't destroy it.
The most unique feature of Rothenburg is the fortress wall surrounding the entire city. Significantly bombarded in WWII it has since been restored. It's a blast to walk along the ramparts of the wall looking down into 500 year old history and out the loopholes (windows) at modern day Germany.
Day 4&5 (Friday-Saturday) - Dresden
Moving further north, Dresden gave us a taste of German art culture as well as WWII destruction.
A few fun pictures from Dresden I took to show my kids.
Home of the famous Saxon king Augustus the Great, this is where he commissioned and collected hundreds of amazing vessels and sculptures in all different forms. The vault consisted of 10 rooms each with a different theme - such as bronze, silver, amber, crystal, etc. This was perhaps my favorite art collection I've yet seen. We also visited the famous "Old Masters" painting museum, where I discovered that I'm not a big fan of looking at the same 5 Biblical stories painted over and over again in various forms of nudity. Sculptures rock. Paintings bore. And so we moved on to...
Day 6-7 (Sunday-Tuesday) - BerlinThe city where Anthony served his mission. Anthony planned to be in Berlin on Sunday so we could attend the East Berlin ward he served in. (I nearly froze to death in my nylons walking to the church on the coldest January day Germany has seen in 100 years!) Anthony had a great time being back and reminiscing with familiar people. We were invited to the home of Werner Riedel for dinner (authentic German cooking!). He spoke fair English, his wife spoke none, but still I hardly felt the language barrier as we enjoyed talking about their many travels. On the way home we snagged pictures of Anthony's first mission apartment and the familiar street he walked everyday.
On Monday we explored the city. We started with a freezing morning walking tour (which we almost skipped because of the cold and we're both glad we didn't). We stopped in the U-bahn to see pictures of the burning Reichstag, visited the Jewish memorial, the Bradenburg Tor and of course, the Berlin Wall. We spent the afternoon at Checkpoint Charlie and then swung by the Reichstag that night (next collage). That picture of my feet - that's me
standing on the Berlin Wall! Red bricks mark the original path of the ripped-down wall throughout the city.
With all the build up of 14th century Rothenburg, 17th century Dresden, it was at the Berlin Wall that the great panorama of history gelled and came alive for me for the first time. On Tuesday we visited the German history museum where I saw for the first time the great cycles of history. Peace, war, new maps. Over and over again. The world I once imagined was stable and flat is actually volatile, cyclical and round. Amazing. Unsettling. It made me anxious to want to learn more of the story. What will happen in the next 50 years? 1000? It's exciting. Too bad I won't know (except in the afterlife), but cool that I get to see so much of that history now.
A few more fun pictures: Alexanderplatz and the TV Tower (think Bourne Supremacy), the top of the Reichstag, old school pinball and "cannons" at the German History museum. Washing our clothes, German "art" (aka graffiti),
the famous home of the missionaries' favorite doner spot, rotegrutze (raspberry gelatin in vanilla sauce).
One of the best bonuses of the trip was that we came home with new friends. Irene and Oliver Luedtke and Irene's sister Tine. Irene and Tine grew up in the ward where Anthony served and Anthony helped teach Oliver the first missionary discussions. Anthony was surprised to discover that Oliver is now the ward clerk and that Oliver and Irene had gotten married. They graciously hosted us at the German History Museum and then took us out to an authentic DDR (old Communist) restaurant. All three spoke excellent English. I had a blast getting to know them, hearing their perspective of the fall of The Wall (when they were about 10) and learning all about German vs American culture. Hanging out with them made me want to learn German because I think it is awesome to be able to make friends half a world away.
Of course, while we were away, we missed our kids terribly. We talked with them online most nights - the only way to go with kids so young. They wiped my parents out, but they also bonded like never before. Thanks Mom, Dad, Austin and Ruthie for letting us have this magical trip to Germany!
