Luther

Leaving Prague, we had a long journey ahead of us and much to see. We headed into the former East Germany as Captain Kahl charted a route that would take us first the Nurnberg, a city that had been selected by the Allies for total destruction as a way to get Germany to surrender. That and a museum of medieval armor made Nurnberg a place of interest to Captain Kahl. I didn't take any pictures because the city was rather dismal, but the museum was interesting.

Being Lutheran, a tour of Germany would not be complete without a pilgrimage to important Luther places. We headed for the city of Erfurt where Luther spent time as a monk. We visited the Augustinian Monastary but missed the tour of the building. We gave ourselves a tour mainly of the outside. The weather was rainy and many of the places of interest in the city were obscured by construction. The day was waning, so we headed to Eisenach to see the Wartburg Castle where Luther was held for his own protection and where he tanslated the Bible. (In the slideshow I mislabled the castle as being in Erfurt instead of Eisenach. I have trouble telling the difference between those towns.) By then it was late in the day and things were closing. We had to climb up the steep hill to the castle which nearly killed me. Again, we were too late for a guided tour inside the castle, but we did get to see the outside. We ate at what looked like a good restaurant which ended up being an interesting cultural experience. We were served traditional schmalz for our bread, basically pork lard with bits of pigskin. We headed for Leipzig to spend the evening hoping for a more successful day to follow.

Here's where the slideshow is a little out of order. We did the Leipzig sites first and then went to Wittenberg. I included Wittenberg here because it belongs together with Luther places of interest. We first visited the Castle Church where Luther nailed the 95 Thesis on the church door. We also visited St. Mary's church, the main church for Luther when he was in Wittenberg. The statue of Luther in the town square was gone because of construction. But I saw enough to be satisfied.