7/12 - Erfurt

This morning we left Wittenberg for the last time, embarking on the last sites of our tour. Before leaving, I thought it important to look once again at a few more sites.

After a 2 hour bus ride on the autobahn, we arrived in Erfurt. While there is no speed limit for private vehicles such as sedans a the like, our tour bus and semi-trucks were limited to 100 kph. Many of the cars traveled at fairly reasonable speed and safety, expect for a Porsche - it drove like I dream to.

If you hope to arrive in Germany and get lost among the city streets, then you should come to Erfurt. The town square is quite large with the Bishop's church and the Town church in it's city center, both of which never turned Protestant but have remained Roman Catholic. It was the Bishop's church, the one on the left, where Martin Luther received his ordination; no longer a monk but now a priest.

Bishop's Church

After lunch on this square, our guide began meandering us into the surrounding shops and homes. I won't post every picture and every story of what he showed us on this blog, but if you ask any of our tourists about being "blue in the face", the 16th century perspective does not match our understanding.

When the plague arrived in Erfurt during the 15th century, there was a need to assign blame and responsibility for the cause. They didn't blame rats or fleas or trade; the blame fell upon the Jews. Why? Because the Jews weren't dying at the same rate as the Christians. Note: a major factor of the plague was poor hygiene and spoiled water. The Jews has a practice of ritual cleansing that required it to be done frequently and with clean/fresh water. And so it was that the Jews weren't dying because their religious rites were in essence saving them. The Christians believed the Jews cursed them, and therefore expelled them from the city. What you see here is the location of their synagogue, now a museum to tell their story. Notice that the original synagogue was expanded and added on when it was taken from the Jews and re-purposed after their expulsion from Erfurt.

We passed by the Market Bridge, which we later returned to in the afternoon. The best way to describe it is the Diagon Alley of Germany (a Harry Potter reference). On a bridge there are shops with homes above, and it is the only such structure in Germany.  Simply charming.

From there, we continued our disorienting journey through the city to the monastery where Martin Luther was educated as a monk and priest, and the sanctuary where he celebrated his first Mass. When Luther was celebrating his first Mass, so nervous and anxious that he was trembling, he sloshed and spilled the blood of Christ.  And his father Hans Luder, who was already skeptical of his son's decision to be a priest instead of a lawyer, saw this with revulsion. It would be until many years later, after Luther was married and had children, that this son and father would be reconciled.

That evening, we dined at The Golden Swan, a restaurant named in homage to Luther.

7/11 - Torgau & Wittenberg

Before we boarded the bus, my father-in-law and I took a look around The Luther Garden. It's difficult to see the full impression of this space from the ground, so I recommend that you get a satellite image from Google Maps to see it as the bird flies, for it is quite impressive.

We the boarded the bus for Torgau. It is said in one of the many publications about Reformation history that if Wittenberg is the mother of the Reformation, than Torgau is the wet-nurse. There are a great many things that happened in Torgau before and during the Reformation that setup the events for Martin Luther and his 95 theses. It is the birthplace of Frederick the Wise, the prince responsible for Martin Luther in Wittenberg.

This is also am important historical site for WW2. It was at this location on a bridge over the Elbe River that the Russian Army and the US Army met in their advance through Germany upon Hitler. The monument you see here shows both Soviet and US flags, but was only written in Russian when it was erected in East Germany during Soviet control. Only later was the placards added to include German and English translations of this monument and location.

Steps from this location is the Royal palace, and as you can see, it gushes of all kinds of majesty. The winding staircase is unique in that it does not have a center support. This is also the location of the first original Protestant worship space. During the Reformation, all of the other church building had only been Roman Catholic. But it was here in Torgau that this worship space was built specifically for worship for Protestants, and commissioned by Luther himself.

Torgau is also the birth and death place of Katie Luther. Sometime after Luther died, the seminary was relocated to Torgau, and Katie decided to go with. In the midst of the journey, she broke her hip (likely from a fall from the carriage). After about 3 weeks, she passed. She was buried in St. Mary's Church in Torgau.

Upon our return from Torgau, we met with the sisters of a Protestant monastic order. That's right, monasticism isn't gone! They set up their ministry in the early 2000's, particularly, to pray the community of Wittenberg. Wittenberg's population is only 15% Christian - and that includes all denominations. Needless to say, their ministry is important not for the tourists who come to visit these historical site, but important for the marginalized members of Wittenberg's community that aren't being cared for.

Later that evening, we were brought to a local winery for a wine tasting meal. I forgot my camera, but that's OK because each of my hands were occupied with wine glasses. Dorothy has pictures.

Tschuse!