Yesterday (Wednesday) was a busy day, so I didn't write anything down. We left the castle and headed to Leipzig which is known as being where Bach worked for many years as a church cantor. We didn't have a lot of time to explore, but we went to St. Thomas Church where Bach worked. Luther had preached there as well. Bach is buried in the church, so it was really awesome to see his grave. Then my travel group ate at a delicious little bakery before getting back on the bus. Then we were off to Wittenberg, where the Reformation began. Here there is a building called Colleg Wittenberg where students can come study abroad. Right now there are 12 students from Wittenberg (Ohio) here. Some of us are staying in the dorm-type rooms here while others are in a small hotel next door. After arriving, we had a great presentation by 3 Wittenberg residents on what it was like to live in East Germany as a Christian during the Communist regime. One of the speakers was even in the Communist Children's Party, but she led another life as a Christian. It was really interesting to hear their stories as I don't know much about German history and the reunification. Next we went to the city church, or Stadtkirsche, the first Protestant church ever and where Luther preached over 2,000 times. We weren't planning on going, but they were having an Ash Wednesday service and were so sweet and had translated the readings and sermon for us. It was freezing in the church the whole time, but how many people can say they received ashes in Martin Luther's church? We split up for dinner and then discovered a hippie themed karaoke bar. It was so much fun! We kind of took over the karake and had fun dancing and singing. This morning we got up and went on a great three hour tour of the city. We had a wonderful tour guide who showed us so much. We went back to the city church to hear the history, and then we headed to the Luther House in what was the monastery before it became Luther's. This house holds a Luther museum that you could spend hours in. We walked through while she talked and saw some cool things, like one of the Wittenberg Bibles Luther had translated. We then saw the Philip Melanchthon House but couldn't go in because of renovations. He was the other famous Wittenberg reformer. I hadn't heard of him before gearing up for this trip, but he really did aid the Reformation greatly and was right by Luther's side. We passed the town square and the Lucas Cranach house. Cranach is the most famous Reformation painter. We have seen his works all over (even in Chapel Hill), and he was also Luther's good friend. Our tour ended at the Schlosskirsche, or Castle Church. Here Luther posted the 95 Theses on the door. It was a pretty church (not that we saw any ugly ones on the trip :) ). Luther, Melanchthon, and Frederick the Wise are all buried here, and it was really cool to see Luther's grave. After the tour we ate at a great German restaurant and explored the city a bit more and did some souvenier shopping (besides Luther beer, they don't have much tourist merchandise). Now I'm getting ready to take a nap before our banquest dinner tonight.
Later that day...
After a much needed nap, we had a delicious meal here at the Colleg Wittenberg. Afterwards we went to the Wittenberg Brauhouse, and I'm now getting ready for bed because tomorrow is a busy day in Berlin!
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