Weekend Adventures!

Hallo!

We took advantage of our first non-jet-lagged weekend here and did some "adventuring." We started off our Saturday with a tram trip to a very eastern Germany neighborhood to find an ATM that would accept my card. Let's just say that it's incredibly different from the neighborhood we live in here... there were no cafes, lots of abandoned buildings, and more graffiti than normal (there's graffiti everywhere). I don't think we will be heading back to that particular area again soon.

Our next trip was to the main train station to grab some coffee and switch tram lines so that we could visit Völkerschlachtdenkmal (which is a memorial for a battle fought during the Napoleonic Wars in 1813. Bryan thinks the spelling of this word is common knowledge or something.) We just missed the Elton John concert that was held in the front yard. The memorial is being restored, so this photo does not serve it justice:

There's a nice museum at the foot of the memorial, but the main event is inside and at the top of the memorial itself. There is a gigantic rotunda (seriously larger than any rotunda I have ever seen in my life.) Three floors up is the actual memorial:

Then, by a combination of elevators and spiral staircases (seriously intense numbers of steps,) you can reach several observation decks. Scroll back to the first picture and look at the very top of the dome. The following picture was taken from next to that dome. It is of a church at a cemetery next door (and also a little view of former Soviet block housing!) There were rain clouds rolling in and we could see the rain falling on the other side of the city. Very, very impressive!

After seeing the cemetery from above, we wandered over there as well. There is a beautiful church (actually, upon further investigation it is a crematory) and monument to those who lost their lives fighting for Socialism. I was surprised at the number of headstones at the monument. There were many professors from the local university who were included. Once again, it was an impressive sight.

On the way back to the tram line, we passed a large flower garden and decided to try out some of the techniques we picked up in our photography lesson. Here are the results:

All of this exploring left us ready for a hearty German meal. As a result, potato dumplings, roasted white asparagus, roasted onions, and a sauce were created at home. I am happy that I have found a country that loves asparagus more than I do; it makes my life here pretty good. This vegetable is everywhere! After dinner, it was off to a Paulanergarten for a pint and some people watching.

Sunday was another adventurous day. This day was all about Luther! Considering my upbringing, this was a pretty big deal for me (Bryan said I was giddy). As we rounded the corner from the train station, we saw two odd individuals wearing cloaks. At first we just thought they had odd fashion taste (it happens,) but it turns out they were coming from the medieval festival taking place. It turns out that Wittenburg was having a Martin Luther Celebration! What luck! We're still not sure why we had to pay an admission fee to the festival, but it seemed that the locals were okay with it so we just went along with it too. We stopped at the "theses" church where Luther is buried and paid for the privilege to take photos. So worth it!

We also made a stop at the "town church" where Luther preached. There are still weekly services held here. And there's a Swedish king buried here too!

We also saw Luther's house and a parking sign with Luther's picture on it. This was the second most entertaining thing of the day, with number one being the sign advertising "good Lutheran food."

I had my first German bratwurst of the trip at the festival. Delicious! Though I found it odd that in a country where you can find a million different types of bread, bratwurst are served on a small, round bun. Half of the wurst isn't in the bread... I just don't understand.

Bryan saw people wandering by with coffee in tiny terra cotta looking cups and a search ensued to find the vendor. Imagine Bryan's disappointment when he noticed that the cup advertised a festival that took place in Leipzig in 2008! We returned the cup, but not without a photo:

That wraps up our weekend. Happy Father's Day, dads!