Walking With No Limits - Part 1

This year's Easter weekend was a very special weekend for me. This weekend was a celebration for the gift Lord Jesus Christ gave us – Life! He died for us so that we can be set free from our sins, never to be hold back from His love and the freedom He has given to us. All that He is asking is to believe in him and to trust Him! Before I share my experience over this weekend, I would like to thank my Saviour for the love, life and talents He is giving me and also giving me a chance to experience it all!

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” – NIV

A colleague friend and I decided to spend our weekend doing a bit of sightseeing in Germany. Now, there were a lot of things that happened over this weekend and therefore my writings will expand over two blog posts, just to make the reading a bit easier…. We wanted to visit the following cities: Leipzig, Halle, Wittenberg, Magdeburg and Potsdam.

We decided to start the tour on Friday morning, leaving from Dresden hauptbahnhof to Leipzig. When I arrived at the tram stop Friday morning at 06:50am, I realized that the tram service only starts after 08:00am on a public holiday, causing us to miss the train. Fortunately for us the train ticket was a Saxon ticket allowing us to travel anywhere within the Saxon borders, so we decided to replace Leipzig with Chemnitz. We arrived in Chemnitz at 08:55am. We didn’t have a city map, so we just started walking…. We’ve seen most of the tourist attractions: Sclosskirche (Benedictine abbey church St. Maria), Altes Rathaus (old town hall), Roter turm (red tower) and also the famous Lew Kerbel’s monument which is dedicated to Karl Marx. When we walked to the monument we were expecting a sculpture of a head standing on a meter high pedestal, but when we arrived, we got a surprise. It was huge! The pedestal was over 2 meters high. Unfortunately we didn’t stay very long in Chemnitz, so I can’t give a good overview of the city.

 Sclosskirche

 Altes Rathaus

 Roter turm

 Lew Kerbel’s monument

St. Peter's Church

We left Chemnitz at 10:20am to go to Halle. We used the regional trains during our tour and the journeys were comfortable. I can’t wait for the day when South Africa will have these types of transport systems which is in Europe. We arrived in Halle at 12:40pm and the first thing we were looking for was a city map. The weather in Halle was good enough for sightseeing; It was 4C and cloudy with little wind to spice things up a bit.

Unfortunately we arrived on a public holiday- all the shops were closed to buy food and only some of the restaurants were open but was quite expensive. Halle is a small city compared to the other cities I’ve visited, and has a unique atmosphere when walking down the streets. We tried to see most of the tourist attractions, but due to time we couldn’t visit the Händel-haus (music museum). My favourite part of this city is the Marktplatz (town square). In the square you will find the Marktkirche St. Marien (St. Marien Church), Unser Lieben Frauen (Our Dear Lady) and the Roter Turm (red tower). We were very fortunate on that day because the towers of the St. Marien church were open.

The stairs were horrible to climb. It was an uncomfortably small chamber to climb up, but the view was worth it as soon as we reached the top.

After we have seen everything in the town square, we decided to visit the Beatles museum. I enjoyed the trip through the museum. Do not let the small museum surprise you, for there are a lot of history within those walls. The museum is a three story building, each level dedicated to a certain time period of the band’s history. There is a nice souvenir shop and a small cafeteria. Below are some of the tourist attractions one could find in this small city:

Landgerich

Ratshof

Roter Turm (Red Tower)

St. Marien Church in front and the two towers of Unser Lieben Frauen (Our Dear Lady)

Dom

Post Haus (Post office)

Saline (Salt factory)

Salt was produced for the surrounding cities at the Saline factory by mining. Guided tours are availible through the factory during the week between 08:00am to 16:00pm. After a long day’s walk and sore feet, it was time for a rest. We decided to have dinner in a nice Italian restaurant called Trattoria Da Luca. I had a nice pizza with a really good Hefe dunkel beer to finish it off. After dinner we decided to check in at the place where we stay, HostelNr. 5, and what a nice place. We stayed in a dorm, a shared room for up to 6 people. The facilities were great and the service was excellent.

Halle made a really good impression on me. Walking down the little streets with some of the street crossings having little fountains in the middle, the pink dogwood trees found next to the streets and the sound of the church bells in the background on every hour… And the people were kind. 

On Saturday morning we left Halle to spend the morning in Lutherstadt Wittenberg. We arrived at 08:15am. It was in this city where Martin Luther nailed his ‘Ninety-Five Thesis’ against the door of All Saint’s Church. I found a nice article summarising the main events of Martin Luther’s life. We first walked to see the House where Luther stayed. They converted the house into a magnificent museum.

The museum contains most of Luther’s work he had done. It was quite an experience for me to see Luther’s original written notes he made while translating the first German Bible from Hebrew. The house was also used as a literature archive in those days, and one can see the archive through a glass window (for preservation purpose). And  there are a lot of books!

They also tell the story of Katharina von Bora, Martin Luther’s wife whom he married on 13 June 1525, and had six children together. For me it was a first to learn about the monk who married a nun. At the back of the house in the cellar Katharina brewed beer for extra income.

  

After visiting the museum, we headed of down the streets again to visit the famous All Saint’s church. The place where Martin Luther was laid to rest is inside the church. The craftsmanship inside the buildings in Germany is amazing. I am still amazed by all the historic buildings which surrounded me that was made by man and hand…  I realized that we do not know what we are capable of…

Below are some more photos:

 A copy of the Ninety-Five Thesis on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgence.

 The Church door on which Luther nailed is thesis.

 Original papal books that wasn't burnt on December 10, 1520.

  Martin Luther’s handwriting.

 The first German bible.

The presence and closeness I felt during my visit was unforgettable. This is a place I would highly recommend visiting. We were in Wittenberg until 12:00pm before leaving for Magdeburg.

And this is the end of Part 1…

Bis Später

Wandern entlang dem Mond

Every time I walk down the streets in Dresden I just can’t stop being amazed by the buildings. The amount of detail on these buildings is astonishing. I also noted that when standing close to the walls of the buildings, one can see black deposits on the buildings. Now, is this from the fires during WW II or could it be something else?

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After some reading and talking I found out that yes, a small percentage is from the fire (but only to the buildings that wasn’t completely destroyed). The main cause is due to the high concentration of iron that is in the sandstone which they used during the reconstruction if the city. The iron reacts with the oxygen in the air, giving the buildings its colour. Another reason is a type of fungi growth. 

Well… enough with the scientific facts…. Some of you were asking for more photos of the buildings.

On Saturday evening (around 22:00) I decided to explore the town on a bicycle and also to get a chance to appreciate my camera. All the photos were taken on “Manual” mode. May you enjoy the photos as much as I did taking them…

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On Sunday I wanted to explore some more… so I took the bicycle and went to the eastern part of Dresden called Dobritz. The reason why I chose this part of town is XXL Die Wand. This is the largest indoor rock climbing facility I have ever seen. After spending some time there, it was time to head back home. I decided to take the route passing the Seevorstadt OstGroβer Garten. It is an enormous park / “forest” (an area of approx. 1.8 km²) for people to walk around, rollerblading, cycling, etc.

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And it was here where I saw the first sign of spring….. I know I’m going to miss the snow, but are really looking forward to the colours of spring / summer.

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Bis später

Die wunderbaren Erinnerungen an Dresden

                

After a long week of work and no sightseeing, we decided to explore some parts of Dresden.  We mainly focussed on the old part of the city (Altstadt), but also wanted to see if we could explore more..

We started our journey by meeting two friends (Melanie and Christian) at the Hauptbahnhof main train station on Saturday. They travelled from Leipzig so that they could explore Dresden with us.  They only arrived at 11:30, so there wasn’t a lot of time for the planned tour…

When you are walking in the streets of Dresden, you can still feel the atmosphere that can be associated with World War II (WWII). I’m not referring to the people living here, but the historic buildings situated in Dresden itself. Most of the tours are in German, so we decided to go on our own with Christian translating for us…The first place we visited was the Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady). 

The construction of this church started in 1726 was finally completed in 1743 and was designed by the city architect; George Bähr. The church was completely destroyed on February 1945 during WWII by allied bombing. The reconstruction of this church started in 1993. It cost over €180 million to reconstruct this masterpiece, but restoration was finally completed in 2006, just in time for Dresden’s 800^th anniversary.

When looking at the photo displaying the outside of the church, one can see the original stones from the church (black dots on the church) that was used for reconstruction. Below is a photo of an original piece from the dome that was put there in memory of the restoration process that took place and also a photo showing the inside of the dome after reconstruction. 

                         

From the church we walked through the city, passing the Albertinum and quickly went into the Zwinger to see the plane…  I will definitely come back to these places and explore them.

Albertinum

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From the Zwinger we walked down Prager Straβe which is full of shops and cosy coffee shops. The famous Goldener Reiter (Saxon elector and Polish king: Augustus the Strong) is found in this street. It is a gold plated statue which one’s eyes cannot resist! By this time our cheeks were red and toes were numb, so we stopped to get some glüweihn before we carried on…

After our hands, toes and cheeks were warm from the glühwein, we started to explore some of the shops.

After we were tired of all the shops we decided that it is time to change scenery… we took the tram 11 to the Brokhaus straβe stop where I saw the first castle.

The Schloss Albrechtsberg Castle is situated in the Loschwitz district which is at the north-eastern part of Dresden, next to the Elbe River. The Castle was erected in 1854 by landscape architect, Adolf Lohse. This castle is a piece of art. The effect of the photos shown here cannot be compared to being there in person. Unfortunately the castle was closed for the day, so I must definitely reschedule for another time… It was time again for another drink to warm us up… We stopped at the Waldschlösschen Brauhaus, which is the oldest pub in Dresden. The pub was established on 26th of March 1838. We drank beer liqueur and I must say... definitely something I'm going to try when I'm back in South Africa. After the rejuvenating drink, we headed back to the streets.

It was late afternoon when we realized we haven’t eaten anything, so we went to a really nice pub called “The red Rooster”. I decided on a dish called Fuhre Mist (meaning: load of crap) which consists of kartoffeln (grilled potato bits), schinken (grilled ham) and a fried egg on top of it all. And what is a meal without a really good Bruno home brew beer? After dinner we started to experiment with some of the whiskeys…. tasted a couple like Johnny Walker black, Black Bush, Glen Farcas 105, Lagavulin, and my favourite liqueuer: Drambuie.

After a good day of sightseeing and getting to know two new friends, it was time to say goodbye. Christian and Melanie left Dresden from the Hauptbahnhof Nord station. It was a long, cold, 2km walk before I arrived at home approx. 23:00hr that night. But at least it wasn’t cold… only -10C….

It was a good day, but I knew I had to get enough sleep… because on Sunday we visited the Volkswagen Gläserne Manufaktur, situated in Dresden city center.  

This tour for me was like taking a kid to the biggest toy factory in the world!! The walls of the factory are made from glass. One can observe from the streets how workers are creating a masterpiece. Another nice feature of this building is the idea for preventing birds from flying into the glass panels… Outside the building is an outdoor speaker system that is set on a frequency to indicate to birds that the territory is already taken. The enormous round tower shown in the photograph is a storage place where they store each masterpiece, waiting for its owner to come and collect. The tower is 40m high and has a car-lift inside that collects the car from a specific spot inside the tower.

The masterpiece I’m referring to is the only reason why the Volkswagen Gläserne Manufaktur was built… it is called the Phaeton. The value of this car ranges from R550 000 to R1.5 million. You may think it is a lot of money… yes it is… but when you see the car in real life, sitting inside of it… it may might then be worth it for the upper class people. A new byer can specify almost anything in this car. The shake bought a Paethon a couple of years ago… when he ordered his car; he had with him a red dress that was his wife’s favourite. The factory searched across the globe to find the correct colour fabric… 

The factory will always try to meet your needs. When you paid the deposit on an “upper-class” model, the factory will then fly you to Dresden where you can personally specify the details of your car. After some time the factory will then inform you when your car is almost done, so that you can come and install the steering wheel personally. You also get a free “in depth” tour through the factory (walking on the floor where the workers are assembling the cars). On the day when you get your car, you and your family is invited to the factory where the key will be handed to you so that you can drive your car out of the factory. The music that is played during this event is also the buyer’s choice.  

The photo displayed above and on the right is the reception of the factory (unfortunately no photography was allowed inside the factory itself). There is a pianist that plays music and a really nice café that sells really good hot chocolate… The big ball in the middle is a cinema where they show a couple of films (History of the factory, and the history of some of the cars). The top right corner of the photograph on the right is where the factory is situated. I will definitely recommend to anybody to visit the factory.

So that was the tour for the weekend… This weekend my supervisor is going back to South Africa, leaving me to proceed with the research here. So now I definitely need to work on my language… On Sunday I am invited to go to a carnival somewhere near Dresden… until then…

Bis später