Day 5: Taking it to the Wall

The day began once again with Morning Prayer in the Castle Church.  (I took some video footage of the service and will post it in a few days when time allows.)  This morning the sun was shining brightly and landing on the tombstone of Martin Luther.  He is buried in the church right below the pulpit.

Then we boarded the buses and traveled 90 minutes to the capital city of Berlin. The first place we visited was the Brandenburg Gate. It is an impressive structure that was built from 1789-91, and was an impressive entrance to the city.  It has been a backdrop for many significant events and dignitaries that the city has hosted.

A short walk from the gate will bring you to another familiar site.  Here is our tour guide, Christian Upatel of Terra-Lu Tours, explaining the beautiful Reichstag building which houses the German Parliament.  It was built between 1884 and 1894 and the interior was burned by the Nazis in 1933, but they put the blame on the Jews.

This is also the area of the infamous Berlin Wall.  Only a small portion of the wall remains on display (I will be viewing it later next week), but where ever the wall existed it is now marked by stones in the pavement as a reminder of this barrier.  Here you can see the cobblestone marking the wall in the middle of the street.

From here we spent some time shopping and did our best to support the German economy.

We returned to Wittenberg to have Evening prayer in the Town Church.  The have made a special point of ringing the bells to announce our evening service. I also talked to the pastor who is leading the English service on Saturdays (they do this for the tourists, the regular service would be in German on Sunday morning.)  Now I will be reading the Old Testament lesson for that service that will be held in the Town Church.  Very cool.

Tomorrow we continue our small group electives in various places in Wittenberg.