Munich, Darcee becomes a teenager and eating snails!

We arrived at our final stop in Europe on the 27th December - Munich. After over a week in the country we were back in the REALLY BIG smoke! The drive from Neuendettelsau was uneventful apart from a 20km traffic jam caused by an accident in the fast lane on the autobahn. Thankfully it looked less serious than it sounds and we arrived at our hotel (only the second hotel stay in 5 weeks) close to the expected arrival time.

This stop was planned to allow us time to get ready for Africa and to get rid of all the food, cleaning and other stuff we've been carting from apartment to apartment since Paris! The hotel is adjacent to the Nyphmberger Palace and is owned by some very accommodating young people.

Our first night in Munich we enjoyed a sensational Vietnamese meal just up the street followed by Magnums from the local supermarket! Just what you want on a lovely stroll home in -1 degrees!

Today was Darcee's 13th birthday and so we presented her with a load of options of how to spend the day. She chose to head to the cinema after a late breakfast where we watched Catching Fire (in English) and then enjoyed cake and coffee and tried to embarrass her by singing happy birthday as many times as possible! Just as well we don't live in Germany - those cakes would do us in!

As we tried to walk off the cakes we swung past the palace and made a booking at the French restaurant 100 metres from our hotel to celebrate Darcee's birthday.

This pond was frozen and so the sea gulls can walk on water!

Our European adventure began in Paris and so it was fitting that our final dinner in Europe was in a French restaurant which Darcee chose for her birthday dinner - and it was possibly the BEST dinner we've had since being in Europe!

The girls had been determined to try snails and so tonight we did! While I would perhaps hesitate to call them delicious, they were certainly very pleasant and I wouldn't hesitate to have them again.

The other meals were definitely delicious with salmon, pork and beef being ordered for mains, chocolate mousse (actually a soufflé was ordered but that's another story) and creme brûlées for dessert.

The salmon dish which Georgia and Darcee enjoyed.

We spent tonight reminiscing on the past few weeks, taking the mickey out of each other and just enjoying being a family without a million other things to distract us. The meal was topped off with a complimentary cognac from the owner of the restaurant and a short walk home where we kissed the girls good night (both teenagers now!), checked in for our flights to Dubai and then to Nairobi tomorrow, and started to get ready to leave Europe.

The last 5 weeks have flown by and provided us with such a wonderful opportunity to forge unforgettable memories together as a family. We are immensely grateful for this very privileged time together and look forward to sharing it more with those of you who can put up with more stories and photos once we return. Tomorrow marks the beginning of the next leg of the adventure as we make our way toward Africa. We don't leave till after 9pm tomorrow so we're planning to pack up and drive south to the alps to at least throw a little bit of snow at each other before we leave Europe for the heat!

Thanks for sharing our journey with us thus far....

Weinacht in Neuendettelsau

Well, it's been a while...but we've had Christmas, two moves and very lousy internet to contend with! So as we get ready to leave Europe we're trying to bring everyone up to date with our movements over the past week or so.

Last time I posted we were still staying in the Wasserschloss in Unsleben. We thoroughly enjoyed our low key stay in this beautiful village and comfortable cottage. The timing was perfect after several weeks of being tourists at every stop and we appreciated the chance to just chill out for a few days. As we heard reports of 40+ degree temperatures back home, we enjoyed sub-zero temperatures and the frozen ponds and moat wouldn't let us forget just how cold it really was!

These photos were taken by the pond at our back door. The ice was about and inch thick and provided some entertainment for the girls and I.

The moat around the castle was completely iced over. Darcee had a ball skimming all sorts of things across the surface!

The oldest parts of the castle dated from the 12th century and it really was quite a building. The count and countess still live in the castle with their family. His advice to me...."Don't buy a castle! They were designed for servants and are too expensive to run!" I think I'll take his advice, but it was terribly nice to spend time at their place!

A secret garden!

Throughout France and in some places in Germany, these crucifixes are found at almost every intersection. This one was at the end of the lane way that led to our cottage.

With the help our dear friend, Pastor Neville Otto, we had arranged accommodation over Christmas in the very Lutheran village of Neuendettelsau. This is the village in which Pastor Wilhelm Lohe was pastor and from which he sent missionaries around the world. Pastor Thomas Paulsteiner welcomed us to town and he and his lovely wife Renata made our stay one to remember.

Our drive from Unsleben was uneventful and a reminder that we were well and truly used to travelling in Europe and on the autobahns - I even started to feel a bit edgy when I had to slow below 130 km/h! Once in Neuendettelsau we had serious business to attend to - where to find the food for Christmas Eve dinner and how would we get a Christmas tree! Both dilemmas were taken care of with German efficiency and we went to bed with tree in place, shopping in the fridge, and the hope of snow quickly melting!

Our stay in Neuendettelsau was very low key and very timely. It was marked by sleep ins, good company, the occasional walk around the sleepy village, regular worship and new friendships. The lack of photos on the camera of our time there is probably testament to just how well we relaxed during our time there!

On Christmas Eve we made a quick trip to Nuremberg to visit our last Christmas market. It was held up a day by only the second day of rain during our 5 weeks in Europe during winter! Nuremberg is a beautiful city and the old part of town is something to behold, complete with the old city wall and watchtowers. After some "interesting" times trying to find a car park (courtesy of grumpy old me!), we finally got to spend a couple of hours in this beautiful market and town square.

After a quick trip back to Neuendettelsau, we got Christmas Eve dinner in the oven and headed off to worship at 5pm. Although this was the third service of the day, we were told to get there at least half an hour early. Just as well we listened as the church was filled to overflowing and the service was adorned with wonderful music from organ, brass band and choir. They sang mostly Paul Gerhardt hymns/carols and while I can't speak German to save myself, it was a joy to hear them sung in their original language and to witness the congregation's ability to join in with the liturgy and sometimes the hymns without anything printed in front of them.

St Nicolai about 45 minutes before the Christmas Eve service

Christmas Eve dinner comprised the Lukjanov family traditional dishes of rouladen, sauerkraut, kartoffel klosser and so on - things that were very familiar to our new German friends. We hit the sack after a wonderful day together and rose early to celebrate the birth of our Lord at St Nicolai Lutheran Church. As we worshipped in German once again, I was reminded of the faithfulness of our African brothers and sisters who show up week after week to worship, unable to speak or understand what I say back home, but confident of God's promises to forgive, bless and save. We also rejoiced at how comforting it was to be able to follow the liturgy, albeit in German, and even more so, to hear the familiar and well known words of the Kyrie (in Latin). 

After service we shared another first - going to a restaurant for Christmas Day lunch - Laryssa, Darcee and and I enjoyed the traditional German goose which was sensational - and all of us shared the Weinacht dessert plate which was also delicious. 

After driving to another village to pick up 3G coverage and download Georgia's Christmas present (books on Kindle) we returned home to left overs, gluwein and a lousy Christmas movie...it truly was one of the most memorable Chistmases we have shared together - unencumbered by presents and fuss, we had the chance the rejoice in our Lord's birth and enjoy our time together - something for which I will be always thankful.

Boxing Day was spent at Thomas and Renate's for lunch where we enjoyed spatzel - another dish from Laryssa's childhood - and some wonderful hospitality. We left Neuendettelsau the following day after recharging our batteries and thoroughly enjoying the relaxed setting. With only a couple of days left in Europe, we packed up and headed toward Munich which I'll get to shortly....

Lord and Lady of the manor!

For the past three days we have been relaxing in a little village by the name of Unsleben. Laryssa came across this place when she was looking for a place for us to chill in an historical setting - and she did extremely well! We've been staying in a 4 bedroom home that used to accomodate the hunter and his family, living in the shadow of Wasserschloss - the local castle which dates from around 1150AD!

The scenery here is just beautiful but there's been no pressure to get out and do the tourist thing, so we've simply enjoyed walking around the village and imbibing the history...a very timely break from being tourists.

The village has a population of around 900 people so they don't see too many tourists. That said, the local shop keepers have been lovely, putting up with my poorly pronounced German apologies and helping us to find what we were after. Must say, we had some of the most delicious kassler chops from the local butcher this evening - definitely worth the trip!

We're off to Neuendettelsau tomorrow and will be without wifi for the next week. Updates will be a little slow as we will be relying on 3G and trying to preserve our declining credit for Christmas Day Sype calls!

We can't believe our time in Europe is coming to an end but have been enjoying the opportunity to reflect on the last 5 weeks of shared experiences and life long memories that we've been forging together - and giving thanks for this great privilege that we are enjoying.

Here's some snapshots of our current 'home'

The moat around the castle is completely frozen - Darcee has been skipping rocks and whatever else she can find across the surface

The hunter's cottage we are staying in (at 49 euros a night, it's a bargain!)

Great food, good wine (a Wolf Blass Shiraz I found at the local Aldi!) and wonderful company

The view up our street

A very ancient village

More snaps of the castle

Our home for the past 3 nights - inside the cottage has low ceiling and very low beams that I have to duck under. This morning I walked straight through one of the door ways and forgot to duck - OUCH! Nearly knocked myself out...a bit of blood and a nice egg growing on my head now!

While our dear family and friends are sweltering in Australia, the ice on the pond at our back door is about an inch thick

Throughout France and Germany you find these crucifixes all through the country side - this one is at the end of our street and would've once welcomed people into the village

A mighty fortress is our God...oops, did I just sing that out loud?

Leaving Berlin we made the short journey to Wittenberg - the home of Martin Luther during the Reformation of the church. An historic site, with special significance for Lutherans, but also a charming town with loads of medieval character. Laryssa had managed to book us into the Wittenberg Brauhaus (Brewery) which was located directly opposite the town square - we could not have been in a better location!

The white building is the Brauhaus and the steeples you can see are from St Mary's town church which describes itself as the 'Mutter Kirche' (Mother Church) of the Reformation.

It was wonderful to drive into Wittenberg and see the history unfolding around us. To walk down the streets and ponder the incredible history that had taken place there. And to simply give thanks to God for how He took ordinary people and places and used them to restore the good news of His saving love to the church - it also reminded me of the weighty and joyful privilege we have to continue to proclaim that same message loudly, clearly and faithfully.

Coming to Europe in the 'off season' has it's advantages - short queues, small tour groups, etc. But it also has some down sides and at Wittenberg, this came in the fact that key buildings were being renovated and were closed, as we would find out!

The town square opposite our hotel was filled with a Christmas market and poor old Martin Luther and Phillip Melanchthon (or at least their statues) were obscured by huts selling bratwursts, gluwein and roasted nuts!

Our first day there we had a quick lunch in the Christmas market, discovering a German dish that tastes just like one of the Congolese staples we enjoy back home! I'm not sure what the Germans use, but the Congolese use cassava leaves - very tasty alongside a good bratwurst and bratkartoffel!

We tried to locate the SELK church our friend in Strasbourg had recommended to us, but had no luck. So after trying to read church signs in German and figure out where we were going to worship the next morning, we returned to the brewery where we were to enjoy a 3 course meal that had been included in our booking! Laryssa had been hanging out to have a 'pork knuckle' since we arrived in Germany and this night was her chance! The food was great and the Wittenberg beer every bit as good as I expected!

The next day we proved how poor our German was! So after heading out for worship at St Mary's church at 10am, a closer reading of their billboard revealed that worship was not being held there. A short walk to the Castle Church (Schlosskirche) had us entering a construction site as the very small congregation gathered under scaffolding. As it turns out, St Mary's is closed to the public at present for renovations - a great disappointment as I was so looking forward to seeing the Cranach altar painting. In addition the Castle Church is undergoing renovations and restoration in preparation for the 500th anniversary of the posting of the 95 theses in 2017. Here's some photos that show the extent of the works being undertaken:

The exterior of the Castle Church

Inside the Castle Church

Martin Luther's grave - he was buried beneath the pulpit in the Castle Church on the instructions of the Prince

Even the site of the posting of the 95 theses is fenced off!

Despite construction and Christmas markets, I still managed to get my photos with the Good News magazine at key sites! Good News have been a wonderful resource to us in Shepparton, supplying many resources in different languages over the past 7 years. (I was also going to take these photos with The Lutheran, but when we got to Europe I couldn't find the copy of The Lutheran.)

St Mary's dominates the Wittenberg town centre

A bit of fun in the Brauhaus!

A QUICK VISIT TO LEIPZIG

On the Monday of our stay in Wittenberg we discovered that during the off season most of the attractions we wanted to see are closed, so we decided to drive in to Leipzig to visit two famous Lutheran churches: St Thomas Church where J.S. Bach was the cantor, and St Nikolai Church, which is famous for it's 'peace prayers' and prayerful protests in the days months leading up to the fall of the GDR.

Leipzig is a delightful city and we were deeply moved by our visit to both these churches, but particularly St Nikolai. I had read about a 'cafe' there that serves coffee and cake and donations given for these treats help with their ongoing expenses. After spending quite a bit of time in the beautiful sanctuary, we were only too happy to enjoy their continued hospitality and support their work.

St Thomas Kirche (Bach's church)

We are blessed with a wonderful manse in Shepparton, but the girls were rather impressed with this manse!

Inside St Thomas Church

Not every church has events sponsored by Porsche!

St Nikolai Kirche (Their website is worth visiting to read a little of their history)

Returning to Wittenberg we went to the Brauhaus restaurant for dinner and and had some trouble with the menu...between the waitress, Laryssa and some decent German blokes at the table next door, we discovered that on the menu we had "Bugs Bunny, Bambi, Cock-a-doodle-do, and Mother Goose"! I went for Bambi cooked in their own dark beer sauce and it was delicious!

Darcee took the opportunity to hone her artistic talents!

After checking out we visited Lutherhaus - the ex-Augustinian Monastery where Dr Luther lived with his bride and children. Lots of wonderful art work, historic editions of all things Lutheran, as well as the pulpit from St Mary's, Luther's last clerical robe and other such artifacts.

Lutherhaus - an imposing structure - also under renovation!

One of my favourite Reformation paintings on display at Lutherhaus (sorry for the terrible photo) - they have computers set up to help visitors contemplate this painting - they zoom in on each part and provide explanations and biblical texts to help tell the story.

The pulpit from St Mary's

The room where Table Talk took place

A lectern on the top floor of the building

The view from the second floor

Wittenberg was a wonderful experience which for me, provided the space to remember the joy of the ministry to which I'm called and to recognise the great foundation on which we stand. It's not that the site is sacred or any rubbish like that - but it's history invites deeper contemplation which for me was a great blessing. As Lutheran 'converts' it was a great privilege to be able to visit as a family and experience what has become our heritage.