Berlin

I've got a bit to catch up on, so I think I'll do several separate posts so I don't confuse myself! We've had a great week since I last checked in, with loads of adventures as well as some much needed down time.

On our first full day in Berlin, the sleepy heads eventually surfaced and sometime in the afternoon we decided to walk to the Charlottenburg Palace. We weren't staying in a tourist area so we had a chance to walk the streets of suburbian Berlin and stumbled across a wonderful little cafe where a lovely old Oma served us coffee and cakes as we sat on the footpath and watched Berlin go about it's daily routines.

Charlottenburg was built as either a hunting residence or summer palace - can't remember which one! We arrived about 4pm when the sun had already set and it was lit up beautifully with the surrounding Christmas market in full swing.

Dinner was bought at the Christmas market, along with the odd gluwein to warm us up on this cold night - well that's a good enough excuse! The food was sensational and most of us enjoyed pork rolls courtesy of this little fella...

The girls had their mandatory crepes covered in Nutella - which would almost seem like a national desert if it wasn't for the fact that they were selling them all over France as well! The walk home was longer than we'd thought and didn't do Laryssa's cartilage-less knees any good - she was paying the price for our time at the Wartburg Castle with the well over 200 stairs we had to climb!

Next morning it was clear that Laryssa wasn't up to much activity for the day, but she didn't want us to miss out on seeing Berlin and so she sent me out with Georgia and Darcee. As we only had one day we decided to see Berlin on one of the 'hop on, hop off' buses. We first did the whole route (which took 3 hours instead of the advertised 2!) and then made a couple of stops at key points. Not the best way to see a city, but in a short time it seemed the most practical. The following photos are mostly taken through the bus windows and so are not particularly good, but hopefully you get the idea!

Christmas markets everywhere!

There was an enormous amount of construction going on in Berlin

The 'East Gallery' - part of the Berlin Wall covered in art works by famous artists. Now mostly covered in graffiti! We wanted to come back here and take some decent photos, but ran out of time.

The Brandenburg gate

In 1988 I was studying politics (along with Economics) at Monash Uni. The course in international politics was still dominated by Cold War theories and there was no engagement with the reality that things were rapidly changing behind the iron curtain. The following year the wall came down and all the theories of men that I'd been studying crumbled along with the concrete. It was very sobering to spend time at this segment of the wall that still stands adjacent to a museum reminding everyone of the atrocities that went on in it's shadow.

The foundations of the Stasi Police barracks

Checkpoint Charlie

The bus company advertised that their tours concluded at 5pm. I asked one driver if that meant they finished the round they were on, to which he replied 'yes, yes, we go to 5'. I should've realised that come 5pm an announcement informs you that everybody gets off at the next stop! We were 7km from home, standing at the Brandenburg Gate and no taxis or other forms of transport were in sight. Embracing the adventure we decided to walk home and with a stop at a supermarket to buy pre dinner drinks (!), we made it in less than an hour and a half - not a world record, but pretty cool in the dark in Berlin!

For those of you on Facebook you may have seen my endless posts that day as I tried to share the tour with Laryssa who was resting in our apartment. When we got home she thought we'd be too tired to go out but no way! We walked around the corner to a Mexican bar and restaurant and had a sensational time with wonderful food, service and cocktails - a great way to end our short stay in the capital.

Feeling much more relaxed about driving in Europe, I suggested that we should follow some of the tour route in our car on the way out of Berlin the next day so Laryssa could see some of the sights. A surprisingly relaxing drive through the centre of the city and we were on the autobahns again and on our way to Wittenberg!

Long overdue...two cities later!

Well it's been over a week since I updated which has been largely due to slow and then non-existent internet connection in our apartment in Erfurt. I've quite enjoyed the time away from the keyboard but I know some family members were waiting on our updates, so here goes!

Last time I posted we were still in Brumath near Strasbourg in France. After enjoying the Christmas markets on the Monday, Georgia and I headed back into Strasbourg to drop off our hire car and then caught a train to Offenberg in Germany to pick up our 'winterised' car for our German leg of the adventure. The trip to Strasbourg - normally 15 minutes - took over an hour due to fog and glaze (ice) but we made it in one piece and even caught the train we were hoping for.

Upon arrival we discovered that our new car was a BMW 318d - a little smaller than we'd expected in terms of luggage space, but it would have to do. After a most disappointing stop at the Golden Arches in Germany, we headed back to France where we enjoyed a final French dinner of roast pork belly, Alsace Cremant and assorted other things that I've long since forgotten! A visit from our hosts was an added blessing on our last night there.

Farewell Brumath! Au revoir Andre et Fabienne!

After cramming the BMW with our gear, and assisting the automated tail gate to close - we hit the autobahns and headed toward Erfurt. It was a journey of around 500km so we were hoping to see lots of German countryside. Unfortunately visibility was very poor but we did enjoy some wonderful sights and the amazing change in scenery. 

The much awaited autobahns have been an experience! On the whole they're fantastic roads with well behaved drivers. Trucks are limited to about 80 or 90km/h and mostly stick to the right hand lane. The far left lane is for brief overtaking manoeuvres unless you are travelling in excess of 200km/h. The 'recommended' speed limit is 130km/h but no one takes any notice of it! It's surprising how quickly you get used to the pace and how you get constantly swamped if you drive slower than 130km/h.

This video was taken on our way to Berlin, but it gives you a glimpse at how fast some people travel. We were sitting on 130km/h and the two cars that overtook were quickly out of sight. They were by no means the fastest out there, but they give you an idea. On our trip from Brumath to Erfurt a beautiful Maserati went screaming past - it must have been doing well over 200km/h - the exhaust note was sensational!

German roads are something to behold as we connected from one autobahn to another and travelled through mountain tunnels. The following video shows us emerging from an 8 km long, up hill tunnel. You get to see what the weather was like on that day.

We were heading north at about the same time the storm named Xaver was descending on the UK and so things were getting cold very quickly. It's amazing how the scenery can change so quickly. Here's another short video of the Narnia-like forests that bordered the road for quite a good deal of our trip that day...

We arrived in Erfurt late in the afternoon and after finding a massive supermarket, cooked some dinner and settled in for the night. A quick aside - beer is about 38 euro cents for a 500ml bottle of great German bear (and that includes an 8 cent deposit!) Finding a car park was a bit of a challenge, especially as it was dark by 4.30pm, but I finally found one reserved for me outside an establishment bearing a fine name....

Erfurt is famous for many reasons - not the least of which is that it was the place in which Martin Luther attended university and then joined the Augustinian cloister where he studied for the priesthood. It also contains some magnificent examples of medieval architecture including the oldest inhabited bridge in Europe, north of Venice - yes, it's a bridge with about 38 houses (and shops) on it! The streets of Erfurt are lined with Christmas markets at this time of year, although you can hardly see them for all the families that are out and about enjoying themselves.

It was a wonderful place to explore and for Laryssa, a very emotional place to be as it brought back so many memories of her dear mum and helped us to understand a lot better, many of the things that were important to her. Laryssa even managed to find a stall selling kartoffel puffers and apfelmus (potatoe pancakes and apple sauce) - a Lukjanov family favourite!

In case we needed reminding, Christmas is coming!

The Luther monument in Erfurt

Who's that crazy woman?

Behind us is the Krammebrucke - the bridge covered in houses, shops and people!

It was a tad busy!

Testing out her German language skills...she did well!

A bit of light reading under the watchful eye of an old friend - Good News magazine 

The Christmas markets in Cathedral Square (Domplatz)

The cathedral on the left of this photo is the church in which Martin Luther was ordained.

One day during our stay in Erfurt (can't remember which one!), we headed out to Eisenach to visit the Wartburg Castle - an historic castle that also provided refuge for Martin Luther when the pope and the emperor had declared him an outlaw and put a price on his head. It was a great time to visit with the cold weather driving the crowds away - our tour had only 7 people in tow compared to the 50-70 per tour in summer! It's a magnificent building, first built in the 12th century (if my memory serves me well). As well as marvelling at the architecture and history, it was wonderful to see the original Cranach paintings of Luther, Melancthon and others as well as stand in the room in which Luther translated the New Testament into German in only 10 months! 

We left the castle later than planned but were able to catch a late lunch at the Eisenach Christmas markets before heading back into Erfurt.

The lady's chamber with ceiling covered in mosaics telling the story of St Elizabeth who lived in the castle.

The 'rebuilt' chapel - still about 600 years old I think!

13th century wall painting in the chapel

The top floor of the castle - High School students from Eisenach have their graduation ceremony in this room each year.

A lousy photo of some familiar paintings

The hall way to Luther's room

Keeping the theme going...reading Good News (Law and Gospel) in the room in which Luther translated the New Testament

In Eisenach we parked outside a church and were greeted with these familiar words

Another beautiful Christmas market - photo taken at about 4pm

The day before we left Erfurt, Darcee was a little under the weather so Georgia and I went out exploring for a few hours, visiting the Augustinian Cloister where Luther trained for the ministry, and then the cathedral in which he was ordained.

Yep, here's another one...perhaps I should've bought another edition with me...although getting Law and Gospel rightly divided will take one a lifetime!

The sanctuary in the cloister church

The cathedral in which Martin Luther was ordained

Yesterday we drove from Erfurt to Berlin where we are staying for 3 nights...a surprisingly easy drive of about 300km with only the last 10km being off the autobahns. Things have started slowly this morning with everyone sleeping in, so we'll have to wait and see how much of Berlin we get to take in...but we're on holidays, so that's the way it goes!

Praying that you are all well and getting ready to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Saviour in just a couple of weeks!

With love from us all!

The Ankers in Berlin