Wittenberg, Germany (Home to Martin Luther)

We live in such a Catholic area (Bavaria), that it is easy to forget that the beginnings of the Protestant Religion were formed right here in Germany too. When we homeschooled (seems like a lifetime ago), we studied about Martin Luther and the Reformation. Martin Luther lived in Wittenberg and taught at the University there (yes - just a mere 498 years ago). After being a Catholic Monk prior to this time, and then during his days as a Proffesor in Wittenberg, he had much time to ponder the teachings and beliefs of the Catholic Church and posted his questions on the Church door. His "Ninety Five Theses" (the list of 95 questions that he had), became a huge distraction for the Church and in turn set the tone for the divide of the church. We stopped in Wittenberg on our way up to Berlin and walked around a bit. It is a beautiful old city, with lots of character. You could almost envision Martin Luther roaming the streets as a citizen there. Very interesting. It was one of the days for us that everything was closed, but there were still many people walking around and relishing in the history (and of course window shopping too :-))

(Totally nothing to do with this post, but it is always so amazing to see all of the Windmills on the Autobahn :-))

Here is one of the signs for the hiking pilgrimage....

Here is the famous Schlosskirche (or as it is known in English, "All Saints Church", where Martin Luther posted his Thesis

The University city is still known as "Luther Stadt" or Luther City in English

Thought this was funny... We asked an older couple if they could take a photo of us in front of the famous door. They took a photo, but forgot to include the door in the background :-) Plus Camden's eyes were closed anyway :-(

Ok - here is the second photo (taken by another man). You can see the door in the background - much better :-). Again, you could almost envision Luther hammering his Theses way back in the day :-). Speaking of long ago. The reason the construction fence is there, is because they are slowly getting ready for the 500 year anniversary celebration in 2017.  

Wittenberg is a beautiful University City. The church that you see in this photo was not the church that he posted his Theses on, but one right down the street from it, where he got married.

A little window shopping, and if I'm not mistaken, each of the kids on their phones - arg!!!!  They did like it there though, so I guess I can't complain too much :-)

A little courtyard - I love the coziness of a German Christmas! These stars were everywhere up in Northern Germany. We have a few in Bavaria, but they were definitely a popular item up North!

I made them take a Selfie (you can see the excitement in Camden's face :-))

More Stars - at night they were all lit up!

There was a beautiful Park, with trees donated by Churches all over the world. It was fun to read the name plates - many were sponsored by Churches in the U.S.

Wittenberg! It is funny - as we always seem to be in a car for hours on end, Bryan and I love to "solve the worlds problems" through discussion. We joked that maybe we should create a Theses of our own to post all of our questions that we have with regard to things that don't make sense to us! I wonder if we could change the world like Martin Luther did? Something tells me, it wouldn't do much good in this day and age ;-)