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We drove from the Brand home near Osnabrück in Niedersachsen to Wittenberg in Sachsen-Anhalt. It took a little over 4 hours because of a 'stau' on the freeway. We wound our way through tiny German towns that were so quaint. It was gorgeous. We arrived in Wittenberg at about 4 o'clock, time enough to tour the Schlosskirche and the home of Luther. It was very nicely done, and hard to believe that 25 years ago this was a communist country. Although, when we crossed from West to East, there were gates and towers and barbed wire that bore remembrance to the way it used to be.
Anyways, Wittenberg was a terrific time. We stayed in the city at the Brauhaus, a brewery, hotel and a wonderful restaurant. Our dinner was FANTASTIC. I had the salmon and grandpa had the beef - truly a terrific German dinner. Then he and I went on a walking tour of the city. Led by our guide, Wittenberg native Marriane Hoy, we toured the most famous landmarks in the old stadt.
- Schlosskirche - where Luther preached and hung the 95 theses
- Home of Lucas Cranach - famous painter and artist for many of Luther's works
- Home of Philip Melancthon, a contemporary, friend and helper of Luther's, and our guide's favorite. She had lots of fun facts about him.
- Cranach Apotheke, where Katherina von Bora worked before she married Luther
- Luther's House, you can still walk IN HIS LIVING ROOM, which is pretty cool.
- Altes Kirche, a church older than Schlosskirche, where Luther also preached. This church also has a 'Judensau', Jewish swine, perched atop it to warn Jews to stay away. This feeling of bigotry, however, does not carry through because almost directly below the pig ornament is a lovely and interesting memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. (Grandpa and I were talking about how it's easy to focus only on the 1500's in Wittenberg, but the city also has thousands of years of European and German history in it too!)
- Many shops and other points of interest, including beautiful gardens and surrounding buildings. I could easily spend another 2-3 days there just enjoying the sites.

We left the city at 9:15 am, because the shops opened at 9 and I needed to buy some things quickly (Watch out Bry!). Then we drove the 2 hours to Dresden, with a quick stop in a historical German town calld Bad Durringen. In that city there is the largest salt water bath in Europe - I'll put up pictures soon. It was interesting to see, and yes, the water tasted nasty.

Check out tomorrow's post about Dresden. Now I'm going to watch Project Runway and enjoy actually understanding everything that is said!

Gute Nacht! Bis Morgen!