Germany Freiberg Temple

"The temple is the house of the Lord. The basis for every temple ordinance and covenant…is the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Every activity, every lesson, all we do in the Church, point to the Lord and His holy house." Russell M. Nelson

After our visit to Prague, we headed to Berlin with a little side trip to see the 

Germany Freiberg Temple.

I'm so grateful for my sweet husband.  This was a wonderful weekend together.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber - A Step Back In Time

During our studies on the medieval time period, we have been so blessed to find

some really wonderful places to visit.
 Rothenburg ob der Tauber would be at the top of that list.

Double blessing?  Arriving on the weekend of their annual festival - without knowing it!

This town dates back to the 10th century!

We had to keep pinching ourselves to remember, this is not a theme park.

This is real!  Of course, the festival and period costumes helped with the imagery as well.

It was absolutely stunning.   

It's no secret that food is a big part of our travel plans!

We've had mostly hits - a few misses.  Sadly, here is one of our misses.

We'd heard so much about Bavaria Schneeballen - translation - snowballs.

In our excitement, we bought one of each kind when we spied them in a bakery

...and found them to be beautiful, but not very tasty.  

Oops!  Someone heard how we felt about the local Schneeballen.

Not to worry, there were some HITS as well.

This hard-working woman was brewing up some wonderful rustic soup!

We also had a bratwurst...or two.

Best of all?  The fresh-pressed apple cider!

Look closely in the basket near the bottom. 

That is what is left after the apples have been through the press.

Proof that this pure apple delight is fresh squeezed...and delicious!

NoFear loved it so much, he decided to go back and ask them to fill his large water bottle.  After some some deep price negotiations, he was successful...

...and scored some cider for the road!

We absolutely loved the hours we spent enjoying the sights of this storybook village.

Colmberg - Where We Slept Like Royalty!

We wondered what it might be like to stay in a castle ourselves.

With so many of them scattered throughout the area, surely someone would let us stay.

Of course, a castle requires a king...so we stopped at the airport and picked one up!

We love the weekends when Dad joins us!

Castle Colmberg dates back to the 13th century!

This perfect picture borrowed from the hotel's website

We didn't take near enough pictures of this remarkable place. 
We were too busy exploring!
Our stay was awesome.  Great modern bathrooms, but really really old everything else!
We've felt like knights of the round table when we found a quiet corner to play cards.  Tapestries on the walls, books - hundreds of years old- lining the shelves, huge beams and massive wood floors!  Amazing!  

Munich - Glockenspiel or Audi? A No Brainer!

This morning our goal was to find a delicious breakfast in the Viktualienmarkt of Munich

and then be back to the Glockenspiel in time for the show.

Mission accomplished.

Re-stated mission by the boys?

Grab some food.  See the clock that Grandma and Mom keep talking about and get on the road with the car headed toward Ingolstadt!  Why?  To visit the Audi factory, of course!

Now mission accomplished!

Much to our frustration, the road between Munich and Ingolstadt was riddled with construction.

The one hour drive ended up taking almost 2 1/2 hours.

We parked at the Audi factory and ran to the tour office only to be told that tours were over for the day.  Deeply disappointed, we thanked the kind lady and turned to leave, consoling ourselves that going through the museum would be almost as good??  

As we did so, she saw the Canadian flag pinned on my backpack.  Who knew the Audi lady had a soft spot for Canadians!  Next thing we know she has called a colleague and we are on a top secret tour of the inner workings of the Audi factory!  It was amazing!
These two brave knights volunteered as our interpreters.

No pictures allowed inside the factory, but the memory will stay with us forever.

Each car is assembled largely by robots.  When humans are involved, the cars reach them on a conveyer system and the workers have 88 seconds to complete their specific task before the car moves on.  The factory was immaculate.  Not a speck of dust or grease anywhere.  

On to the virtual test driving center.

Followed by some time in the museum.

.... and the day was not over yet!  More surprises just down the road!

Fussen - Neuschwanstein Castle

Our drive today wove us through Liechtenstein and Austria on our way to Fussen, Germany

It was a beautiful drive and we struggled not to detour to many wonderful places -- scheduled for our spring itinerary.  For now, we had one destination in mind.

Neuschwanstein Castle - legendary home of King Ludwig II

... and perhaps a favorite of Walt Disney?

The names means, "new swan stone" and was inspired by Wagner's opera, The Swan Knight.

Ludwig was an enormous patron of Wagner's work, but apparently not of staying in one place.

History records only 11 nights that he slept in his now famous castle.

Oddly enough, his childhood home, Hohenschwangau Castle, was nearby.  It's said he kept a room there equipped with a telescope so that he could enjoy the view of his castle.  Perhaps part of the reason they called him, "mad King Ludwig."

The Black Forest at Freiburg

Time to head to Switzerland via the Black Forest.

A long day of driving today, but I had dreams of Black Forest cake in my head so I was motivated!

We finally stopped in the city of Freiburg (not to be confused with the city of Freiberg on the opposite side of Germany).  It was late and dark, so we grabbed a bite and headed to bed, but morning greeted us with a beautiful site!

We headed to the town center just a few blocks away to find some breakfast and were not disappointed.  Freiburg has a bustling morning market.

Grandma chose the breakfast Bratwurst.  Yum!

NoFear opted for bread from one stall and a jar of homemade jam from another.  

The market stands in the shadow of the Freiburg Münster.  The cathedral is an interesting  mixture of Gothic and Romanesque styles of architecture - built in the 1200's.  

It has a beautiful bell tower - time to burn off breakfast with some stair stepping!

The view from above.

Much about the architecture was beautiful.  I was particularly drawn to this stained glass trio from 1200, entitled The Root of Jesse.  Christ and Mary are represented in the middle.  Jacob and Issac among others on the left.  Elijah on the right.  

I borrowed this picture from the church's website as the sunny day 

made mine too bright to see the detail.

Beautiful entry doors.

We will definitely return to the Black Forest.  First, because it was so beautiful and we didn't have enough time to soak in the hot springs or explore the wonderful castles.  

Most importantly, we will back because somehow we forgot to have a piece of Black Forest cake!

Tropical Island In Berlin

With only one day remaining until Dr. Voice headed back to university, we decided to do something totally out of the box and headed to Tropical Island!

Believe it or not, an old BLIMP factory, about an hour by train out of 

Berlin, has been converted into an indoor beach!

No sunblock required!

Seven People On One Bike?

With only a few days left before Dr. Voice heads back to University, we were anxious to see many of the sites in Berlin.  We will circle back to Germany on our spring itinerary when we study more in depth the wars and the reformation, but for now we had a day to catch some highlights.

Our first stop, Checkpoint Charlie.

The people here describe how almost overnight a fence went up separating East and West Berlin/Germany.  In time, that fence became the Berlin Wall.  It was so unexpected that families did not have time to prepare.  Many were separated.  Those who ended up in the East could receive visitors, but could not leave for any reason.  Those who were in the West had their own problems.  In this case, East/West was a bit of a misnomer as East Berlin nearly surrounded West Berlin.

Checkpoint Charlie was the funnel exit/entrance into West Berlin.  

At times, even this point was so restricted that air drops of food had to be made to those in West Berlin as transport was totally restricted.

From Checkpoint  Charlie we headed toward the Brandenburg Gate.  There we spied this amazing contraption.  Why walk when you can peddle - together?!  6 peddlers plus a driver - not shown - made for a fun adventure through the sites with a great guide.

Brandenburg Gate

This gate has seen many struggles, including being inaccesible next to the Berlin Wall for many years.  Many view this gate as a symbol of freedom and peace. 

The Berlin Wall is in the backdrop here.  An exhibit entitled, The Topography of Terror is also shown.  On this day, the outside exhibit detailed the struggles of Poland, particularly Warsaw, as it was caught in the strife and wars.  We watched an aerial movie that depicted Warsaw before the bombings and then after.  Very sobering.

The inside exhibit here is a permanent exhibit of the Holocaust.  

Remarkable and horrifying in its detail.  The entire exhibit did as was intended, it left us thoughtful and sad, and grateful and determined.

The Reichstag

Holocaust Memorial

And a quick stop in Canada - the embassy in Berlin.  :)