Today it was a train trip to Wittenberg, the city where Luther posted his 95 Theses on the church Door in 1517. The old city is a beautiful grouping of old houses, including those of Luther, Malancthon (Luther's main collaborator and a primary theologian of the Lutheran Church) and Cranach (an artist and engraver who is responsible for a good number of the portraits we have of Martin Luther.

Luther's house is now a museum relating Luther's progression from academic to monk to reformer. It holds a great collection of old documents all of which were in German or Latin and in the old German script which made them even harder to read. We did see a very early hymn book with "Ein Feste Burg ist unser Gott" ("A Mighty Fortress is our God") in it as well as copy of Luther's own Bible translation.

Luther's House

Katherina von Bora, Luther's Wife

Luther's Pulpit

The whole town is preparing for the 500th anniversary of the nailing of the 95 theses and the start of the reformation, so both the castle church and the city church are covered in scaffolding and hessian. The parts that have been renovated are looking very good though.

CastleChurch

City Church - St Mary's

We ended the day with an English language service in the small chapel next to the Town Church - which of course included the singing of "A Mighty Fortress."

Chapel

Today we travelled around half an hour south by train to visit a family that Paul was close to when he was in Berlin. Angelo and Cara now have four beautiful children and live in what was once a farmhouse and bakery in a small country village in the middle of a forest. Angelo's mother, Esther Miller is a master quilter who runs classes from the property and today she had a visiting expert from Holland running  a class for her. so We were privileged to see a number of quilts that the Dutch woman, Ted Storm had made and that had won major prizes in the international quilting competition in Houston. Ted has been named a master quilter by the International guild of quilters.Here are a couple of photos of both Esther's and Ted's work. These are all hand stitched with incredible skill.

Esther Miller's Jungle Book

Ted Storm Quilt

Ted Storm Quilt

Today we caught the train to the city and visited az number of historic sites - Checkpoint Charlie, one of the checkpoints between East and West Berlin, The topographie of Terror, a display of the history of Nazi leadership in Germany leading to WWII and later the war crimes trials. What we noticed here was the photos of Nazi guards and women having the time of their lives during the war then the serious looks on their faces as they sat in the dock at their trials. Another interesting fact was that Hitler rose to power by claiming he was simply providing for a community of the German people. But beneath that veneer were practices like decreeing that the disabled and unemployed were a hindrance to the community and should be disposed of! I hear some echoes of those thoughts in our current government's approach to the unemployed.
We also visited the Berliner Dom, the real Berlin Cathedral. This is a Lutheran church but one wonders what Luther would think of it with the Altar having a crucifix on it and the priest required to stand with his back to the people. Mind you there are also a number of large plaques with Scripture verses reminding the congregation that salvation is by faith alone and we stand only on the word of God.
We climbed the 300 or so steps to the top of the dome where we had a great view of the city - then the same number of steps to get back to the ground level (visa the crypt) - just what my knees needed.

Checkpoint Charlie

Berlin Wall - Topographie of Terror Centre

Berliner Dom (Cathedral)

Cathedral Organ

Cathedral Sanctuary

Today we took the train to the middle of the city and walked up to the Brandenburg Gate. This was the gateway between East and West Berlin during the post-war period from 1945 until 1989 when the wall came down and Germany was reunified.
We then walked the 3 or 4 km length of the Tiergarten. This is a wonderful natural woodland garden in the mddle of the city, filled with walkers, joggers and cyclists, not to mention the people simply enjoying lying in the sun. There are avenues of trees all through the park along with countless statues that appear every now and then. At the end of the park is a famous Flea Market - the Troedel Markt which we looked through without finding anything we were interested in.

Brandenburg Gate

Tiergarten

Tiergarten

Victory Column - Commemorating victory in the Danish-Prussian and Austro-Prussian Wars

Tiergarten Flea Market

We're now in Berlin after an uneventful flight from Heathrow and a quick passage through immigration carried out at the landing gate as we arrived.
One of the things that strikes you here is the public transport system. We came out of the airport and got straight on to a bus that took us to the nearest train station. The ticket for the bus is the same as the ticket from that station to the one we were going to. The trains come every few minutes so if you're not sure which train you want, as was the case for us as newcomers, it doesn't matter if you stop to check where you're going. Another train will be along in no time.
We also noticed that at the station where we change trains to go into the city they're building several new platforms. It seems that public transport is highly valued in this country. In fact we met up with Paul's PhD supervisor, Klaus Ecker, for dinner and he told us he doesn't have a car because he doesn't need one. Almost everywhere he needs to go is easily accessible by train or bus.It's a pity our governments can't work out what a difference good public transport makes!
On our way to meet Klaus we went via the shops; in particular KaDeWe - Berlin's version of Harrods. Not surprisingly everything was beautiful and very expensive. I did see a beautiful pair of shoes in the menswear department but I decided that $600 was more than I needed to pay for shoes.
Just near KaDeWe is the Kaiser Wilhelm Church. It was bombed during the Secxond World War and the shell of its steeple and its ground floor have been preserved as a peace memorial. A new chapel has been added next door.

 

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church

 We had dinner at a place called the Gendarmenmarktn named after the Prussian soldiers (Gens d'armes) who were mostly Huguenot Protestants who fled to Germany from France in th late 17th century. The market square is unique in that it houses two very similar cathedrals, known as the French and German cathedrals. These are both
Protestant churches with central pulpits and communion tables in front of the pulpit, rather than an altar behind.The French was built first, for the Huguenot Christians and teh German Church came later for the German Calvinist Reformed Christians.

French Cathedral

German Cathedral

Thursday Night and we're back in London. We can't believe the number of people around the city as we're walking to and from the West End Kitchen, a hidden treasure just off Haymarket in the Theatre area. Trafalgar Square has as many people in it as it did in the middle of the day with buskers and street performers drawing large crowds.
It's summer so the sun doesn't set until around 10 so everyone is out enjoying a beautiful sunny day. Yes, this is London and the sun hasn't stopped shining since we got here.

Big Ben looking down Whitehall

London Eye 7:30pm

Today we visited Laugharne (pronounce Larn), the home of Dylan Thomas for the last years of his life. We saw his studio, once the garage of the boathouse that a friend bought for him, as well as the boathouse itself, modified to become a family home. We listened to him reading his poetry and watched a fascinating documentary on his life. He died at the age of 39, probably as the result of drinking too heavily. He's said to have come in a few days before his death boasting that he'd downed 18 whiskies - a record. It's also said that he died of a "severe insult to the brain" though later research suggests that his personal physician may have misdiagnosed his illness and the treatment he gave may have exacerbated what was the real problem, pneumonia.

Dylan Thomas' Boathouse

Dylan Thomas' Boathouse sitting room

Dylan Thomas' Boathouse Garage/Studio

Dylan Thomas' Boathouse Garage/Studio

View from Dylan Thomas' Boathouse

After Laugharne we travelled further down the peninsula to a pretty town named Tenby. This is a walled fishing village/town as well as a family holiday destination. It was bit touristy but quite beautiful on a sunny summer's day as it was today.John Wesley preached here in the town square in 1763.

St Mary's Church Tenby

Tenby harbour

Tenby Harbour

Tenby with Castle in background

Today we travelled a relatively short distance to Peniel,. a tiny village just out of Carmarthen.
We stopped on the way at Caerphilly to see the castle, the 2nd largest in the UK (after Windsor Castle). It's mostly ruins but you get a good idea of how big it once was. It's surrounded by a large moat with a fixed bridge now rather than a drawbridge.
We also called in to Swansea to see what the beach was like but it was low tide and the water was about 50m from the shore.
Carmarthen has a lovely old town area with a modern area adjoining it. It has a castle as well but it's really only a facade. The Police station is inside though. (Car=Caer=Castle or Fort. Car mar then= castle sea fort)
The village where we're staying is a beautiful rural area, lots of hills and narrow roads, very green with cattle and sheep grazing.

Caerphilly Castle

Caerphilly Castle entrance

Caerphilly Castle keep

Caerphilly Castle and moat

Carmarthen Castle

Today we visited a farmers' market on the banks of the River Taff where we enjoyed some delicious food for lunch. We then took a river ferry down to the harbour. The harbour is the location of the National Assembly of Wales (the Senedd). It also celebrates Roald Dahl who was baptised in the Norwegian Church, located there. In fact Roald Dahl was one of the group of people who made sure that the Norwegian Church, which had once been a mission to Norwegian Seamen, was restored in the 1970s. Cardiff Harbour also hosts a Doctor Who exhibition. You may bnot have known that Doctor Who is filmed on location in and around Cardiff as well as in the BBC studio in Cardiff Bay.
After leaving the harbour we caught the bus back to the cirty to visit the Cardiff Museum. It contains a good collection of Impressionist art which we greatly enjoyed as well as a lot of sculptures, including a large version of Rodin's "The Kiss". No photos from there as we had to sign an agreement that we wouldn't put any photos on the Internet.
Tomorrow we drive to our next stop in central Wales.

Cardiff River Ferry View

Old Harbourmaster's Building, now part of the National Assembly building

Norwegian Church Cardiff, now a gallery and cafe

Scott of the Antarctic Memorial. Scott Left from Cardiff for his Antarctic expedition.

Tardis landing in Cardiff Bay

Today we had a slow start - read the Saturday Age, groaned over the state of politics in Australia, did the Sudoku, read the comics - all the important stuff! Then we went in to the centre of Cardiff - by local bus. Chris visited the Castle while Di did some shopping/browsing. The Castle was built by the Romans in the first century AD as a base for the long battle against the Welsh - which they never really won. They eventually left Wales in the 5th century leaving the welsh to take over again. The castle then fell into disrepair but was rebuilt in Norman times, again as a defensive base. It's been renovated and repaired several times since. It was used during the second world war as an air raid shelter and was given to the people of Cardiff by the 5th Marquess of Bute in 1947.