MARTIN LUTHER DAY (or HALLOWEEN) & A VISIT TO WITTENBERG

Did you know that Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on the door of the church in Wittenberg, Germany on October 31, 1517?

In September we visited Wittenberg with Laurie and Oscar and saw the famous church with its very famous door.  The door has long since been replaced with a beautiful bronze one with the 95 objections printed on it.

Martin Luther

 

 

 

The Schlosskirche in Wittenberg

 

The doors

 

A NEW CHURCH

Martin Luther did not intend to start a new church, but to reform the Catholic Church.

But that was not how it played out.

 

Lutheran Church in Wittenberg where Martin Luther

was later employed and preached. 

It was so tall I had a hard time photographing it.

 

It was so pretty inside and much different from most Catholic churches. 

 It's prettier in real life than this picture depicts.

I especially liked the painted green pews.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BERLIN WITH THE PROFESSSORS

September 2015

Roger was asked to moderate the lectures of some BYU Religion professors who were speaking at a conference at the University of Erfurt in Germany.  We spent a week doing research, then interrupted the trip to meet the professors at the Berlin airport, show them the sites of Berlin and then attend the conference.
It was really fun.  They are very interesting and we had them one or two at a time in our car (they rented two other cars so along with our car we had three cars to keep together as we traveled around). We would ask them questions about their current projects and then listen in amazement.
The most interesting to me were the two (Gerrit Dirkmaat and Michael MacKay) who had just finished their new book, From Darkness Into Light about the new research on Joseph Smith translating the Book of Mormon.  I immediately ordered it on Kindle and finished reading it just this week.  I highly recommend it.  You will learn why it's not crazy that Joseph Smith put the seerstone in his hat to read it (yes, he really did that).  And you'll also learn new things about why Joseph Smith sent some of the Egyptian characters to New York City to be looked at by scholars.

Do these look like professors???

A more dignified view of the professors.

We ate a delicious meal at a restaurant in Weimar.

Getting ready for the conference in Erfurt, Germany

 sponsored by IAHR (International Association of the History of Religion)

The new book from Deseret Book, available on Amazon

No, I don't get commissions :)

http://www.amazon.com/Darkness-Light-Michael-Hubbard-Mackay-ebook/dp/B00YD61FWO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1445886299&sr=1-1&keywords=from+darkness+into+light

A VISIT TO OUR FRIEND IN MUNICH

August 2015

When Roger was writing his books about the LDS Church in Germany during WWII we got to know Walter and Erna Hirschmann in Munich.  We have stayed with them many times, even taking family members and friends to visit them.  Sadly,  Walter passed away in 2013.  He was an engineer so they were able to have a beautiful home on the outskirts of Munich.

Here are Jeanne and Marolyn in 2011 at the Hirschmann's.

 

Here is a picture from 2011 with the beautiful flower beds in the front yard. 

      

     This year we visited Erna and were shocked by the new front yard. 

Her son decided to sell that part of the property so that a twin home could be built. 

 He sold the backyard as well, but it hasn't been destroyed yet.

View from the front door to the new house.

Erna still works in her beautiful flower beds.  Here is her back patio.

She said the flowers look terrible this year because of the dry summer. 

I wish my flowerbeds looked this terrible!

I LOVE FLOWERS!

Anyone who has visited Europe has noticed the flower shops all over the cities.  Flowers are much cheaper for some reason and even in very cold weather they are out on display.  Here are some of my favorites, mostly from Vienna, but some from towns in Germany.

 

 

                                             

                                      Hydrangeas are called Hortensie in German.  Only 8,95 Euro! 

                                             Can you imagine the cost in an American flower shop?

 

                                                  Do you notice the Edelweiss in the front?

 

 

Fall asters, two for 15 Euro

 

 

                                                    1,99 Euro for a darling angel vine

                                           (they write their 1's like to look a little like 7's)

 

                                                                 The displays are works of art.

 

                                                               Heather of various colors.

 

                                                                                 Fall displays

 

 

ANOTHER TYPE OF GERMAN TOWN

August 2015

After working in the archive in the town of Kempen, our next stop was Blomberg.  It's another darling town in a completely different style from Kempen.  It has Fachwerk buildings galore (we sometimes call this style Tudor in the U.S.).  Sometimes archive work is hard and tedious but the villages are charming.  If we finish our work early we can walk around and enjoy them.

Our archive was in a former Jewish Synagogue (used before the Jews were evicted from town).  They left the Torah cupboard and you can see it on the wall in front of Roger. 

The Blomberg city archive

Roger is hard at work

Jeanne scanning a very old document

The women's loft in the synagogue

The Fachwerk houses are gorgeous

And you meet interesting people....

 School was starting soon.  The cones on the right of this store

window are filled with candy by the parents

and given to their children on the first day of school.

We love Blomberg!

ART NOUVEAU VIENNA STYLE

October 26, 2015

 

A new and exciting style of art and décor began at the turn of the century (1890's to around 1910) called Art Nouveau.  In Austria it's called Jugendstil.  One of my favorite uses of this style is in architecture.  It's characterized by lots of green painted wrought iron and gold.  One of my favorite places to see this style is in Viennese public transportation stations and on bridge and balcony railings.  Gustav Klimt is the favorite Viennese Jugendstil artist.  The famous revolutionary Secession Art Gallery is designed in Jugendstil.

 

 

The Josefstaedter Station

 

 

Railings

 

 

Karlsplatz Station

 

Close-up

 

 

The Majolica House on Linke Wienzeile

 

 

Close-up

 

The famous Anker Clock on Hoher Markt

 

Strudelhofstiege (stairway) very near to our apartment

 

Close-up of the fountain

 

Secession Gallery at Karlsplatz....

......with its leafy gold dome

 

One of my favorite buildings

 

And last, but not least: all the Klimt art you could ever hope to see.

 

Klimt's "The Kiss"

 

Klimt's "Tree of Life"