GERMAN ADVENTURE – Day 7

            Wow – we’ve been on this side of the pond for a full 7 days now.  What makes it a bit special is that 42 years ago, we were attending a wedding at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Wilburt, MN.  Actually, we did more than attend – we were the bride and groom.  When I told the Deputy Director in Wittenberg that it was our anniversary, he said I should congratulate Dea for putting up with me for that long.  I agree!

            And yes, we are here in Wittenberg!  Home for the next two weeks.  I’m writing this in our room, but I will have to take the laptop down into the lobby to post it and to get internet access.

            It’s been quite a day.  Neither of us slept well last night.  I’m not sure what Dea’s problem was, but mine was being scared to death of getting lost somewhere between Berlin and Wittenberg, and driving around in circles for eternity, waiting for the Lord to rescue us!  Almost…

            As we checked out of the hotel this morning, we discovered that the desk staff had printed out mapquest maps (in German, of course!) guiding us to the San Soucci palace in Potsdam.  Well, to Potsdam anyway.  Ever since we have arrive here, I have completely lost my sense of direction.  East felt west, etc.  So we immediately turned the wrong direction, but quickly figured it out and with Dea navigating, we got to the palace with no problem at all.

            SanSoucci palace was built in Potsdam as a summer palace by Frederick the Great (not Nitschke, if anyone asks)  It is not huge, but very opulent.  The gardens are something else – huge, expansive, and gorgeous.  We walked around the gardens for an hour, then took the tour of the castle.  It was then time to head for Wittenberg. 

            Yeah, right!  We could find our way in to Potsdam, but we sure couldn’t find our way out!  We must have driven around for an hour or more, asking a number of people how to find the autobahn headed for Leipzig.  Finally a car dealer set us on the right path.

            Driving on the autobahn is quite an experience.  The right two lanes are for “sane” traffic – the speed limit is 75 mph or 130 km/h.  Our little Ford focus handled that really well.  The left hand lane is something else.  Cars blazed past us like we were standing still.  

            We got off the autobahn where mapquest told us to, and headed cross country to Wittenberg, only to discover that this dinky little 1 ½ lane road was closed for construction about 10 miles outside of town.  Dea found an alternate route that worked.  We had planned to hit town at 4:00 – which we did.  Finding our hotel was another story.  We almost got busted for driving in the historic part of the city – no cars allowed – until some pedestrians chased us out.  We asked a few people to help us find the Luther Hotel, and got blank looks for our trouble.  Finally I parked the car, left Dea to guard our stuff, and headed for the Wittenberg Information post.  I’d been there several times before, so I found that quickly, and there met Bob Lehmann, the Deputy Director.  He got on his bicycle (he’s in his 70’s) and led us to the hotel.  As he said when we got there, “Not bad riding for an old fart, don’t you think?”  Not bad at all!

            We are checked in, the car is parked in the underground garage, and we’re about to head out to find a nice place for an anniversary supper.  Dea did some laundry in the sink, so we will have something to wear for a few days.  Afterwards we’ll just crash, and I’ll take the laptop downstairs and see if I can get this posted. 

            Tomorrow I “start to work.”  Afternoon devotions at 4:30.  It is interesting to look at a few places in town and see posters advertising English language worship in the Castle Church this Saturday evening, Rev. William Otte from Rochester, Minnesota, U.S.A.  preaching.  Pretty nifty!

THE REST OF THE STORY

            So, Bob Lehmann recommended the Kartoffelhaus Restaurant for a nice anniversary dinner.  We walked from the hotel to the restaurant (I remember having stopped there 9 years ago, but didn’t eat there then).  We had an al fresco dinner.  We ordered dinner for 2, which included salad, potatoes, vegetables, and 3 kinds of meat (pork, turkey, and beef).  Sounded like a good anniversary dinner for two.  When they finished bring out the food, the table was FULL – we could have fed 8-10 people on what they brought out.  The food was excellent, but we could not do away with even half of it.  If I can, I’ll attach a picture.

            When we were done, we started to walk back to the hotel.  I insisted we take a stroll past the city church of St. Mary, just to scope out where things will happen tomorrow.  Nice.  We had no idea where the hotel was – walked for over an hour, asked directions 3 times…  This must be “lost day” for us.  Finally a gal from a Best Western Hotel took pity on us, marked a map for us, and walked us part way back just to make sure we didn’t get lost.

            Here we are.  The day is done, and I mean done!