Visiting Isabel in Leipzig, and Neuschwanstein

We visited Dresden Monday during the day and then drove to Leipzig as night fell. We stayed the night with Isabel. We had a great night with her, her boyfriend Michael, and her son, Kilian.

We left very early in the morning and drove through more than half of Germany to get to southern Bavaria and Neuschwanstein. About 15 minutes from the castle, we stopped at a little tavern and had chicken schnitzel and french fries.

It was cloudy and raining for most of the time we at the castle, and they won't let you take pictures inside while you are on the tour, but it was still very impressive, and we still managed to get some good pictures.

Viewing the main castle from the inside courtyard

View from the castle walls on the north side of the castle

Beautiful view of the west side of the castle. That other castle down there was also built by Ludwig II, who built Neuschwanstein. Must be nice to look out the backdoor of your castle to look down on your other castle.

Adrielle toughing out the cold wet weather

Model of the castle

The walls are much more impressive in real life though :)

The backside of the outer wall

Main castle, pictures taken from the upper courtyard

You can see everyone huddled in the gate to avoid the rain.

Michi inside the main gate

The north wall of the castle

That little frog was a about the size of a fingernail

North side of the castle

West side of the castle. This is the creepy middle age castle shrouded in fog picture

From the main road. Quite a magnificent edifice.

Dresden

I always heard about how beautiful Dresden was, but had only been there once as a missionary, and that was only to a zone meeting where I had to leave immediately back to my area. Dresden was one of the cities that was most devastated by World War II. The allies completely decimated the city, destroying approximately 90% of the downtown area (according to Wiki). One of the things we got right after WWII, however, is that we helped them rebuild their cities instead of leaving them to foot the entire bill. So, "Florence on the Elbe" was rebuilt back to it's full splendor.

The opera house

The Catholic Hofkirche on the left

This is a beautiful palace called the Zwinger. It was almost completely destroyed but was rebuilt in its full splendor. They used original pieces where possible (you can tell because they are much darker, like the ones Michi is standing in front of), but most of it was rebuilt with new materials

fountain in the Zwinger

More Zwinger

The courtyard and a happy baby despite the rain

Full courtyard picture

There are just too many good views

The Frauenkirche, also completely rebuilt

You can see the tower on the left, which was the only piece of the Frauenkirche to remain standing after the bombing, everything else was rubble

I believe this is the University

View from across the river Elbe

Inside the Frauenkirche, it's much brighter than most European churches

The rain descending as we were leaving.

Sunday in Berlin and Spremberg

Sunday was a great day for renewing old friendships. We went to church in Marzahn, where I served for 8 1/2 months. I was able to see a lot of old friends including Tobias Lehmann, who was baptized while I was there, and Frank Skrotzki, who we helped with his home teaching because he didn't have a companion. Through him we found Familie Tamkus, who was reactivated and whose daughter was baptized. Tobi actually ended up marrying one of Brother Skrotzki's daughters.

Tobias Lehmann, me, Adrielle, and Frank Skrotzki

Susanne Tammert with me and baby

We left straight from church and drove to Spremberg, where Christoph Schmidt lives. I taught him and committed him to baptism, but was transferred before the baptism itself. He has since married in the temple and has two young boys and is still active in the church.

Myself and Adrielle with Christoph and his boys

Park Sanssouci

We booked it from the Pergamon Museum over to Potsdam and went to see Park Sanssouci. The park, in the northwest part of Potsdam, reminds me of exactly what you would think you'd see if you were magically transported back to the 1700s. It's just a huge green park with dirt paths, beautifully manicured gardens and palaces built for different members of the royal family. As you are walking through the grounds you half expect the lords and ladies to come riding in on horseback with their family coat of arms streaming in the wind behind them. It's a beautiful area, and I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking:

Happy baby ready to see the park

Wow, those are nice palaces. Who, you may ask, lived there? Why, those are the servants quarters...no joke.

That is the main palace, the "New Palace". It was built and inhabited by Frederic the Great of Prussia, who commissioned and built almost every palace that you'll see.

Another view

Backside of the New Palace

Just a random beautiful gazebo in a clearing surrounded by trees, known as the "Temple of Friendship"

Still having a good time

Michi and Adrielle in front of the gardens surrounding the Charlottenhof Palace, named, like the main palace, after his wife Sophie Charlotte

Another view of Charlottenhof

Friedrich the Great's (Friedrich III) heir, Friedrich IV, liked Italy, so during his reign he decided to build himself an Italian bathhouse

The "Chinese House", which Friedrich built to adorn his flower and vegetable garden

The "Orangery Palace", also built by Friedrich IV, probably my favorite palace on the grounds from the exterior.

Michi with the Orangery in the background

The "New Chambers" built just west of the Sansouci Palace, with Potsdam's historic mill in the background

The "Sanssouci Palace" and gardens, built by Friedrich as his first palace before he moved to the New Palace. Adrielle finally gave in :)

Friedrich the Great's headstone, covered in potatoes, which the Germans do because he introduced the potato to Germany

the "Picture Gallery", built by Friedrich the Great's father, who was a lover of art

Happy girl even after spending all morning in a museum and then having to be strapped to us for miles of walking around Sanssouci

Just on the edge of the park is the Church of Peace, renowned for its Christus statue

The lettering says "Peace be unto you"

We got home that night late and tired, but we got to see some absolutely amazing things.