Germany - Day 7

This morning, we left Wittenberg.  It was truly a wonderful experience.  However, I did have one more chapter to write.  Since I would be preaching on the bus, I had one last opportunity to walk the streets of Wittenberg as I prepared my sermon.  As you can imagine, I loved the walk.

The trip to Berlin was uneventful.  This was the first day we had a few clouds.  Coming into Berlin, there was a real difference between East and West Berlin.  The wall is down, but the economic differences remain.  While we were in the city, we visited two museums.  The first was at Check Poimt Charlie and told the story of the Russian occupation of East Germany and the building of the Berlin Wall.  The wall went up almost overnight and divided so many families.  The various ways people devised to escape to the west were amazing.  The second museum was the Judisches Museum which told the story of Jews in Germany all the way back to the Babyonian captivity to the present time.  The story was compelling, if sobering.  The story is a diffult one to hear.  The museum does an impressive job and the architecture is very much a part of the telling of the story.  The museum is not your usual museum.  It is laid out like a deconstructed star of David.  The visits to the two museums will stay with us for a long time.

We are now in our final hotel.  The location is ideal.  We will be heading out to dinner in a few minutes.  It's hard to believe that the end is in sight.  The trip has been everything I hoped it would be.

Peace,
Pastor Summer