Oktober

In October, my "tour of cities" began. In this beautiful, fall month, I had 2 major trips and 1 minor one.

Paris:

When I arrived in Berlin, one of the first things I was told was “Congratulations. You have inherited the youth trip at the end of October and no one has done anything with it yet. We realize that it’s in 2 months, but we thought you could handle it.” :) So, at the end of October, I took a group of 6 youth to Paris for a few days for a conference. The conference could have been much-better organized, but really, how great is it to hop on a plane and arrive in Paris 2 hours later? The city is absolutely beautiful and, although I would be an instant outcast there because of my lack of interest or conscientiousness into fashion, it is a fascinating place and one where I would certainly go to again. The conference was for the youth of all the churches that are a part of the “Association of International Churches in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa” (AICEMEA). So it was an English-speaking conference with youth from churches all over Europe but from countries all over the world. The theme was “Crossings”, where we talked about what it meant to cross paths with ourselves, our “enemies”, our future, and Jesus. And in the middle of all of it, we went up the Eiffel Tower (did you know that it actually started out as a temporary radio tower?), to the Louvre, Notre Dame, on a boat tour of the Sienne, and many other things. And the company of the youth was fantastic. Seriously, who gets paid to go to Paris?

The Eiffel Tower and the American Church in Paris on the left (where we were).

Notre Dame

Wittenberg:

For Reformation, I went to Wittenberg itself. 490 years to the day after Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the door of the Castle Church, I was in that very church at a worship service. I really have no words for it. As a Lutheran, you really don’t get much better than that. It was actually part of my job to be there, because there are ELCA missionaries in Wittenberg (who work with a program to help tourists (especially Lutheran groups) understand and learn about Wittenberg) who were running a confirmation retreat over Reformation. A member of my church and I went down to help with the program. So, I got to work with youth, attend a huge medieval festival, go through Luther’s house/museum, and have all of my expenses paid. Phenomenal.

The city square with the medieval market. The Stadtkirche, or "city church", is in the background. This is not to be confused with the Schlosskirche, or "castle church". This is where Luther preached - not where he nailed the 95 Theses.

Schloss Charlottenburg:

There is actually a palace by my apartment. It's about a 10 minute bike ride along a canal to get there. So on my day off one week, I rode down there. I didn't actually go in, but there are these beautiful Baroque-style gardens behind it and I rode through there for a while and then sat by the pond watching people. It was a wonderful, fantastic day and one I hope to repeat when we get out of winter and it doesn't rain everyday. I actually love the rain, but it makes bike-riding and garden-touring a bit difficult...