August 2, 2009

This morning we departed from Prague and drove around three and a half hours to Munich. We headed straight for BMW Welt and the BMW Museum, where we spent several hours admiring new and old BMW cars. I and the boys had a great time, while Karen actually enjoyed the experience as well – at least that is what she claims. We then headed for our hotel, a Holiday Inn, where after a bite to eat down the street, the boys headed for the pool, our first in Europe at a hotel, and hopefully used up some of their pent-up energy!

August 1, 2009

Today was devoted to the old city of Prague. Our hotel was a 5 minute walk away from the heart of the old city, which was very convenient. We decided to leave Isaac behind at the hotel to surf on the Internet and watch TV (let’s just say it was best for all concerned). Everywhere we looked we marvelled at the beauty of the city, which escaped both World Wars relatively unscathed. We took a free tour of the city for three hours (free means you only pay the tour guide a tip) led by a student from Wales who was very enthusiastic about everything! After a bit of a break, I walked through the town and crossed the Charles Bridge to climb the hill up to the palace while Karen and the boys did some shopping. After three hours I was exhausted but glad I did the walk. I met up with Karen and Abram outside a restaurant near our hotel and had a bite to eat with them.

In the evening I stayed at the hotel with Sol and Isaac while Karen and Abram walked back to the old city and took in a classical concert, which they both enjoyed very much. The whole day was great, with not a cloud in the sky and beauty everywhere we looked. I ended up taking around 225 pictures – not as many as I did in Venice, but pretty close!

July 31, 2009

This morning we continued our drive south and crossed the border in to the Czech Republic. Our first stop was Terezin, formerly known as Theresienstadt, formerly an Austrian military fortress that was turned into a Jewish Ghetto during World War II. We toured several museums and the prison, and learned about life in the Ghetto. There were a number of pictures that were drawn by Jewish children held in the Ghetto that were on display. Over 150,000 Jews were sent to the ghetto from all over Europe, and 33,000 died there. Around 88,000 inhabitants were sent from here to places like Auschwitz. The town was also the site of a prisoner of war camp.

After Terezin we arrived in Prague. The hotel we had booked had made an error in our booking, so we were moved to a sister hotel located right in the old city, which turned out to be a bonus for us. We ended up with a suite with two bedrooms, a kitchen, two bathrooms, and a balcony on the fourth floor. We were pretty impressed.

After supper we strolled around the old city and did some shopping.

July 30, 2009

This morning we drove around two hours south to Dresden, where we stayed with Alexander and Katie Neufeld, friends from seminary days. After lunch we met their daughter Daniela in the old city and she toured us around for a few hours. The old city is incredible, with many Baroque buildings. The highlight was visiting the Frauenkirche, a church that was nearly completely destroyed when Dresden was bombed near the end of the war. The church has been completely restored and is beautiful. The interior is very light and feels very different than many of the other cathedrals we have visited. By the time we returned to the Neufeld’s home it was after 7 p.m., so the boys watched a video and we spent the remainder of the evening visiting.

July 29, 2009

Today was our day to tour Berlin. We decided to use the public transit system, which was quite affordable for our family, so off we went from bus to train, to a second train, to a third train before we arrived at Alexander Platz. From here we hopped on to a hop-on hop-off tourist bus and made our way around Berlin. We saw the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, and a number of other sites. We chose to visit the Old National Gallery in the afternoon, which features French and German impressionist paintings.

We then went to the Check-point Charlie museum, where we spent around two hours looking at the various exhibits. I think the boys enjoyed the museum very much. The exhibits featured a number of stories of people escaping from East Berlin to West Berlin, as well as some of the vehicles and other contraptions that they used.

The evening ended with a visit to KFC and some ice cream before we got back to the church around 11 p.m.

July 28, 2009

This morning we toured the Westfälisches Freilichtmuseum Detmold (Westfalian Open Air Museum). One of my mother’s cousins, Anna Sawatzky, works at the museum and she gave us a tour. Anna’s son Viktor was also there to provide an English translation. I had visited the site five years ago and thought the kids would enjoy walking through the old farm houses and other buildings on the site, which I think they did. However, I think the highlight for them was feeding plums to the goats.

After lunch we said good-bye to the Penners and Esaus and we drove close to four hours east to Berlin, where we are staying at the new location of the Mennonite Brethren church in Berlin. Gary Loewen from Abbotsford is the site manager for the construction project and he helped to get us settled in to the guest room on the construction site. Today is Solomon’s 13th birthday, so for a treat we walked to a great ice cream cafe and splurged on various ice cream dishes.

July 27, 2009

Today we spent the day touring around Detmold. In the morning we visited the Externsteine, a famous rock formation outside of Detmold. We then visited the school where Judith attends and the construction site of the new Mennonite church in Detmold. After lunch we went to Hermannsdenkmal where Abram and Solomon did a three hour high-ropes course. In the evening we visited with the Penners and Lena’s brother and his wife, Jakob and Tina Esau, came over to visit as well.