Elbe River Tour Continued

Here's a few more photos of photos from Germany and the Czech Republic. Top left photo below shows the cruise boat on the Elbe River, on which my mom and stepdad were passengers. The other photos are of the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, also known as the "Saxon Switzerland Region". It is also called the "Bastei" region. The travelers brought me two pebbles as souvenirs......one from this area, and one from the street in Wittenberg that connects Luther Haus and Schlosskirche.

This Elbe Sandstone Mountain area in Germany reminds me of parts of the Black Hills in South Dakota.

*********************

*********************

Below are some glimpses from Prague. Don't those old Jewish cemetery scenes look strange!? There were other photo pages of Prague showing extremely ornate church interiors. My stepdad said they were given one full day on their own in Prague.......to walk around wherever they pleased.

*********************

*********************

As I mentioned in the previous post, this excursion was with the Viking Riverboat Tours Co. My mom and stepdad have also taken cruises on the Volga River between Moscow and St. Petersburg, and in The Netherlands at tulip blossom time. They are trying to decide where to go next! Must be rough, huh?? I think they should go to Norway and cruise through the fjords, or to Ireland. My mom wants to tour the Ukraine next, though. She really likes Russia.

In "Vittenberg"

Yeah, I realize this quite pathetic........taking photos of someone else's photo album. My mom and stepdad returned a few days ago from a riverboat cruise on the Elbe River in Germany and the Czech Republic.

One of the cities they spent time in was Wittenberg, in northern Germany.......famous for its connection to the life and times of Martin Luther. Hence, this post's photos will show a few "Sehenswurdigkeiten von Wittenberg"/main sights of Wittenberg.

The top left photo below shows the "Schlosskirche"/Castle Church, on whose door Martin Luther nailed the "95 Theses" on October 31, 1517. Yesterday afternoon, I read the "95 Theses"........they are a list of concerns, dealing mainly with the medieval Catholic Church's practice of selling indulgences. As I see it, over time the Church had become intoxicated by its power and authority over people. (Imagine that.) The institution of the Church became unable to see clearly and operated in a presumptuous manner, thinking it was God, with the right to dictate rules to dominate the masses of everyday people, and feed its greed for money. I highly doubt that that was Jesus' intentions for how the church should operate. The Church was drunk, and like a drunkard, was doing stupid things. Martin Luther's original intent was to reform the Church......not establish a new branch of the Church. Things got out of hand, probably because things needed to get out of hand........the status quo needed to be shaken up. Whoops......we need to get back to the photo.......
The lower left photo in the above photo shows the doors of the Castle Church on which Luther nailed the 95 Theses. The wooden doors of Luther's time were burned in the 1700's, and the ones there today are made of bronze. The two scenes on the right, above, are inside the Castle Church.

*********************

Below are pictures of Luther Haus/Luther House. On the Wittenberg city map my mom and stepdad gave us, Melanchthon Haus is next door. Luther Eiche/Luther Oak is down the street.

********************

Below is Luther's gravestone.........inside the Castle Church, I assume.

*******************

And last, but not least, here below is a statue of Katharina von Bora Luther, wife of Martin Luther. Her stance shows a determined posture of motion and moving forward. Good for her. Her face looks firm and well-preserved.......botox, possibly??

Sorry......I'm kidding, of course. I believe my stepdad said Katharina is buried next to her husband in the Castle Church.

I hope to post a few more tour scenes in the next post. My mom and stepdad were on a Viking Riverboat Cruise on the Elbe River. Other cities they toured included Berlin, Dresden, and Prague.