Christmas Break, part 2

If you remember, I visited Wiesbaden before Christmas, so during the week and a half after Christmas, I saw more of Frankfurt on one day, and Marburg on another. The first time I had visited Frankfurt, I hadn't seen everything that I had originally planned, simply because I didn't have enough time. Therefore on Saturday, Dec 29th, I made some plans to see various museums in Frankfurt. My reason for going this day? The Archaeological Museum was open to the public, it being the last Saturday of the month. So having written down the places I wanted to go and researched their locations in the city (and having remembered to bring the list along...), I made my way through Frankfurt.

I stopped by the Willy-Brandt-Platz first to see what was there; I saw a huge Euro sign with stars representing the included nations. I think the Central Eurobank was close by. And, testing out my reverse camera on my iPad, I got a better picture than I expected.

After that, I took some pictures of the skyline; the first is the older part of the city and the second the newer part. A friend on Facebook noted that his teacher called Frankfurt (am Main), "Chicago am Main." I can see the similarities, but let's be honest, Chicago is much larger.

So I crossed the river from Frankfurt to the "Museum Bank"- it's on the other side of the Main and is one museum after another. Since the Archaeological Museum wasn't open yet, I visited the Architectural Museum.

Photos weren't allowed, but I can kinda see why- many of the items inside were created by the museum itself or were donations from area architects. I didn't mind. The first story was about modern architecture, and I can't really remember the artists that were featured. Many of their buildings were built not far from Frankfurt, so I suppose modern architecture nuts can go there and see them for themselves; I can't say I appreciate such...art- and I have a hard time calling it that. But all was not in vain.

The second floor was a bit more interesting, and certainly more educational, as it held an exhibition on Architecture through the Ages. It began with the most simplistic wooden huts built by those living in the Bronze Age, then continued quickly to Classical Greek and Roman architecture, then into the Middle Ages, into the Romantic and Modern periods. It gave a sampling of the major periods and styles of architecture, even including a section on city planning. This was more why I'd come, and I appreciated it.

Finally, in the third story was an exhibition on the "Best Highrises." Apparently there was a competition featuring the best architectural buildings in the world; I can't remember who won, but I know that the building at 1 Bligh Street, Sydney, Australia was featured for being the most eco-friendly. So maybe it won. I dunno. The Germans obviously couldn't be totally outdone in their own exhibition; the Deutsche Bank building from right here in Frankfurt provided an actual scale model of their building, which wasn't present for the other buildings. Nonetheless, this exhibition was informative and interesting; I particularly like seeing the special characteristic of each building, whether it was its shape, or economy (how it fit everything together, that is), or internal design. I would recommend the Architectural Museum to anyone who is living or staying in Frankfurt for an extended time. It's not something to visit if you're only in Germany for a limited time and want to see the major sights (unless, you are of course an architectural nut...then by all means visit). Nonetheless, it was worth it and enjoyable.

From there I visited the Archaeological Museum. It's located in an old Carmelite Cloister. (An interesting side-note: I visited a Carmelite Monastery while I was attending Concordia University Wisconsin, during a Winterim class titled "Monasticism.") There was a church building attached to the cloister where the monks would worship, and the main exhibition was located in this church, as well as one wing of the cloister.

I think pictures were allowed, but I didn't take any. To be honest, after going through Berlin's Altes, Neues, and Pergamon Museums, the artifacts at this museum weren't much to talk about. Nonetheless, there's things to talk about. The museum was themed chronologically. It began with "Prehistory," showing Bronze Age grave finds and Iron Age settlement artifacts. The old church held the Roman artifacts, and a small room attached to it contained materials from the Early Middle Ages. Another room opposite the foyer held artifacts from the Classical Antiquity, and on the second floor from the Ancient Orient (Ancient Iran, Anatolia, and Syria).

I walked through everything, reading what I could and taking in everything. It was a good presentation, and I enjoyed most of it...until I asked a museum guide who was standing at her post what the church's name used to be. She said that it had been the St. Marienkirche, and she proceeded to inform me that yonder where the altar had been now stands an altar to Mithras. I was not very happy and asked why; she responded with an air of standoffishness that obviously Christianity was descended from the Mithras religion and that it was fitting that the Mithras altar stood there, flanked by statues and pedestals. By this point I was furious- how dare they put a pagan altar where a Christian altar had once stood? One could argue that this church building had been desanctified, but still! It's one thing to use the building as a museum, but it's quite another to put a pagan altar in the place where the Christian altar once stood and claim that there's no difference. My goodness! If only the curators did minimal research into the Mithras religion and Christianity instead of following factual mistakes of the film "Zeitgeist," they might present their history better. But I doubt that things would change in this post-Christian Germany.

At this point, I couldn't stay much longer, so I wandered the cloister a bit and came upon a real treasure- the wall murals had mostly been preserved! Posted here is only a sampling, but you can see the rest in the photo album at the end of this blog post. The murals depicted the life of Jesus, and though many of the pictures were faded, I found them interesting to look at and ponder. And yet these murals had no signs explaining them or pointing them out. Sigh. At least they're still preserved, right? Well, mostly- everything except the Crucifixion of our Lord (the third picture).

After that, I visited a special exhibition put on by the Archaeological Museum titled, "Queens of the Merovingians"- think early Middle Ages (6-7th Centuries). Various graves had been uncovered under the Cologne Cathedral (which I want to visit some time!), and there were artifacts from the tombs of Wisigarde, Arnegunde, and Bathilda (I'm sure the kings' bodies were also there, but not included in this exhibition. There was some solid information available, including various genealogical records, etc., but it seemed to be more of a presentation about the life of women in the Middle Ages, which I found to be...not as interesting as actual history. Queens have their place in history, to be sure, and as do common women, and they deserve to be studied, but so much seemed to be speculation that I wondered where history ended and our preconceived notions began.

Out of all the museums I've visited so far, the Archaeological Museum is probably the most disappointing, and I'm glad that I didn't have to pay to see it. I appreciated much of the museum, but from the perspective of a seminarian, I was angered over the intentionally misleading presentation about the Mithras religion as it relates to Christianity. Because it doesn't relate at all. Furthermore, I saw a presentation about a certain group of people in a certain time period, which is perfectly normal for any museum, but I just wasn't convinced of the historicity behind much of it. Nonetheless, I gleaned what I could and moved on.
A few days later, during the first week in January, I visited Marburg. Marburg is known for remaining Lutheran after the Reformation, when the Reformed heresy was trying to gain political control over more and more people. The Land of Hesse was eventually split into two or three duchies, with Marburg being Lutheran, one being Reformed, and the other a Union, between the two. If I remember their names, I'll come back and edit this post. But right now, I'm on a train, without internet, so I hope you'll understand.

The primary Catholic Church is the St. Elizabeth's Church (seen above), named so because it is the final resting place of St. Elizabeth of Hungary (pictured above over the door). She was born in this area, married to a Duke of Hungary, to whom she bore three children. She was known widely for her generosity, which her husband encouraged. After his early death, she came back to Marburg and dedicated herself to works of charity, even cutting off her nose to prevent her marriage to someone else. She founded hospitals, especially one in Marburg, and is quite well known throughout Germany. Below is her tomb.

Also entombed here for a short time were Kaiser Wilhelm I and II, from 1946-1952. Their coffins had been removed by Hitler and stored in a salt mine. When the American soldiers found the coffins, they put them here, until the coffins were moved eventually to Berlin.

I especially found the stained glass in this church stunning. If only my iPad camera could pick it up better...

After that, I made my way through Marburg itself. Its Altstadt reminded me of Oberursel, but then again, it's a typical German town, so I guess that should be expected. The remnants of the Weihnachtsmarkt were still up, and the people were still browsing the shops looking for deals. Along the way I found some interesting heads- 7 goats and 1 wolf.

Interestingly, Sophie, a daughter of St. Elizabeth, married a duke of the area and ended up negotiating the land claims after his death in a war which they had won. She acquired for her son Henry the status of a Landgrave, and it was here in the 13th Century that Hesse became a distinct entity.

Because Marburg was Lutheran, there was a Lutheran parish on the top of the hill, near the Marburg Castle (Schloss). It can be clearly seen from the train and the general area.

The inside was mostly plain and drab, but the organ, altar, and tombs were the most ornate parts of it.

I can't tell you how disappointed I am that I saw this...tacky light display...on the altar. My goodness. This is a very beautiful altar by itself, and you have to hide it with this monstrosity? Blech. It covered up two paintings from the life of Jesus- his baptism on the left side and his resurrection on the right! They were beautiful!

I particularly enjoyed seeing this- once you see Adam and Eve on a gate in front of the tombstone, you know it's Lutheran. Haha. Ah...what a way to show the effect of sin. "For the wages of sin is death." What's better than to point us to the act of original sin that separated humanity from God and set us under the Law? Ah...how beautiful. And yet behind this gate (the Gate of Eden, maybe? See the flowerlike decorations on the gate) were Bible passages and images of the Gospel, and of Christ overcoming the grave. Ahh...I could soak in this all day.

From the church I went up the hill to the Marburg Castle, and spent a few minutes observing the nice view of the city.

I probably spent a bit more time than I should have, not only looking at the before mentioned graves, but also climbing the short distance to the Castle and looking out over the city, because I missed the last admission to the Castle and its museum by 8 minutes. 8 minutes!

Next time I visit a city, I'm gonna have to do a better job researching the museums...and their opening hours.

Well, making my way down from the Schloss, I wandered through another part of Marburg and ended up at the Marburg University. I took a few pictures but didn't do much else.

By now it was getting dark, so I took a bus back to the Bahnhof and got back to Oberursel at a decent time. Marburg is a beautiful city; it's worth seeing, and I wish I had been able to see the Schloss Museum. If I have extra time some weekend, I might go back with some friends. I don't know.

So that's basically the interesting things that I did over break. Would it have been worth it to go back home? Perhaps. But I only had 2.5 weeks off, and by the time I adjust my body clock to Central time, I'd have to go back to Germany and do the same over there. It's not very pleasant, I can assure you that.

My parents are visiting in four weeks; I suppose I should finalize our tentative itinerary. They're flying in the 15th, and we'll stay in Oberursel for that weekend, letting them adjust to the time and seeing Frankfurt. We'll eat at Pastor Wenz's house on Saturday evening; both Pastor Wenz and my dad studied together for a year in Ft. Wayne when Wenz was an exchange student there. What makes things even more interesting is that I'm now studying at LThH, Oberursel, with Pastor Wenz's son, Michael. Somehow I just couldn't escape the interconnectedness of Lutheranism. I'll have to try harder next time, I guess. Maybe the Australian seminary? Oh wait...because I'm Wendish, I'm probably related to all of them. And no, I'm not planning on delaying my education further. I just need to accept the fact that there are probably 3 degrees or less of separation within Lutheranism. (Pastor Wenz isn't the only one- I met someone who's the cousin of my field work pastor's wife. And that fact came out within 10 minutes of conversation after church one day. Yeesh...)

Back on topic, then my parents and I will travel through the Luther cities, ending up in Berlin. I'll post up the tentative itinerary soon and maybe ask for some feedback and thoughts.

And finally, I always laugh at the voices over the train intercom, because it's one thing to hear a German pronounce (American) English, and it's another thing to hear his British English. Obviously because of their closer connection to Britain, they learn a British accent and not an American, but it cracks me up every time I hear it.

Here's the full album of pictures: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151340889843788.502447.500163787&type=1&l=eaeef7ed41

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Christmas Break, part 1

I know my posts have slowed considerably since school started in late October, but now that Christmas break is coming to an end (and indeed, in the interim between writing and posting this, has ended), I might as well let you know what I've been up to these two and a half weeks (ahem...those two and a half weeks).
First of all, here's a Christmas picture of me in front of the Christmas tree at St. Johannes-Gemeinde in Oberursel:

I stayed in Oberursel the whole break, since it turned out to be more expensive to travel outside of Germany during the holiday times. RyanAir, which usually offers the cheapest flights in Europe, required triple its normal fare for the first week of January, when I was thinking about going to London. I can't blame them, really, it's a time when many people are traveling and visiting other countries. I'll save my international trips for the semester break in another six weeks or so; RyanAir from Frankfurt (Hahn) to London is only 20 Euros with a small fee for the bus ride to the smaller Hahn airport- very manageable.
So, even for the first week in January, I stayed in Oberursel but made day trips out to various places, all of which were free since students have free travel within about an hour radius from Frankfurt. I visited Wiesbaden before Christmas, museums and churches in Frankfurt after Christmas that I hadn't seen during my first sight-seeing day there, and Marburg after New Year's.

But before I get into my trips, I might as well update you on our New Year's Celebrations. A small group of students congregated in the Student Association Lounge, drinking beer and talking. About fifteen minutes before midnight, we climbed onto the roof of a low building, and from there to various connected roofs until we got to the top of Wohnheim 2, the tallest building on campus. From there we could overlook Frankfurt, since Oberursel is on a bit of a hill overlooking the city. When midnight hit, the city sounded like it was getting fire-bombed- there were quite a lot of fireworks going off around the city. The Germans took full advantage of the only day of the year in which fireworks are permitted. The city looked like it was shimmering with countless fireworks going off every second. In addition, Pastor Wenz turned on the bells in St. Johannes' Gemeinde for a full 25 mins, which was quite impressive. So it was quite a festive evening. I went to bed soon thereafter, since the my stomach wasn't feeling very good- the beer and champagne didn't mix too well.

So, back to the trips! I enjoyed visiting Wiesbaden, but after researching the city and where I wanted to go, I forgot my list of sights to see and the map I was going to bring. The only map I had was my iPad's Apple Maps app, which was very grainy in places. So, I was pretty much going on memory, which isn't a bad thing, but can be very annoying when you know there are more places to go but don't remember when they open or close or what part of the city they're in.
But, the first thing that I had planned was to visit the Neroberg; I wanted to get the hiking out of the way first instead of saving it to last and huffing and puffing up the hill after walking around the city all day. So with fresh legs that begged to be stretched, I made my way up the hill and got a nice view overlooking the city. I took a panorama of the city with a free app on my iPad...I wonder how it turned out. ttp://360.io/NDAHZQ

Down near the overlook where I took the picture was a memorial to the soldiers lost in WWI. There was one large, rectangular block with , then on a pathway down to the overlook, there were individual stones memorialiizing the soldiers lost in each major battle. I took a picture of the one memorializing the Battle of Verdun, which claimed almost 1 million lives and was an extremely bloody battle. I remember also seeing the Somme stone; over 1 million lives were lost in that battle. The whole war was a turning point in war tactics, the cost of which in lives was very dear.

Also on the Neroberg was the Monopteros (one-wing in Greek). See the picture below There used to be a hotel, but it burned down in 1989, and all that's left is a tower.

Also on the hill and only a short walk away was the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Elizabeth. With its five golden domes, it was very beautiful. Pictures inside weren't allowed (as expected), but here's a few pictures of the outside.

After that I visited the two churches that I had remembered, and took a few pictures of some monuments throughout the city.

The Marktkirche- with the red sandstone that is so popular in this area.

"Our Kaiser Friedrich, in love and gratitude"

The Bath of Wiesbaden, now a casino

St. Boniface's Church

The Bergkirche- a small, quaint, yet very beautiful church

I enjoyed seeing a painting of David with the harp on the organ.

And, remnants of an old Roman wall/fortification.

"Pagan Wall- a Roman bulwark under Valentinian I, about 370 A.D.

Roman Gate- closure of the breach 1902-1903 through Felix Genzmer"

So that's the end of my Wiesbaden trip. You can see the whole album of pictures here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151296174418788.496240.500163787&type=1&l=104e30bc56

I figured I might as well get a blog post off, since I haven't written since Christmas Day. I'm traveling this weekend to Hamburg to see my dad's cousin (he would therefore be my cousin, once removed, right?), Richard Stotz. He and his family live there, and I look forward to see him and whoever of his family will be there. I usually enjoy writing blog posts while traveling on the train, so expect a few when I get back. I have a few already planned in my mind; I just need to write them out, and that's done best when I have scenery whizzing by.

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