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Saturday the weather turned cloudy and damp – what better time to tour a 14th century castle? We took a train to the castle, named for its founder, Charles (Karel) IV, King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor.
We have been enjoying leaving our car at our hotel in Prague and relying on trains and our feet for locomotion. Paul is our tour guide – and he picks out great restaurants too!

There is snow in the mountains between Germany and the Czech Republic – but when we got to Prague the sky cleared and it was beautiful.
We are visiting our son Paul for 3 days – we are crossing the square to the box office to buy tickets for a performance of “Romeo and Juliet”.
The Prague Castle on the river Vltava.

St. Nicholas church, founded around 1165. It has been Protestant since Luther brought the Reformation to Leipzig in 1539. In the early 1980’s peace prayer services started here resulting in thousands of East Germans peacefully demanding justice and respect from their government.
St. Thomas Church where Luther also preached in 1539. J.S. Bach was Cantor of the Boys Choir there from 1723 to his death in1750 and was buried in St. Thomas.
The weather has been as changeable as it is in New England! We went into Leipzig’s immense Train Station under blue skies and emerged a half hour later to this surprise.
This is our last night in the Schenkenberger Hof. It is in such an out-of-the-way place, down an alley in a small village, that we’ve lost our way returning to the hotel almost every night! For some reason these mannequins are in the lobby – we jump every time we see them – we’ve named them “Fritz” and “Freida”.

There is no shortage of statues of Dr. Martin Luther in Germany – his importance in world history and world religions is well documented here.
The Chapel of the Augustinian Monastery in the University town of Erfurt where Luther studied and received his undergraduate and Masters Degrees.
Erfurt has one of the most well-preserved medieval city centers in Germany. Cathedral hill in Erfurt – Luther was ordained in St. Mary’s Cathedral in 1507 (the big one on the left) – the huge square is being prepared for Erfurt’s world famous Christmas Market, Weihnachtsmarkt.

Also in Torgau is Hartenfelds Palace, the seat of the Electors of Saxony, the best preserved early Renaissance palace in Germany. The Palace Chapel was consecrated by Martin Luther in 1554 and is widely regarded as the first to be built as a Protestant Church.
Ahh…. One thing about cold, rainy weather – it just feels so good to sit down and have coffee-and!