Here is the preamble (or pre-ramble?) to this post. It’s going to be long because it’s two weeks’ worth of goings on. If you don’t want to read the whole thing, this first paragraph is the highlight reel. We went to Dresden and a few outlying small towns for Nathan’s birthday. We did some hiking, wandered through the Christmas markets, visited a couple of museums, and celebrated with some yummy meals. We returned to Leipzig and did a few things to celebrate Christmas, including multiple Christmas concerts in the main churches here. We talked to lots of family and stayed warm and cozy. After Christmas, we took a day trip to Torgau and then celebrated our anniversary with a fancy meal. Completely unrelated to the holidays, we were able to have our final appointment for our residence permits.
A Trip to Dresden, Saxon-Switzerland, and Pulsnitz
We had a real cold spell during November and it can be really gray and rainy here, so every time we have halfway decent weather now, we take advantage of it. Since the sun was supposed to appear and the temperatures would be in the 40s and 50s, we decided to spend Nathan’s birthday in Dresden. We took the train southeast for a few hours toward the Czech border and Saxon-Switzerland National Park for some time outdoors. There is an old fortress and bridge there called the Bastei that we heard about a few months ago. We exited the train in the town of Rathen and rode the ferry across the Elbe River. Then we took a hike into the rocky hills to the Bastei. The landscape is reminiscent of the Black Hills in South Dakota, just not quite as big or extensive. The Bastei is an impressive structure at the top of the cliffs and it overlooks the river valley below. It was a lovely day with rare blue skies and it is always so nice to get out and do some hiking. We then traveled by train even further into the National Park and did some more walking in the tiny town of Schmilka, this time crossing the river over a bridge on a bus. Even though we weren’t racing with the weather, we were racing the daylight, so we returned to the train station and headed for Dresden and our hotel.
The Christmas Markets in Dresden are, like many in Europe, a long tradition. The Striezelmarkt in Dresden is possibly the oldest, with this year being the 589th year. The sun was setting as we walked through the town and the markets and the lights were starting to twinkle. Plenty of people were out socializing and shopping. Our hotel was near the Frauenkirche, so we wandered through the city center and into the market in the church square looking for the office. The nice lady there then sent us down the block a few doors to where we would be staying. After climbing the many stairs to get to our place, we walked into our dark room and I just had to laugh as I looked out the window on our view: the Frauenkirche! I’m pretty sure that we couldn’t have planned such a lovely view and certainly not for the reasonable rate we were paying. Sometimes you get lucky!
We visited Dresden as one of our first day trips when we got here. Since this was the first repeat visit for this trip, we had already done much of the wandering around the town that we usually enjoy. But we did some research into some other experiences and decided it would be worth it to pursue those. We took the train on Nathan’s birthday to neighboring Pulsnitz, where they make Pfefferkuchen, or gingerbread, and have a gingerbread museum. In fact, they call themselves the “Pfefferkuchen City”. This is not the gingerbread we are used to, just like lebkuchen is also different. The primary difference is that we are used to gingerbread made with molasses and these cookies come from the older tradition of baking with honey. They all still rely on the delicious spices though. European cookies are rarely chewy like we are used to (like a chocolate chip or oatmeal cookie). Also, many traditional cookies are often leavened with different agents like triebsalz (ammonium carbonate). It makes for a different light texture that we really love. Nathan’s family makes a Swiss cookie called a Basler Läckerli that is made with honey, hazelnuts, candied lemon and orange peel, and spices. It’s a cousin of all these German gingerbreads. They are all yummy, but different from American and English gingerbread. The museum was fun and we had the place to ourselves. They had lots of old machinery, tins, molds, and advertisements. We of course left town with a bag of treats.
It was threatening rain again, so we decided to spend the afternoon in the Math and Physics wing of the Zwinger Museum in Dresden. The salon has been there since 1728 and has various examples of instruments for measurement and observation from across the centuries. They have clocks, telescopes, globes, automatons, and many more items. They are all housed in the beautifully rebuilt baroque museum complex. It was a nice afternoon. We then went in search of Mexican food for the birthday boy, but after trudging through the rain we found the restaurant to be closed. So, we ended up having pizza and then we went to warm up with a toasty beverage and some cake at an old cafe near the Frauenkirche.
We enjoyed walking through other Christmas markets in Dresden, especially the one all along the length of Augustusmarkt in the new town (Neustadt) and the Medieval Market in the palace. We finished off our visit with a midday service at the Frauenkirche so we could hear the organ. It’s such a beautiful church.
Christmas Time in Leipzig
Since we are far from our normal holiday routines and traditions, we made an effort to plan a few things to make it feel fun and festive and to not feel so far from loved ones. We ended up attending concerts and services in the Nikolaikirche, Michaeliskirche, and the Paulinum. We showed up for Sacrament meeting on December 24th only to walk in for the closing prayer…they had combined the two wards into one service and we missed it. Oh well!
Some notes on the different churches and programs we were able to catch…
The Michaeliskirche is closer to us here in Gohlis and we pass it almost every time we ride the tram. We attended concerts there during the autumn just after we arrived in Germany. For Christmas, they had a choral concert with the organ and a harpist.
The Nikolaikirche is the church where Leipzigers held weekly prayer meetings for years, culminating in the major protests and the peaceful fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. It’s a beautiful church in the city center and Bach was responsible for music there as well as the Thomaskirche. We attended an organ concert there and it was really nice. The organ pieces were mixed with some spoken word bits (a reading of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Matchgirl” and “Weihnachten” by the German poet Eichendorff) and it was a nice way to celebrate the season.
On Christmas Eve, since we missed the LDS church service in the morning, we decided to try to catch a Vespers service in town. We thought we might go back to the Nikolaikirche, but we chose instead to go to a church we hadn’t yet visited, the Paulinum. St. Paul’s was built in 1231 in Leipzig and then was donated to the University of Leipzig in 1409. Although the Thomaskirche is famous today because of Bach, some say that the Paulinerkirche was the heart and soul of Leipzig. However, in 1968, the communist regime demolished it, basically as a show of power and control and to make way for “the most beautiful square in Germany”. Demonstrators had begun to gather in front of the church, so the regime decided it had to go and they blew it up. Ironically, the act only led to more protest, those protesters just moved to the Nikolaikirche, and eventually the regime toppled. If you’re curious, you can read more about it here. And by the way, that beautiful square never materialized either. Augustusplatz is fine, flanked by the opera house on one end and the symphony hall on the other, but we’ve definitely seen better.
So, the church we visited was built to replace the one lost and is still part of the University. It is a beautiful modern building with these super cool lighted columns and half-columns. It also houses some of the precious art and artifacts that were saved from the old church. The service there was nice, but especially the choir singing with the bombastic organ and orchestra. Christmas Eve was quiet here at our place with a little charcuterie snack and our tiny little Christmas tree. (When I showed the tree to our grandson, Teddy, he asked, “Why is it so small?)
Christmas morning was basically spent passing time until we could talk to the family. We went out for a walk, but it was so rainy and windy we quickly gave up and came home. We had so much fun watching the kids play with all their new toys over FaceTime and talking to all our kids. Nathan also talked to much of his family. It was a nice, relaxing day.
The next day, we went to the smaller hall in the Gewandhaus (the famous concert hall here) for a Beethoven concert. The Leipzig Philharmonic Orchestra is a smaller group and they played Beethoven’s 3rd Piano Concerto and his 6th Symphony. The conductor and the piano soloist were both 19 years old! It was a good concert and they were both excellent.
Other Goings-On
In other news, we cleared the final hurdle in receiving our residence permits. Nathan had an appointment on the 21st to submit everything needed to create his ID card. I wasn’t scheduled until January 5th for the same purpose, but I tagged along with Nathan in the hopes that German bureaucrats might take pity on us and squeeze me in with Nathan. It worked! The lady there didn’t seem to like the idea at first, but I think she was just putting up a grumpy front. She took care of both appointments and now we just have to wait the five weeks (?!?) for our cards to be processed and we will be 100% official.
We had another few days of warm, dry weather, so in addition to taking some longer walks here, we decided to do a day trip to Torgau. It’s a town on the Elbe River to the northeast of Leipzig. It has a beautiful palace (they have a gorgeous spiral staircase and they still keep bears in the moat) and a nice town center. We enjoyed our train ride, our walk around town, and seeing the sights. There is a monument on the banks of the river to commemorate that town as the spot where Allies met up at the end of WWII. The U.S. troops came into Torgau only to realize that the Soviet troops were on the other side of the river. What a relief it must have been for all of them when they realized they didn’t have to fight their way across the country anymore. You can read more about it here. We heard that there has been a lot of flooding in Germany this month, but we only saw photos and videos and hadn’t experience any of it since we don’t live near a major river or the sea. But we caught a glimpse of the high water in Torgau. The Elbe was overflowing and running fast and dirty. I’ve included a photo of the Viking River Cruise gangplank absolutely flooded (Neil and Julie, bring your water wings when you come! :))
We celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary at a fancy restaurant here, Max Enk. The meal was absolutely divine. It’s amazing to look back on all that’s happened in 30 years. We have so much to be grateful for. We are happy and healthy; we have three awesome kids with families of their own. We have four adorable grandchildren who we love to spoil and two more on the way (ICYMI: Lauren and Bo are expecting in June and Alex and Hanna surprised everyone by announcing they are also expecting in August). We have the freedom to do what we like pretty much all the time. Life is extra good.
We have spent time this week reflecting on this last year and making plans for the upcoming months. We have also enjoyed learning about the German customs around the New Year. One we want to share is that the Germans love this comedy sketch called “Dinner for One” and they watch it every year. I highly recommend you watch it! It was an old English act from vaudeville that someone in Germany revived and filmed in 1963, also in English. Now the Germans watch it every year on New Year’s Eve. All Germans know the answer to the question, “Same procedure as last year, Miss Sophie?” And if you watch the clip, you will too! Here it is: Dinner for One.
If you made it through all of that, you are hard core! Thanks for joining us this year on our crazy and not-so-crazy adventures. We sure love you all!
Since I was nowhere near Idaho, I of course didn’t walk across the stage in a funny hat, but I watched a bit of the procedings online and saw my name on the list of graduates. To celebrate, we had a Mexican food night at home and I spent the week decompressing and doing a few things just for me.
