Our Christamas Holiday

It has certainly been some time since we last updated the blog. It was a rather unique Christmas this year as Delynn returned to the states to be with family this Christmas after our family discovered that our dad Bill has cancer. It was sort of a last minute thing - we were able to find a well-priced flight and get her back in time before the Christmas snows closed everything down in Portland (that would be anything over 5 inches...). While that left Michael back in Germany, he was able to celebrate with friends and had lots of time to catch up on reading. Before we knew Delynn was travelling back, we had arranged for a trip to München which we decided to take to celebrate our Christmas together before Delynn flew out on the 23rd of December.

Christmas in the Dreiländereck definately has a different feel than in the states. Part of that may be that our understanding of the german language is, while decent, not so fluent that we get caught up in the ever increacing consumer mentality that seems so evident when we see all the advertising in the states.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are pictures to describe our Christmas holiday with a few words interspersed as descriptions.

This is the Weihnachtsmarkt in Basel on Barfüsserplatz. It is named "barefoot" square because the monks used to walk barefoot from the hill in the background (about where that tower is) down to the square, which is where the church is located. On this day, it is filled with last minute Christmas shoppers.

The "New" Town hall in München. München is the capital of Germany's largest state, Bayern (Bavaria). As such, München is considered Germany's second captial (after Berlin). Bavarians are fiercely proud of their state and often call themselves Bavarians instead of German. It reminds me a bit of the Texas mentality in the US...
Our hotel was just south of the Viktualienmarkt - an open air market that is open every day (except Sundays of course). Here you can by everything from Devil fish (no idea what we would call this) to Pferdefleish (um... Horsemeat). There was a quite nice outdoor soup restaurant that allowed us reasonably priced and very yummy lunches several times during our stay.
Karlstor (Carl's gate) stands at one end of the long pedestrian zone in the heart of München. The Weihnachtsmarkt was spread over several areas in München, including throughout the pedestrian zone.
Brightly lit for Christmas. Don't ask what the neon orange thing is - I think they call it art...
Here is another small Weihnachtsmarkt in a courtyard of the Residence. The Residence was the primary abode of the Wittelsbach dynasty in München for over 500 years.
It is a tradition, especially in Bayern, for stores to create elaborate window displays. Many of these are mechanized, which makes the stuffed animals move and animate. Children and adults alike clamour for a front row seat.
Creches (Krippe) are also very traditional in Germany and particularly in Bayern. This one was from the Theatinerkirche which is pictured below.

We mentioned the Residence a little earlier. Delynn and I spent one of our days exploring dozens of rooms in the former home of the Wittelsbachs. The extent of the palace was beyond description. It was overwhelming - we only got to see about 60 of the several hundred rooms that made up the palace.


The picture above is the private chapel - just in case the duke didn't want to worship with the rest of the folks.
Nice digs...
Even the Hof (garden) outside is beautiful year around.

Of course, a visit to München is not complete without a visit to the Hofbrauhaus. As we walked through, we saw a table of men dressed in Tracht (traditional garb) which made a nice picture.
We spent another day visiting the Deutschesmuseum, sort of the German equivalent of the Smithsonian, but on a much smaller scale. We had to travel to Germany to see an original Wright flyer...
Here is Delynn in front of a 1930's Junkers triplane (Just like in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom).
The Deutschesmuseum opened a seperate transportation museum in 2003. Michael went to visit this branch after Delynn was winging her way back to the states. An original Model T roadster as on display...
This picture is for dad. He has always loved the Mercedes 300, so I thought he would like to see a picture of one still in great shape.

Sunday in München was gray, cold and rainy - it was a very appropriate day to take time to visit the Dachau camp outside München. The first such camp ever created, it was originally designed to hold political prisoners and those who dissented from the regime, it became the model for all concentration camps to come.

The entrace door says "Arbeit Macht Frei" or "Work Liberates" - the camp was sold to the local population as a work camp for reforming criminals.

This is the outside wall of the cremetorium. The two metal containers let into the wall were designed for introducing the poison gas into the "showers" on the other side of the walls.

This sculptre is situated in front of the induction building where all prisoners were processed. It was an incredibly sobering experience to visit such a place. There are incredible parallels to even more contemporary events but I will not enumerate the way that it struck cords in my heart. My only conclusion is that we humans are capable of unspeakable evil which is not what God intended for our lives.

My hope and prayer for the new year is that we have the courage and boldness to counter all such hatred for other people with understanding, mercy and love.