Wittenberg - Jüterbog - Berlin - Wittenberg

It's been a busy last couple of days on the Concordia Choir tour and I haven't had time to keep up with my blog. So I'll try and catch up with a few posts today.

On Friday, we left Wittenberg at 10:00 a.m. and headed for Jüterbog, a delightfully scenic drive that took us through several small, picturesque villages with forests and fields on either side of the road. I kept trying to take pictures as we drove but found that a moving bus just isn't conducive to good picture taking.
Jüterbog is a city that dates back to the Middle Ages. The town has seen significant military action, including a major battle during the Napoleonic Wars just 2 kms from town. It served as a garrison of the Red Army during the separation of Germany from 1945-1990, housing up to 40,000 Soviet soldiers, about four times the civilian population. After the Red Army left reunified Germany in 1990, the 20,000 hectares (77 sq mi) military area was and remains closed to the public because of security and environmental hazards.

One of three original city gateways

The 14th century St. Nicholas Church, which features an indulgence chest purported to belong to Johann Tetzel, a Catholic preacher known for selling indulgences

Silvio, our guide, explains the significance of the church

The church key!

The church features a particularly ornate ceiling which has been restored to its original style from the Middle Ages.

After leaving Jüterbog we had a picnic lunch on the way to Berlin and then arrived at the Berliner Dom (Berlin Cathedral), a huge, absolutely amazing structure, considered the Protestant answer to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

The Berliner Dom organ

Peter-Michael Seifried, the cathedral organist and "tour guide", explaining the many features of the Berliner Dom

An Evensong service (Musikalisches Abendgebet) is held at the Berliner Dom every Thursday from 6:00-6:30 p.m. in English and German for visitors from all over the world. The liturgy booklet reads, "To escape the rush of the day, share with us this half hour of prayer, music and biblical reading." We sang four of our songs as part of the service, doing our best to project our sound across this massive space. Following the service, we were surprised to be greeted by a group who were visiting from Calgary!

We then returned to our bus and headed over to the Marienfelde Dorfkirche, the oldest church in Berlin, dating back to the 13th century, where we sang to a small but appreciative audience.

Marienfelde Dorfkirche

And finally we returned to Wittenberg around 11:00 p.m.

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