Wales and Y Gwyr

Over the weekend we went to Wales to explore the Gower Peninsula as Britain's first "Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)." John interview the AONB supervisor for an article he is working on for comparative environmental law.

Lisa, Laura and Julia went straight to the hair salon for some good Welsh haircuts. Well done! "It was lovely" as they say in Britain. Then we went to La Tasca for some tapas. Nothing like good spanish food in Wales.

John drive us around in a rented black BMW with a stick shift he had to use left-handed and drive on the left side of the road down very narrow roads. Very challenging but he managed to get us around the peninsula with the car and us intact.

After spending some time in the city of Swansea we drove about 30 minutes to the southern tip of Wales to Oxwich Bay where we were staying for the night. Our hotel was right on the beach so we took an evening walk. We were so lucky as there was no rain and the sun even broke through the clouds.

The Gower Peninsula in Wales is known for its grey limestone cliffs and pounding surf. We saw many kite surfers out on Friday night and Saturday. This area is known for it hiking, walking, camping, surfing, extreme sports.

Train Encounter

While on the train from Wales back to London we were all engaged in different forms of media and reading. Lisa, of course, had three things going at once - reading Andy Crouch's book "Culture Making", listening to music on her ipod and watching the game played by the family in the next seat. Laura caught Lisa's attention to pull out her ear buds and listen to the conversation that was happening several seats behind us. We heard a youngish man (maybe mid-20s) talking about how he no longer goes to church and doesn't believe in God. He called his parents' Christian religion and the "conservative school" they sent him to as "brainwashing." Laura and Lisa talked afterward about how this young man must have been hurt or did not see the Christian faith lived out in a genuine way for him to reject it so decidedly.

Cambridge and the Christian Heritage Tour

Today we took the train 45 minutes north of London to Cambridge where we took a Christian Heritage Tour. We thoroughly enjoyed learning about the famous men and women who were educated at Cambridge University and went on to make a difference in medicine, science and government.

We walked to St John's College which was founded in 1511 by Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII. This college contains more courtyards than any other college at Oxford or Cambridge. One of the most famouse alumni of St. John's College is William Wilberforce, who became a Christian after he graduated from the college and devoted his life to the abolition of slavery.

The Old Cavendish Laboratory was founded in 1874 by William Cavendish, Duke of Devonshire. The first director of the laboratory was James Clerk Maxwell. He was widely known as the scientific link between Newton and Einstein. He was a Christian who had his coat of arms carved in the main door of the laboratory, along with a section of Psalm 111 in Latin, "Great are the works of the Lord, sought out by all who take pleasure therein."

Trinity College was founded in 1546 by Henry VIII and it is the largest and wealthiest college. There are many famous alumni of Trinity College including Francis Bacon and Isaac Newton. Francis Bacon is most famous for establishing the scientific method in his pursuit of studying, in his words, the "book of God's works as well as the book of God's words." Isaac Newton came to Trinity as a very poor students and was forced to pay for his tuition by doing menial work. Newton spent much of his time writing and studying biblical hermaneutics and based his scientific discoveries and his belief in a rational and orderly universe from a belief in a rational and orderly Creator.

Shakespeare's Globe Theater

"Well, 'tis no matter; honor pricks me on. Yea, but how if honor prick me off when I come on? How then? Can honor set -to a leg? No. Or an arm? No. Or take away the grief of a wound? No. Honor hath no skill in surgery, then? No. What is honor? A word. What is in the word "honor"? What is that "honor" Air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? He that died o'Wednesday. Doth he feel it? No. Doth he hear it? No. This insensible then? Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? No. Why? Detraction will not suffer it. Therefore I'll none of it. Honor is a mere scutcheon. and so end my catechism."

This is a quote by Falstaff in the Shakespeare play, "Henry IV, Part I". One of the main themes of the play is the nature of honor. There are several different views on honor the Shakespeare explores and in the end the play leads the audience to conclude that it is merely based on individual personality and conscience. So it is defined more by a person's own values and goals instead of objective guidelines.

Each of the main characters in the play demonstrates a different perspective of honor:

Hotspur - a quick-tempered son of Lord Percy. Honor means victory on the battlefield and defense of one's reputation.

King Henry IV - honor is the well-being of the nation and the legitimacy of its ruler.

Prince Harry - honor has to do with noble behavior (by the end of the play).

Falstaff - the idea of honor is wasted effort and does no one any good.

Lisa stayed for the entire three hour play but John and the girls couldn't follow it and decided to sneak out after 45 minutes.

Dachau Concentration Camp

We visited the Dachau Concentration Camp just 12 miles north of Munich. It was the first Nazi concentration camp and was the prototype for all the other ones in Germany. We learned at the memorial site that the camp was opened in March 1933 by the Nazi Party. It was originally built to punish political prisoners.

Dachau was in operation for twelve years as a concentration camp and recorded over 200,000 prisoners and about 31,000 deaths. Dachau was the second camp to be liberated by American forces and British forces.

We walked through the courtyard between the prison and the central kitchen. The courtyard was used for executions. The compound was surrounded by an electrified barbed-wire gate, a ditch and several guard towers. Two of the 32 barracks are still standing on the memorial site.

Munich

We finally arrived in the third largest city of Germany, Munch. Munich hosted the 1972 Olympics and is a candidate for the 2018 Winter Olympics. The German name is Munchen which means "by the monks' place". The city's name comes from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city.

We only had a few minutes (literally) to see Munich so we headed straight to the cultural heart of the city to Marienplatz - a large open square named after the Marian (Mary) column in its center. Its tower contains the Rathaus-Glockenspie and at 11:00 AM every day it chimes and re-enacts two stories from the 16th century.

The residents of Munich were celebrating Oktoberfest so the plaza was packed with locals wearing lederhosen and Dirndl (traditional dresses for women). Oktoberfest was first held on October 12, 1810 in honor of the marriage of crown prince Ludwig to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hidburghausen.

Salzburg

When we were in Salzburg we really enjoyed exploring the "Old Town". There are several cobblestone streets filled today with shops and cafes with beautiful baroque architecture. Salzburg literally means "Salt Fortress" and derives its name from the barges carrying salt on the Salzach River. In fact, we learn that the word, "salary" comes from the latin word for "salt".

After wandering through the Old Town we climed up the steep hill to Festung Hohensalzburg, the city's fortress, which was built in 1077. Salzburg was the seat of the Archbishop of Salzburgh, a prince bishop of the Holy Roman Empiere.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany

We stayed one night in Partenkirchen on our trip through southern Germany. Garmisch and Partenkirchen were separate towns for several centuries but today they are meshed together into one resort town in Bavaria.

Partenkirchen was first mentioned in the year A.D. 15 as a trade route between Venice and Augsburg. It's main street, Ludwigsstrausse, follows the original Roman road. We stayed in a traditional Bavarian guesthouse on Ludwifsstrausse Road.

The 1936 Winter Olympic Games were held in Garmisch and Partenkirchen.

Apple Strudel

Yummmm........we found a wonderful place to sample the traditional Viennese apple studel - a popular pastry in Austria. We ordered our apple strudel with both a topping of vanilla ice cream and a vanilla sauce. Delicious!

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Mozart was born and raised in Salzburg. Lisa played many of Mozart's pieces on the piano as a child. Laura played a few in Suzuki Music School. In Salzburg we spent some time learning more about the man behind the music. Mozart composed over 600 works and 22 operas. By the age of five, Mozart was already a prodigy on the piano and violin and played before European royalty.

The Hills are Alive with the South of Music!

We were so excited to arrive in Salzburg! Our family loves the "The Sound of Music" movie so we took the tour of the landmarks and views of the landscape where the movie was filmed. Some of the sites we saw included the Veranda where Lisl and Rolf sang "I Am 16 Going on 17" and the church where Maria and Captain Von Trapp were married in the movie. We walked through Mirabell Gardens which were laid out in the 18th century. Maria and the children danced throughout these gardens singing "Do-Re-Mi."

We went to the Leopoldskron Castle which was used as the front side of the Trapp family home in the movie. The children boated on the Leopoodskron Lake and fell into the water during the movie.

A Vow in Oberammergau

Oberammergau is a tiny village in Bavaria which is best known for the Passion Play. The tradition of the Passion Play began with a vow made during the Thirty Years' War. While the Swedes were invading, Bavaria was hit by a devastating plague epidemic, which claimed more than 80 lives in Oberammergau. In 1633, the village leaders made a vow to God "to keep the Passion tragedy every ten years" if the village were freed of the plague. The epidemic came to a standstill, and in 1634 the people of Oberammergau fulfilled their vow for the first time. In 1680, the play was moved to every "full" ten years.

The village of Oberammergau is also known for its woodcarvers. We bought a beautiful nativity set in Oberammergau to remember our visit in 2010.

The Royal Castles of Bavaria

During our time in London we planned to do some travel in Europe and teach the girls history and geography as we go. We are now in Bavaria and learning about the classical revival in Germany during the 19th century. John and I are learning medieval history as we go and teaching the girls as we explore the castles together. King Ludwig I (1786-1868) built many Greek Revival buildings in Munich. The most outrageous building projects culminated during the reign of "Mad King Ludwig II" who died under mysterious circumstances in 1886. Despite his strange political and personal alliances, King Ludwig II was a great patron of the arts. He supported the work of Richard Wagner.

Ludwig II became king in 1864. Two years later he was forced to accept thedefeat of his country by Prussia. Since he was no longer sovereign ruler, he was unable to cope with being a constitutional monarch so he created his own alternative world where he coud live like a king of the Middle Ages. This is the idea behind his opulent castles.

King Ludwig II built three castles - Neuschwanstein, Linderhof and Herrenchiemsee. In 1868, after a visit to the great castle of Wartburg, Ludwig wrote to his good friend, composer Richard Wagner: "I have the intention to rebuild the ancient castle ruins of Hohenschwangau in the the true style of the ancient German knight's castle." The following year, construction began on Neuschwanstein castle. But construction stopped with Ludwig's mysterious death in 1886, only 5 days after he was deposed because of alleged insanity.