Stephen and Elaine Biddulph

28 MÄRZ - 3 APRIL 2016

We received our letter from the Zone Leaders this week giving us instructions on how to prepare to be released from our mission. They send it 3 months out so missionary couples can get their travel plans in place and other necessary arrangements. Three couples leave in April and early May: Rysers (SLC), Andersons (Ogden), and Sharpes (St George). We have come to love them and be great friends. We will be the next couple to leave after them. Our replacements arrive on 28 June and we have submitted our travel request to the office. Elder Dyches (2nd counselor in area presidency) has approved our plans, but we won't say anything until the actual flight is arranged.

Early Wednesday morning we left Porthstrasse with Steve and Liz Edmunds for our trip to Dresden and Berlin. The weather was overcast and things looked rather dreary. We had hoped for better weather, but such is difficult to find in Germany in the spring. We took our car and Stephen drove while Br Edmunds was co-pilot and navigator. Br. Edmunds is a retired airlines pilot, so, he made a good navigator.

It took us about 3.5 hours to get to Freiberg, our first stop. Freiberg is straight east of Frankfurt and only 31 km from Dresden. We stopped at Freiberg to visit the LDS temple there that is under renovation. It is supposed to be rededicated in August or September of 2016 we had heard. Freiberg is a university town famous also for mining and smelting operations. Lots of students were out and about. The temple is small - much like the Friedrichsdorf temple near Frankfurt. A chapel, housing, and distribution center are also on the premises and made of same materials and coordinated colors. It is an attractive little spot, but things were clearly still under construction. We walked around the premises some, took a few pictures, and took off for Dresden.

Dresden is situated on the Elbe River and was a center of culture, education, government, and economy for the Saxony sector of Germany. In February 1945 the Allies leveled the city center, once known as "the jewel" because of its wonderful building architecture. We drove through the city and ended up in the city center. After some searching, we found the Holiday Inn in City Centre where we stayed for the evening. We spent the afternoon and evening walking through the old city center which was all around us. As noted, most of the buildings in the center were in rubble after the bombings, but have been rebuilt. Many of the buildings have the black, fire-burned blocks from the fire-bombs, and also the lighter blocks where repair was done.

We visited the Kreuzkirche, the Dresdener Frauenkirche (Catholic), and the Hofkirche. All were beautiful, but the Frauenkirche took the cake. It was astoundingly beautiful and ornate. We visited the impressive mural wall called "the procession of the princes," depicting the Saxon rulers. We also walked by the Residenz palace, the Hofkirche associated with it, the opera house, and the palace called "the Zwinger." It houses art and Dresden porcelain collections. Dresden is famous for its porcelain. We strolled along the Bruhl Terrace overlooking the Elbe River. Unfortunately, it was not a beautiful clear day, but overcast. Nevertheless, we enjoyed seeing it.

The next morning we drove 2 hours north to Berlin where Stephen had served his mission in 1964-67. He had not returned in 50 years, so, much had changed. The weather for Friday and Saturday turned out to be simply beautiful. Clear skies and moderate temperatures made it delightful to walk about. We stayed at the Park Inn on Alexander Platz (which was in East Berlin during Stephen's mission). We first took a hop-on-hop-off bus tour around the famous places of Berlin. This gave us a good perspective of the layout and the places we wanted to visit again. Friday evening, after the bus tour, we walked down Unter den Linden strasse to museum island (inseln) and saw the beautiful museums and the famous Berlin Dom Cathedral. Unter den Linden stretched all the way from Alexander Platz to the Brandenburg Tor (gate).

All day Friday (beautifully clear day), we walked from Alexander Platz to Brandenburg Tor. We took Friedrich Strasse down to Check Point Charlie (American sector check point through the Berlin Wall) and then cut across to the Führerbunker (Hilter's bunker where he committed suicide along with Josef Goebel and his family) and the Memorial to the Murdered Jews. Hitler's bunker has been totally destroyed and is now a parking lot. Only a sign indicates where it was. Unfortunately, we passed a Lindt chocolate store which captured our attention. We walked over to the Brandenburg Tor, Reichstag Bebäude, down des 17 Juni Strasse through Tiergarten, to the Siegesäule, old Kongress Halle, Bellveau Palace, through the Tiergarten to Zoologische Garten, the Zoo, and to Kufursten Damm (the major downtown area of old West Berlin) and the Gedächtnis Kirche (Wilhelm Church left bombed out as a reminder of the war). The Tiergarten is like NY city's Central Park. Liz and Steve stayed at Kufursten Damm and shopped, but we took our time and walked all the way back to Alexander Platz. We put in between 10-15 miles of walking. The soles of our feet were sore to say the least.

Saturday we drove over to Potsdam, then down to Leipzig (which was also bombed out - it was an important city during WW 2). It was also important for its music and culture. We did not spend time there, just passed by, but it was nice to see this area and get a feel for the landscape. Leipzig is one of the larger cities in Germany, but nothing compared to the millions of people that live in Berlin. We arrived back to Frankfurt by 3 p.m. on Saturday and enjoyed a joyous weekend of conference.