I (We) did it!

It's probably good that I didn't know exactly what Beth Schnabel (the Deputy Director for Wittenberg English Ministry) had in mind for us today. We ended up biking 40+ km today from Wittenberg Lutherstadt through Coswig and on to Worlitz. On the way, we rode by the chemical plant just outside of Wittenberg. A very large number of people in Wittenberg work at that plant.

Our first stop was this little chapel about halfway between Wittenberg and Coswig. It was locked up tight, but it was surrounded by a wonderful garden.

This manure spreader seems to have been fashioned from parts of a military vehicle.

Beth and I along the Elbe River. The beautiful bike path follows the Elbe. Beth has ridden most of it from Hamburg to the border of the Czech Republic. She didn't get to do this portion in the past because it was flooding two years ago.

St. Nicholai Kirche is located in Coswig. It was the church of the prince of the area. You can see the balcony seats on each side of the chancel area. The scaffolding holds a woman who is meticulously restoring a Cranach painting. There are several Cranach paintings in this church, and Luther and many of the reformers attended worship here. An outside picture of the church is below. It is impressive! (Lucas Cranach also painted the altarpiece in Luther's church here in Wittenberg. You can see it in the picture of me leading worship in the church).

Magnolias blooming in the gardens at the Worlitz castle.

Our bikes taking a break in the gardens at the Worlitz castle.

Pictures of the church in Worlitz.

All the sore muscles were worth the incredible journey we took today. It threatened rain, but held off. And to cuckoos serenaded us from the forests along the river. Tomorrow we are heading to Eisleben (Luther's birth and death place) and Mansfeld (where Luther first attended school). It's good we are renting a car, because I just heard that the Deutsch Bahn train workers are going on strike from tomorrow through Sunday morning.