The Luther Experience
When God Changed History

Come a day or two early, at your expense, get some rest, and get acclimated. Just let us know, and we’ll make sure you have the same room when the group arrives. We’re staying at the luxurious Hilton Hotel Frankfurt Gravenbrücke. The hotel was once an old German farm. You can enjoy walking the farm lands or settling into one of the best spas in Germany. Be sure to make a reservation well in advance to enjoy the spa. Enjoy a pre-trip dinner or time to visit the old town of Frankfurt. Tomorrow, the rest of our group will be arriving. Our first scheduled event is dinner on Friday at 6:00 for a welcome and time of greeting.

Today, we meet the horrors of humanity at Buchenwald, one of the first and largest of the concentration camps. Dietrich Bonhoeffer spent time here. Some 280,000 prisoners lived here. Many didn’t survive. This is a hard day for us, as we honor their lives and memories. We ask, “Where was the church?” We spend time talking about what happened and why. We wonder what we would do under the same conditions. It is a day that brings our faith alive. We leave knowing the importance of what we believe and do, especially when we return home. We return to our hotel in Weimar for dinner.

Our journey begins at the wonderful Hilton Hotel Frankfurt Gravenbruch, where we gather for a Welcome Dinner at 6:00 pm. Our hotel is 20 minutes from Frankfurt Airport. Kick back from your flight and enjoy a luxury hotel at its finest. Meet Stu, your fellow travelers, and give you an overview of what to expect. We’ll hand out tour-guide radios for the rest of the trip.

We leave Weimar and travel to the Wartburg Castle, where Luther hid out and translated the New Testament from Latin to German. We see the Luther room where he actually worked on his translation. This translation spread like wildfire throughout Europe. From the Wartburg, we travel to the enchanted city of Nuremberg and the Le Meridien Hotel in the Old Town.

Our adventure continues as we cross over into what was once East Germany (GDR) in our 56-passenger coach with a toilet and Wi-Fi. Weimar was once the cultural and political capital of Germany. Goethe, Schiller, Wagner, Bach, Liszt, and Nietzsche all live in this Renaissance architecture walking town. Luther often stayed and preached here. Settle into the historic Elephant Hotel, which opened for business in 1649. We have dinner at our hotel in Weimar.

Today, we visit Hitler’s Parade grounds, which he built for the thousand-year reign. Then we’ll head to the Nuremberg War Trial Courtroom, where the world tried to figure out what happened with the Holocaust and what to do about it. We will look at where our world is today, its pressures and tipping point, and see what we can learn from the trail. We’ll have time to explore this magical city. We end with dinner at a local restaurant and return to the Le Meridien Hotel.

Join us for worship in German at the historic Herder Church, originally built in 1245. We’ll view the landmark Cranach Altarpiece and meet with the local pastor as we talk about the church in East Germany. In the afternoon, we have a walking tour of Weimar, home of the Weimar Republic and once the capital of all Germany. We end our day at one of the oldest restaurants in Europe, Der Weissen Schwann (The White Swan). Return to our hotel in Weimar.

In the morning, we have time to explore more of Nuremberg's walled city and the significant people who lived there. Lunch is on our own at one of Nuremberg's delightful restaurants. After lunch, we return to Frankfurt and the Hilton Hotel for a farewell dinner. After dinner, we enjoy our new friends, share our experiences, and relax at the hotel with the German wine and pilsner beer.

We visit Stotternheim, where Luther was knocked off his horse by a lightning bolt and decided to become a monk. We travel to Erfurt to see the Augustinian Black Cloister, where Luther was a monk. We travel across the Kramerbruche-Merchants Bridge, the oldest bridge in Europe, as we walk to magnificent St. Mary’s Cathedral (c 700) to see where Luther was ordained.

We have breakfast at our hotel and leave for various destinations. Remember, you can tell the hotel you’d like to stay for an extra day or two to relax or explore Frankfurt or the small surrounding towns. Some of us will head to Salzburg and Vienna for an extended stay.

Today, we visit one of the most significant sites in church history, the Castle Church in Wittenberg, where Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the church doors. Wittenberg is where taught in the monastery, married Katarina, raised six children, and adopted four others. We see the Table Talk room where Luther dined with students. Return to our hotel in Weimar.