Our friend Jurgen volunteered to guide us on a bike tour out of Markranstadt today. The original objective was the Kulkwitzer See, a lake named no doubt for the little centre of Kulkwitz, southeast of town. If you zoom out with the map above, you will see a whole flock of lakes, south and east of Leipzig. These came about from this having been a big open pit coal mining area. As the coal played out (I think) the pits were allowed to fill in, creating cold and deep lakes. In the case of the Kulkwitz lake, the end of coal mining provided a super recreation site, with beaches, sailing, scuba diving, and restaurants. Since this is Germany, even GDR, a bikeway went around the lake, mostly paved, and partly rail trail. It just burns me up that wealthy British Columbia where we live has in 20 years not found the will or money to pave the defunct rail line that runs from Victoria to Parksville. But in GDR? No problem, apparently.
Markranstadt is a pleasant town, with little in terms of retail activity, but a good town spirit.
Markranstat, like Leipzig, is situated in the German state of Sachsen (Saxony), but it is near the border with Anhalt-Sachsen. For locals, this would be like Alberta/BC or Washington/Oregon, but for practical purposes we can see no difference. This is despite a moderately impassioned comparison of the path on either side of the border by Jurgen.
Having spun around the lake (clockwise) out of Markranstadt, Jurgen sprung a great idea. "Let's nip over to Lutzen, it's part of Sweden, you know". Needless to say we had never heard of Lutzen, much less its link to Sweden, but of course we're up for anything. Never having heard of Lutzen once again proves our immense general ignorance, for there are scads of things that "everybody" knows about (and has for hundreds of years!) that we have lived to our extreme ages never having encountered.
Of course, slowly slowly while being guided around to various spots, the story begins to form in my head, until I vaguely understand what everybody knows. So here is my precis on what the deal is with (the mega famous) Lutzen, which should then help with the photos and captions as we run through the place.
Europe has had an amazing number of complex wars, with various empires and kings, and religions, having at each other over centuries. One of these is the Thirty Years' War, which ran 1618 to 1648. Other wars were running concurrently, because I guess there just wasn't time to properly string wars out one after another!
There seems to be some debate over what the Thirty Years War was actually about, but let's say it was Protestants from the north vs. Catholics from the south. Among the many taking part in the war, our story focusses on two. One was Gustav Adolph, king of Sweden, and the other Albrecht von Wallenstein, something of a mercenary, fighting for Ferdinand II of Bohemia. Gustav had set out from Sweden two years earlier, and had been swarming around Germany - mainly Bavaria - fighting many battles. Wallenstein had earned a reputation as a great general, and had confiscated a lot of lands, amassing a personal wealth. When the two met up at the Battle of Lutzen, Wallenstein was actually fairly ill - later analysis blamed syphilis. But in this battle, Gustav was killed. (Wallenstein was later assassinated by Ferdinand because of a rumour he planned to switch sides.)
Well ok, one might write that off as a single event in an eventful war, and century of war. But no. First off, about 10,000 were killed, and ended up in mass graves near the battle field. Second, having a Swedish king killed down here was a big deal for the Swedes and for Protestants in general. The body was brought back to Stockholm, but a memorial rock remained at the site. The rock was later replaced by a memorial iron structure, which was maintained by a Swedish soldier stationed for the purpose. From there the story gets more and more convoluted. A restaurant was built beside he iron memorial, to accomodate the many Swedish/Protestant visitors. A Swedish wood cottage was built to act as a museum, by Swedish carpenters. This was later twinned. Then in the early 1900's concern that the iron memorial was taking a lot of maintenance, led a private philanthropist to have a church built in memory of Gustav, on the site. Later, the restaurant (which of course included a beer garden) was deemed to crass to be nearby, and it was moved 1/2 block away. Archeologists and museum artists got in on the act, and artifacts of the battle were unearthed and displayed. Dignitaries from Sweden and elsewhere attended opening ceremonies for things like the church on the site. A Society was formed, that even today has secured funding and is 1/2 way through building yet another museum building. Meanwhile 2 km away in Lutzen proper, the town castle is devoted to even more museum craft about the whole thing.
Trying to put all the Gustav interest into my own terms, I thought of it as if George Washington had happened to die in, say, Sarnia, Ontario instead of Mount Vernon, Virginia, in 1799. Well maybe the Americans would be doing pilgrimages to Sarnia, and erecting George Washington churches there, and the like.
But it is not just Gustav that is a focus here. Wallenstein also comes in for a lot of memorialising, and there is even a rock band that has adopted his name. And oh, while we are at it, Napoleon rampaged through here in 1807, enjoying a no doubt 10 jammer breakfast at our own Rosencranz guest house!
So with all this in the background, 390 years later, the Grampies and their friend Jurgen rolled into Lutzen. Here is what we saw:
This shot has a lot: the memorial rock, the iron memorial, and the church
We arrived back in Markranstadt in time for the Childrens' Festival parade. We went with Jurgen's 91 year old Mom, and Birgit's mom Kate as well. The two great grandma's are shown greeting each other below.
It's a bit of a tough walk to the parade for Jurgen's Mom.
As in each of the parades or festivals we have encountered on this tour, the events provide an opportunity for the townsfolk to come out of their houses and cars and rekindle their sense of community.
Our last thing for the day was to assemble at Birgit's family compound for coffee time. Birgit's family is an admirable conglomerate of four family generations, all living on a walled property in the centre of town. They have various buildings, centred around the original family bakery business, and have created a mini paradise of gardens, farm animals, pools, and outdoor shelters. This family of bakers always comes up with a variety of creations at these times. Here is what we saw of that today:
It's a chocolate torte with a really good ganache filling.
This family greets us warmly every time we show up to eat their tortes. Like Jurgen and Birgit, they are a kind hearted treasure that we have somehow come to know.
What gave Meaning to Life today? Oma Kate and her baking clan.
Today's ride: 36 km (22 miles) Total: 4,857 km (3,016 miles)
