Plant a Tree in Wittenberg to Celebrate 500 years of Reformation

While touring Germany, your church can plant a tree in the historic Luther Garden that is being planted in Wittenberg to celebrate the 500 year anniversary of Martin Luther's posting of the 95 Theses. Call 1-800 303-5534 or e-mail us for details. The local landscapers plant the tree A service is held to dedicate the tree An arial view of the Luther Garden in Wittenberg Wittenberg The idea of the garden, organized by the Lutheran World Federation, is to provide something that continually grows and enriches Wittenberg - a sign that symbolizes the vitality and life-connectedness of the reform movement and its worldwide resonance. Churches are invited to participate by planting a tree both in Wittenberg and a corresponding tree at home with an inscription noting the connection to the Luther Garden in Wittenberg. The cost of the tree in Wittenberg is around $650, which covers the tree itself, a local landscaper's services and an official certificate from the Lutheran World Federation. All tree plantings will be recorded in a site plan that can be found on the web site. Click here to see which churches around the world have already participated. "Even if I knew that the world were to collapse tomorrow, I would still plant my apple tree today." ascribed to Martin Luther For more details about the Luther Garden, please visit the official website.

The Leipzig Christmas Market opens today

There's nothing quite like a German Christmas market and today marks the opening of one of the most popular. The Leipzig Christmas market dates back to the year 1767. This year it is open from November 24th through December 22nd, 2008, with 250 stalls. The main area will be Marktplatz market square where visitors will be able to marvel at a massive Saxon spruce Christmas tree, and enjoy a wide variety of performances at the market square stage. Visitors can also see the world’s largest free-standing advent calendar (857 square meters) in the Böttchergasse alleyway, designed by Leipzig schools. Make a point to be there at 4:30pm every day from December 1-24th to watch the windows being opened.

To learn more about Leipzig, we invite you to visit our webpage and learn about Luther's connections with the city, the prayer meeting that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Switzerland trip!

Yesterday whilst arranging flights for a number of clients, I was also able to arrange flights for myself and I'm excited! in May I will be going to the Swiss Travel Mart, plus visiting Zurich and Geneva and hopefully Chillon Castle(see left) as well. It's always wonderful to be in these historic cities and meet up with friends there.

We were recently involved in a project by the Swiss Tourist Office to create booklets about the religious significance of many Swiss cities and we have a stock of these if you would be interested in receiving a copy. If you are going on one of our tours to Switzerland, it will be part of your pre-travel pack. By the way, if you are looking for a tour of Switzerland this year, we have space available on the "Reformation Trails" tours in June and September and on the "Footsteps of Martin Luther" tour with Lilian Scott-Baer who is originally from Zurich. We can also arrange travel for small groups.