Author: Ann Laemmlen Lewis

When you visit an old city or town, your eye usually rests first on the spires of the cathedrals and churches.  They seem to pull you their direction, and through their big heavy doors into sacred spaces.

We have traveled to Nuremberg (Nürnberg) for the rest of our Christmas week.  We’ll spend 3 nights here in this beautiful and historical place.

We arrived midday and oriented ourselves to the churches and the layout of the old town.  We often forget that these old towns have sprawling modern cities surrounding them.

This is Seybald’s Church, very close to our Agneshof Hotel.

This is how it looked after the WWII bombings:

Here’s the home across the street from the Seybald Church:

Here is the Frauenkirche, closed for renovation.  One of the Christmas Markets was set up in front of this church.  The market was being taken down this week.

And here is the Lorenz Kirche.  This one has special meaning to me.  I first visited here in 2003 with a group of distant Laemmlen/Laemmle/Lemmel cousins.  We had a reunion organized by Hans Dieterich Lemmel in Austria.  He has researched the various branches of our family and the history of the Laemmlen name.

In the pics below you will see that the Laemmlen crest (Little Lamb) is on the pulpit stone of the Lorenz Kirche.

Here is the pulpit stone with our family crest on it:

These churches are filled with magnificent artwork which was removed and hidden in bunkers during the war to keep it safe.  Thank goodness.

Here you can see the destruction to this magnificent church during WWII.

Here is the 3rd church we visited, St. Elisabeth’s:

These visits were a nice way to begin our visit in Nuremberg.  And a nice place to remember Jesus and his birth.

Anne Frank was born just down the street from where we live in Frankfurt. She lived in this home the first 2 years of her life. We passed by here today on our Christmas afternoon walk.

Four times a year 50 bells from 10 of the downtown churches ring together for 30 minutes. Frankfurt has been doing this since 1954, though city records say that it has been happening in a similar way since 1347, in connection with the election of the Emperor in Frankfurt. It was Glorious!

A few weeks ago there was a huge JustServe service project in the Frankfurt wards.  Hundreds of people came to help assemble care packages from donated items that would be delivered to those in need during Christmas.  Two hundred of those gifts were given to 2 care centers in Offenbach, the town where we attend church each week.

John and I spent several hours today taking those 200 gifts to 200 elderly folks.  We went room to room, visiting with these dear people who were so happy to be remembered. It was a heart-warming day.

It was again a reminder that we all have our turn on earth, and we do not get to decide how long we will stay here.  One year ago I had cancer and was waiting for surgery to remove it from my breast.  Every day I am grateful that I’ve been given more time here with those I love.

I am also grateful for my hands and my mind and for the words that come out of them.  I wonder which of the two will outlive the other.  I hope I can hang on to both for awhile.

We spent the last of our daylight in Baden-Baden at the main city cemetery.  We happened across the place as we were trying to find a high point over the city to take a photo before leaving.  “Let’s get out and take a wander, ” I said to John, who was willing.

The cemetery was full of big pines and cedar trees that were blowing in the wind and singing. It really was heavenly.

We spent a good while there, wandering through the cemetery, looking at the interesting old stones. The trees were covered in green moss. The plots were old, but still cared for. We saw the stones of one of the prominent families named Bremmer was all over the huge resort we’d walked by. On the stone it said he was the building of the spa hotel.

It’s always sobering to realize we all will end up in a grave with a stone marking our place. We will take nothing with us. We were quiet and thoughtful as we wandered, really quite sober. These people–all these people are in a different place now.

During this beautiful and thoughtful walk, I thought about the gift of the resurrection Jesus Christ brought to this world.   What a sweet way to prepare for Christmas Eve tomorrow.