Pictures of Day 3 and 4 (Thuringia)

The fairy grottoes - see 'castle' in upper right.
And Thanksgiving at McDonald's - the kids with McFlurries. (a real treat for them, sadly. :))

Day 3 - 4 in Thuringia and beyond

Our last two days of our little Thanksgiving journey were eventful. We started off the day early-ish on Wednesday to explore a bit of the Thuringian forest by car. Our first stop was Saalfeld - just 30 minutes away - and the famous 'fairy grottoes.' Apparently, this location is in the Guiness Book of World Records for being the world's most colorful cave. You can only visit by taking a tour, which, unfortunately for me and the kids, was in very fast German. Steve tried to translate, but I'm afraid he's a bit unlearned in mining terminology. So we bought a little book at the end and figured out that it used to be an Alum mine, from which they made vitriol. Very little is said about what it's used for other than for paint...but the mine was used as a source for mineral water as well. There was a sample at the end of the tour, and it tasted....minerally. But as you can see from the picture, the grottoe looks like a fairytale castle with surrounding village. When we got to this special cave, they presented a nice sound and light show featuring Enya, of all people, singing the theme from The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. The kids were thrilled!

Our next stop was Lauscha - a glass manufacturing village where the glass eye was invented. We visited one of the factories there and watched them work the glass over a flame into different shapes and colors. We didn't buy anything there though, because I just couldn't picture us getting it home in one piece! They had marbles which I suppose are pretty sturdy, but .... the highlight for us was, believe it or not, a wonderful meal at the cafeteria there! Steve had venison, which we all tried - yummy - and we all had 'knudeln' which are these huge potatoe dumplings. (A specialty for the area, I guess.) They were tasty, but the texture took getting used to. A bit like eating a hot ball of glue.

Then we went to a horse breeding farm deep in the forest in Maura. This is quite famous, I guess, for the Haflinger breed of horse. These are the largest breed of pony, and were bred for work in the mountains and forests hauling wood and such. Because they are smaller than normal horses, they have the ability to walk the narrow paths there, yet are quite strong and hardy for the cold. We got a tour of the place - and the kids loved it.

We then traveled through some gorgeous forests and headed 'home.' We spent our evenings there playing Settler with the kids, watching American movies on tv dubbed in German, and basically just hanging out. (They do a very good job here of matching voices to American actors, actually. I thought that I'd be really annoyed with it, but it's pretty entertaining, really.)

SO - Thanksgiving morning we packed up and drove to Leipzig to drop off Steve at his conference for Von Humbolt scholars, and the kids and I drove on up to Wittenburg to visit the Luther museum there. On the highway (read Autobahn) they had McDonald's restaurants, so we had our Thanksgiving dinner there. (see picture) The kids were obviously thrilled to death about this. As for our visit to Wittenburg, it was raining and getting dark quickly, so we only went to the museum. I hope to go again in the spring to visit the churches there and more of the town. The Luther house is formerly known as the black cloister where Luther lived as a monk. It was then given to him (sort of) later after the monks had departed and he got married. The government spent some 1.7 million Euros for renovated the place, and it was well worth the trip.

Six hours later, we got back to Muenster - and I could write a whole other entry about what it's like to drive the Autobahn in the rain and in the dark. Suffice it to say that I was very happy to get home! (I've had a crik in my neck for a week as a result of that very tense drive.)

All for now! Keep checking in - Christmas markets here are next!!

Pictures of day 2 - Thuringia

The first picture - if you look center left, you'll see our inn, and the second is taken from the center courtyard of the inn.
Then you see the sheep. And that is Evanleigh in the mysterious 'blind' type structure that faces the fields. The first picture is taken standing in front of this. And finally - Steve and Rowyn, cozy under the featherbed.

Thuringia Adventure - Day 2: Our inn

Well - it gets dark SO early these days, (it's definitely dark by 4:15 or so) that we had no idea what our inn looked like until the morning. Steve found the place on the internet - it's apparently a 1000 year old inn that was left vacant for decades, and recently refurbished. The directions the innkeeper gave us were rather vague - go to Kolbia. In center of town is little bridge, take the right and then left uphill....but we managed to find our way. We were way out in the country, and it was pitch black. The only way we figured that it was our accomodations for the week was that the road ended, and there was a little tiny light on in one of the windows. Because we were booked for Monday through Wednesday nights, we had the place to ourselves. Our first impression was that of awe. We had a three story apartment - first floor: great room with kitchen and sitting area, second floor: two bedrooms and full bath, third floor: a huge attic-like bedroom with four beds. The furniture was all light pine, almost shaker in style, and the beds had those European feather beds instead of topsheets and comforters. COZY!

Well, after an AWESOME night's sleep, we looked out the three feet deep recessed windows. The forest was just 1/2 a kilometer behind us, and the rest was gorgeous farmland. We were going to try to travel to Wittenburg to do some more Luther hunting that day, and decided that we needed to just stay put and enjoy. We didn't do much - we explored the farm (complete with sheep, goats, and pony) a bit of the surrounding countryside and a bit of the woods. Although the weather was cloudy, it was still stunningly beautiful. We saw many many tiny treehouse type structures around (see Ev's picture in one) - we thought they might be 'blinds' for hunters or nature watchers, but they were mostly facing the fields...still a mystery.

We did need to go into a nearby town to get some supplies, so we went off in the afternoon hoping to find a horseriding place we'd heard about. We found a dinner spot - not much open - and then, right as the sun was going down, found the horse place. Alas, they weren't able to saddle up the horses until the next day, but they did give us a little tour. The horses were gorgeous! I wish I had the presence of mind to take pictures, but I was just in awe. They were all Palaminos, apparently, and really beautiful. There were also very cute stable dogs that had the kids entranced as well.

All for now - stay tuned for day three!

Pictures of Day 1 - Thuringia

Top is Harrison and Bach's bust, then a view from the drawbridge of Wartburg.
Luther's study where he wrote the New Testament, and the castle itself.

Adventure in Thuringia!

Greetings family and friends...well, let's be honest....Mom and Dad!

Our friends, Stephen and Barbara Emmel were out of town once again, so we had use of their car to travel. We took the kids out of school - not without a few strange looks....I don't think that that's 'done' here! Anyway, we left Monday before Thanksgiving and came back Thanksgiving evening. Only four days - but so much seen.

Our location centered on the forest of Thuringia - (Turingen in German) - where Germans have hiked for centuries. There is a famous path used by Goethe and other famous people called the Rennsteig that we passed a time or two - but our primary motivation was to 'walk where Luther walked.' So we focused our attention on Eisenach - where he went to school from the age or 15 - 18, and the famous castle, Wartburg, where he holed up for a year and wrote the German version of the New Testament. So our first stop was the castle - a huge medieval fortress on the hillside looking over the city. Its first claim to fame was not Luthers vigil, but rather home to Saint Elisabeth. She lived there most of her short life, having been married to the Landgrave there. She had three kids before the age of 20, helped the poor and sick against the wishes of her husband and family, was widowed when the 'master' went on the Crusades, and died at the ripe old age of 24. But her legacy is a huge one - I'll have to google her.

So - Luther was hidden here from 1521-22 (March to March or so) after the famous Diet of Worms. Sound like he was trying to lose some weight with a questionable regime? Not so. A Diet was the name for a meeting of rulers - in Germany's case, princes and bishops, and usually but not necessarily, the 'holy Roman Emperor' - a left-over sort of caesar who ruled with the pope's support...usually. And Worms is the name of a German town, pronounced 'forms' here. It was at this meeting that Luther was tried and asked to recant his teachings and books. He said 'no' and was excommunicated. The danger of burning at the stake was a real one, so his prince (Frederick the Wise) hid him at one of his lessor known and not much used castles, Wartburg. Luther went under the name of "Knight George" for the year and grew an enormous beard. He wrote and wrote. His study is still there, unchanged...or at least done up the way he had it. (see picture)

Then down in town we went to the 'Luther House' - one of many in Germany. Here it was thought that he lived with a wealthy family during his school years (age 15-18). Apparently he earned his keep with other boys of his station, by touring through town, door to door, and serenading folks for money. (the earliest mention of his musical nature!) Anyway, they have turned the house into a very nice museum about Luther - not really comprehensive, but interesting. There was a new exhibition on the history of the Lutheran parish house - beginning of course with the Luther household. Fascinating stuff, even if it was mostly in German and Steve had to translate much of it for me. Turns out that I can use a good deal of it for my research.

Our final stop that day before finding our little inn an hour or so away, was to visit the Bach house. Just like Luther, he has many museums dedicated to his memory throughout Germany. He grew up on Eisenach. The museum had a well done (in English too - BONUS) account of his life and accomplishments. And at the end of the tour, a professional gave a little Bach concert on two ancient instruments that Bach would have played upon.

Well - we'd had a busy day - getting up at 5:30 to beat the traffic and all that touring and walking and reading. So we left Eisenach to the tiny hamlet where we were scheduled to stay for three nights. But that account will wait until tomorrow. Bis balt!