Dresden, Weimer, Erfurt

Statue of writer Goethe and good friend composer Schiller
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Today we set off early for our drive to Weimar. From the time we leave and all the way to Weimar the area is heavy with thick fog and the temperature is brisk. We have a quick comfort stop and I have a good poke around the mini supermarket at all the german products to see if there is anything of interest (yummy) that I can buy with our mounting coupons.

Back in the bus Maria our tour leader explains that Weimar is the old literature centre of Germany. The famous german writer Geothe was centred here as well as at one time operatic composer Robert Wagner. People and artists from far and wide are drawn to this town to meet Goethe and hear his interpretation of their works.

Art and Literature

St Peter and Paul's Cathederal
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We are taken on a walking tour of this small centre by our local guide, who gives us a detailed commentary of the writers of old and their rich sponsors who often paid for their lodgings and purchased their works. It starts to rain softly and I am very, very cold. Joe decides to leave his camera in its case so we have only a handful of photos that I take when the rain breaks.

We opt for the afternoon tour to Buchenwald Concentration camp. There is a museum here that details the attrocities that took place here and at other camps. We walk through the crematorium and past where the barracks which housed the inmates used to be. Now only gravel marks the location of the 30 buildings that housed thousands of people. This was not an extermination camp, it was a workers camp, feeding workers to the nearby underground factories which built munitions and rockets for the war. The people here were literally starved and worked to death. We have only an hour here which was not enough time to go through the entire museum and read all the literature and items available.

House built in the 13/14th Century
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We returned to Weimar where we pick up the remainder of our tour group that did not come on the optional tour. We then have a relatively short ride through to Ehrfurt. We have a quick check-in then head out for a short walk with Maria through the town. This takes us once again past bright merchant houses as well as hosues from the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th century. It is remarkable how they have resotred some of the hosues with the bright colours like they were originally. The bright paint was used by the merchants to show how rich they were and to say "look at me - look what I have". We then walk through a small passage of shops which is actually built on top of a bridge, but looks like a normal road.

Gate of Buchenwald concentration camp
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As we get closer to the Cathederal square we note that there is a fair in the square celebrating Octoberfest with rides and stalls much line our side-show alley at the ekka. We venture up the 70 steps to the Cathederal, I gasp for breath then we enter the cathederal just as they are setting up for the 6pm service. Yet another magnificent interior here to view and be amazed at how these structures were built in times gone by.

We wander back down the steps through the fair, the smell of the bratwurst is just too much for me, and we relent and share a long bratwurst on a dinner roll. We slowly wander back to our hotel and enjoy a buffet dinner with the rest of our tour mates in the hotel. I soon learn not to get between a german (yer-man) and their food, as the well endowered lady behind me starts using her bust to nudge me along the line!

Restored Erfurt Merchant House
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We head back to the room so I can upload my blog updates for the last 4-5 days. Joe also has a bad headache and needs to turn in early after taking some drugs to try and shake it. We are looking forward to the sleep-in promised by Maria tomorrow with a later than normal scheduled start.