Our morning was spent at Wartburg castle, a short hike away from Eisenach. It is a truly jaw dropping building. The architecture in and of itself is eclectic, clearly arising from a range of centuries and styles. The foundations were laid in the 11th century, and has had a huge variety of reconstructions and add-ons since.

Here is the entrance to the castle.

The castle’s history is humbling: it was the site of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary and the inspiration for The Minstrels. It was here that Martin Luther hid away to translate the New Testament into German, providing monumental steps for both Lutheranism and the German language. 

I wish we had gotten to poke around more. All over there were mysterious, old doors with locks that we simply were not allowed beyond. It certainly makes one wonder! We did look through the museum there, peering into rooms both incredibly simplistic and insanely lavish. 

One place we were permitted to explore was this tower:

Oh boy!

Here we are at the top! 

And here’s s view back at (some of) the castle. 

After exploring Wartburg, we hiked back to town and boarded a series of trains to take us to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, which is one of the most adorable places I’ve ever been. Just inside the wall of the “old town,” we were greeted by a bubble-blowing teddy bear. 

This is just in case you thought I was kidding. Ha.

We went straight to our hotel, more like a bed and breakfast, with a candlelit bar downstairs hosting very little empty wall space, a piano, and a friendly atmosphere. It is from here, eating a bratwurst, that I write to you.

And here is our room for the night! Good night from Germany (most likely good afternoon for you).

After arriving in Bremen, we walked to our hotel on the Weser River. Then we walked around the Schnoor area where the roads are extremely narrow and the buildings date from the Middle Ages. After a snack and a Beck’s beer (brewed in Bremen) at the Ratskellar, we joined three others at Osteria for a multi-course Italian dinner hosted by Thermo Fisher. Plenty of wine and grappa were consumed!

On Wednesday morning, we got up late and had a tour of the Thermo Fisher mass spectrometer factory before lunch. We are currently on the ICE train from Bremen to Gottingen, via Hanover. Our goal is Wartburg Castle near Eisenach, which will require at least two more trains.

Narrow streets in the Schnoor.

Bremen is famous for its four animal musicians.

Rathaus (city hall).

The grave of the mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss in Gottingen. Almost missed our train connection because of the stroll to see this.

Checkers’ post from last night was rather short as it was late and we were both tired. However, I will now add some additional Berlin pictures. It is Tuesday afternoon and we are traveling by train from Berlin to Hanover (on our way to Bremen). This morning, we visited Checkpoint Charlie at the site of the former Berlin Wall, and then went to the Topography of Terror museum nearby. But here are some sights from yesterday.

First, one must not cross when the man has his arms outstretched.

The green, walking man indicates what you should do. These signs date from the Cold War time and are different from the more typical ones in the west. Therefore, they were kept as a kind of nostalgic relic; we saw a whole souvenir shop dedicated to selling anything with these icons.

These mirrors in the dome on top of the Reichstag reflect sunlight down into the parliament chamber below.

Here is the view down into parliament through windows underneath the mirrors in the dome.

Finally, after walking west from the Reichstag through Tiergarten Park, we found the Kaiser Wilhelm memorial church, left as a bombed-out ruin as a reminder of the destruction from World War II.

Replica of sign from the time of the wall.

Replica of Checkpoint Charlie between the Russian and American sectors of Berlin.

We both had currywurst for dinner, definitely an unusual but good mix of flavors. This Hilton has no executive floor, but the woman at check-in told us we were upgraded to a room with a view, a few floors above street level.

View of the Deutscher Dom from our room. In the background you can see the communication tower at Alexanderplatz. This area is east of the Brandenburg Gate, and before 1990 was known as East Berlin. 

Here are some photos of what we do best: me being a badass scientist, and dad drinking beer. Wait. I’m the college student, so that’s probably more accurate the other way around. Emil Fischer, the stoic statue, is a well-known biochemist who invented Fischer projections, which may still haunt you from that one time you took a general chemistry class (possibly the only decision in college you truly regret, despite what you claim). We got totally lost in construction zones trying to find this statue, so although it may not seem like much, it was quite a victory. 

What I will share with you next cannot possibly be captured by a camera. 

This is the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, which, despite the blunt title, leaves quite a bit to the imagination. From the outside, it simply looks like a plaza filled with cement blocks two the three feet high. It is only once you walk inside that it swallows you whole, the ground drops beneath you and you are within seemingly endless rows of unnamed, unmarked, towering tombs. It certainly sent shivers up my spine. 

And to finish this post with something a little more lighthearted: 

We visited the Reichstag as the sun went down. I’m still not sure how we managed the timing so well. It was truly majestic, watching the horizon blaze up for the glory of the day before dwindling into a quiet dusk. The night breeze tickled the German flags into movement, saluting the sliver of moon that dangled overhead. I leave you with this picture of the Brandenburg Gate, taken, of course, by my father. We will have more tales from Germany for you tomorrow.