Day 3, Thu, Feb 4 - 2017 Germany Inspection Trip

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Where were we:

- Leipzig
- Jena
- Weimar
- Erfurt 

Guten morgen from Leipzig! There is a great deal ahead today to write about so buckle up and gather your kids, parents, grandparents, and pets around the internet, and welcome to the blog.

I have often had a difficult time sleeping the first night I am in Europe despite being jet lagged. Nick commented on this as well as he has been having similar issues. Mine is that I never have a fully restful sleep and wake up a lot from strange noises or worries, not that my clock is not functioning properly. And, I am always certain overtired. But, this sleep from Wednesday and Thursday was nearly perfect. I believe, or at least, I remember, only waking up just once (which is sort of a record for me and my terrible bladder).

The showers at the IC Hotel are great. Hot water, two options of spray - from the traditional top or hand held, and efficient draining systems. You sort of feel like you are on the Enterprise's transporter pad. My mattress over night seemed quite comfortable and the temperature control system in the room were first rate.

I was in a standard double and the room was clean, efficient, and perfectly comfortable for me and one other I would suspect (had my wife Alisa been along for the ride, she would have liked it too). I think you will find this the same for you. It is a very good hotel and my rest was enjoyable and quiet and comfortable. That’s all you can ask for in my book.

I was down at breakfast at about 8:20 am and had a very quick breakfast as we were leaving at 8:45 am for the Thomaskirche inspection and meeting with their musical and parish staff. 

The breakfast was very good. It was German traditional with lots of meats, cheese, and fruit - a great selection - as well as a wonderful selection of breads, pastries, and cereal and so forth. There were several American items too like scrambled eggs, potatoes, and bacon, and even pancakes. Great coffee and tea and juice selection as well. The breakfast was first-rate all around. 

There is ample seating in the breakfast room in the front of the lobby (which doubles as the bar after breakfast service), but there is also a large connecting overflow room, perfectly fine but without the big windows, attached. They will easily be able to hold a Chorus group of singers and camp followers and this is again very encouraging.

After breakfast, I sprinted back to the lift to get my bags out of my room.

Here is an important part about the elevators in all of our hotels. You will get a room card key, fairly standard in all American hotels these days. You will not get an actual key. To use the elevator and go any higher than the ground or first level (remember in Europe the ground floor is level E or O or R, but never 1, 1 is what we would think of as the second floor) you have to swipe your card into a slot next to the floors on the elevator control panel. Then, you press your number and off you go. Once you get to your floor, you will see a similar slot outside your door and not in it. This is the same for all three hotels. The only exception to this is that in the hotel in Ulm, the card swipe in the elevator automatically selects your floor for you, so no extra pushing of buttons. Going down or to other floors once you go to your original floor is possible to do without a swipe. We will remind you of that next summer.

We had a 9 am appointment at the Thomaskirche and got there at 8:54 am. Just enough time to snap a picture at both the Mendelssohn and Bach statues in this square. If you are not sure how Mendelssohn influenced our love of Bach today, I encourage you to Google it. It is a good story you can read about before the tour - and should - our a Leipzig guide can tell you themselves in a a year and a half.

Walking into the Thomaskirche, which today is a living and breathing parish church much like it was five centuries ago, and knowing all of the music Bach brought to life in this building and its importance on choral history was a bit like, for me, stepping into King’s College or Westminster for the first time. This was holy ground for many reasons, but especially for us choral musicians and choral music lovers. You could tell Andrew was just as giddy as I was about it as we realize what we were doing.

As we walked in, though, we reminded this is a musical church and a living one. One of the organs in the church was being tuned, another was in major repair and renovation, and there were - on the upper level galleries - organ pieces every where! Amanda called them Organ Legos. It was wild to listen to an organ tuning in Bach’s church, but also difficult to think as well. Alas, all little tuning noise was well worth it.

We met our Thomaskirche contact and immediately began a tour of the facility before finding our way up to the massive - and I mean massive, it could fit an orchestra and huge choir - gallery in the back upper level of the nave. It is an impressive space in which to work and to see a great few of the full church. Thomaskirche is a big church, but not a mammoth Catholic cathedral. Instead, it is a parish church and church of the people of Leipzig filled with so much character and history. Words can’t describe the impact the Thomaskirche had on both Andrew and I - and the thought of singing Bach in this church in a year and a half, well, that was something special to keep in mind.

Our inspection was fairly standard on the viewing side. We then engaged in a very lengthy meeting with the Thomaskirche personnel. It was a great time for to practice my German listening and translating skills as a lot of this meeting was in German. Sue and Nick speak fluently. Sue probably better than fluet. I have discovered my listening German and ability to translate is in good shape. My speaking German, not so much, but I can figure out what is going on and usually being said, so this helped me listen in a little more. I am hell bent now on getting a German tutor and getting some of my spoken German back over the next year and a half. A lot is creeping back in my head even after only a few days on the ground here - and I want that language back in my brain and easily speakable from my mouth.

All of the nitty gritty details - of which there was a ton - were hammered out over the next 35 minutes or so and there were several interesting developments. One, the Leipzig music/parish director invited us on behalf of the Thomaskirche to not just sing the “secondary” service in the evening on the Sunday we are in Leipzig, but extended to us the formal invitation to sing the “primary” and “high” service - the most popular and important one - in the morning as well. To add on, originally, we were told for any service we sing, no more than a little bit of Bach if any at all. By this meeting it had changed to do some portions of the B Minor within the church service (panic not, certainly and not even close to all or even 1/2 of it, just some key parts that the Chorus and Thomaskirche and Andrew agreed on. But, with the primary high service and honor secured, we thought it might too much to tackle both services that day. We respectfully bowed out of the second in favor of the first, and all involved thought this was a great step and move.

All and all this service and music and arrangement is a HUGE honor for our merry band of singers. 

Secondly, related to this, our new Thomaskirche friend - their lead contact - has a husband who plays regularly in a very good Leipzig based orchestra. Originally, we were going to use an orchestra based in Halle, but with this off the radar at the moment, options freed up. Long story short of this, the husband is going to try to bring together the special orchestra we need for this and come play trumpet with us - hopefully - on Sunday morning at the high service. This is a direct personnel contact, Andrew’s contractor in Leipzig so to say, and gives us great assurance that we will have a wonderful rosters of players in July of 2017.

This Thomaskirche news and situation just was fabulous. Andrew and I couldn’t be more pleased at this development. These few long paragraphs still cannot describe the importance of doing this and this invitation enough.

With just a little bit of time before we had to leave the beautiful city of Leipzig, and as Stephan reminded us it was really little, we zipped over quick to see Bach’s other well known church, the previously described Nickolaikirche. It is an impressive space also. Very soupy in terms of sound with its high ceiling and flat surfaces. We all thought the space was beautiful - and it is - highly worth a stop and they have nearly daily organ concerts in there (not so much choral, but organ, yes). Andrew noted that Nickolai was more grand and stately - like a museum or a showcase church. He noted that the Thomaskirche, to him, felt like the personal church, the local church, the church of the people and had far more vibe for what we are going to do. Still, Nickolai is very worth your visit - perhaps after you morning service at the Thomaskirche - the revolution of the DDR began in this church.

We headed out of the city about 10:12 am and then headed into the sort of sprawl of the city toward the autobahn while first making a stop at a huge monument, apparently slightly larger than the Eiffel Tower (debated greatly by our mini-van of travel folks). It wasn’t necessarily pretty, or in a pretty area of Leipzig (though there was a nice park nearby), but it was impressive to see. But, from there we said farewell to Leipzing.

Jena
We were headed to Jena - home of our second concert, a run-out of about 35 minutes from Erfurt, ultimately our stop at the end of the day.

We were in Jena about 11:21 am and went straight in to the very lovely Stadtkirche, St. Michael’s - just for you Michael Freitas and Michael Grillo.

Another important main city church in the land of Luther, Bach, and friends, this church has a very well attended a regionally popular summer concert series. In 2017, it will be filled with performances like ours tied into the many celebrations of the Reformation across Germany. The church has exceptional acoustics, and both Andrew and I agreed that the Chorus and orchestra would sound really good doing the B Minor in this space.

They anticipate an audience of anywhere from 500 to 700, it was set up for about 500 when we were in there, but this is to be one of the marquee concerts on their Thursday Summer Series (with special attention for the 2017 celebration) so the team of the Stadtkirche seemed quite confident.

St. Michael's - the Stadtkirche of Jena

Like the performance in Magdeburg, the proceeds of this performance will be offered by the church, on behalf of the church and the Chorus of Westerly, to a local charitable or youth cause of our choice. Sometime over the next year, the Chorus will get to look at a list of some causes we could support. Odds are good we are going to look for a good program to support through either music, community development, or children — or all of them. But, there are lots of other options that are, perhaps, more relevant that we could then explore. Much more to come on this, of course.

Andrew and I really liked the Kirche and loved that we were on the Stadtkirche Summer Series, and loved even more the idea of supporting a local organization or program. Much like our gig in Magdeburg, we will be helping a community with our performance. Exciting to bring great music, sing for a great community, and, in the best we can - through music - harness music to change lives and nurture the soul of a community (that’s a slight twist on our mission statement, FYI).

Before we completed our meeting and inspection in the Kirche we went up to the upper level galleries and the choir gallery itself to see the organ and to get a good view of the entire place. We are not singing up here, but it was kind of the Kirche’s staff to let us get up there for some good prospective. 

Inside St. Michael's from the choir gallery.

Our inspection and meeting at the Jena church went very well. Everyone was pleased. Once we were completed, we went immediately next door to the Kirche to the vibrant and alive university and into their main hall and student center. In a very old and lovely building, students were bustling to and from classes. It was nice to be there and watch the German students head to and from class and interact with each other.

But, far from just checking it out, this building is the holding room, dressing room, bathrooms, et cetera for the Chorus for the performance in the kirche. It has sufficient restrooms and that is quite good as there is one toilet in the church itself (which, in itself, is worth the visit, the bathroom’s ceiling goes up the bell tower — hard to describe and I didn’t think a picture in there was really appropriate).

With our meetings completed and Andrew and I very satisfied with what we heard and saw, Nick, Amanda, Andrew, Sue, and I headed out into the side streets of Jena around 12:07 PM.

Jena is really a neat little city. Easily walkable and filled with little side streets complete with charming shops and many restaurants, we found it quite nice to walk around in. I think our camp followers, if they would like, could come with us to Jena and enjoy exploring the town for a few hours in the afternoon, and, perhaps, finding a nice place outside in one of two or three main squares to enjoy a glass of beer or wine or a soft drink. Our time was so limited in Jena that our walk around was not much more than 1/2 an hour, but both Andrew and I agreed that this town would be very fun to explore when the weather was warm in July 2017.

Our next appointment was at Roter Hirsch, a Gasthaus located right at the edge of the Altstadt. Roter Hirsch is a planned location of dinner for the Chorus and follower prior to the Jena performance.


Before we got to tRoter Hirsch via foot, we stopped at another beer garden restaurant on one of the tiny side streets to inspect and see, should something with Roter Hirsch fall through or it not be possible, we had seen a possible alternate. As it turned out, that conversation was relevant as Roter Hirsch can - max and it would be tight - only hold 170 or so for a meal. With couriers and bus drivers and such, we are projecting about 197 people for the tour, so this presented a problem.

At Roter Hirsch we met up with Stephan. And, once we were served our beer, we had a big discussion about the Jena day, the singers eating, and the followers eating, and bus times for singers and followers and/or folks who do or do not want to come to Jena (PS - everyone should come to Jena). We all liked Roter Hirsch very much. The building, the service, the atmosphere, the food was all very authentic and quite good, and we knew it was a good hit for us.

As this day in Jena presents some interesting logistical time problems - and options for followers and such - we came to the conclusion we could make this work if some followers were willing to do a later seating for dinner (the Chorus will eat between rehearsal and concert), then come to the concert while the Chorus is getting dress and ready. This might some confusing or worrisome, but don’t worry, however we work this all out it will be great.

Our meal in Roter Hirsch was potatoes, salad, and a schnitzel, followed by some sort of simple pudding for dessert. It was good, but we will still probably need to refine the meal here a little bit later on. This depends on a few things with the other locations and their menus. We will have more on that later, but, in terms of the restaurant itself, we think we have a winner.

While we are here in Jena, a few things came to mind that I think could be in an interlude. Let’s call it, things I forgot to say or things that need mentioning. 

Walking around Jena.

The schedule and how this tour will run is going to be different from the last tour. It is, logistically for us, a little more complicated because we are doing - with the exception of our Thomaskirche service - concerts in locations outside of our host cities. Our host cities are, like parts of the 1981, 1987, 1995, launching sites for us to head out to nearby venues for run out concerts (that is the term). We also have lots of excursions or things that we are working on, non performance related, to other nearby places and locations. 

For example, we are going to have an excursion day - included in the cost of the tour for everyone at no additional cost - to the city of Dresden (this is during our four night stay in Leipzig). There is a meal in Dresden likely provided as well, but the trip itself will be optional. Even once in Dresden, we will have some other options and excursions available (those will likely be a la carte with fees if they apply). So, there will be a fair amount of options on this tour and you will be able to make it as busy as you want — or not as busy. We will tell you more about it, but I wanted you to know that these were coming. 

Dresden is the one city in all of this, FYI, we didn’t see, but from what we know of it and are told of it, it is worth the trip.

Other excursions being worked in or around include an optional excursion to Eisenach on one of our Erfurt days - include a trip to the Wartburg and Wittenburg Church, if interest exists, an excursion to Buchenwald (there is an age minimum on this, 14, due to many factors), and several other interesting items. There’s not a real logical place to explain this all in here, so I thought I’d throw it in now.

Back to the actual record of action.

Weimar

We left Jena at 1:28 PM and Stephan deftly navigated us out of the city and on to a long and winding road on the way to Weimar. I sat up front for the first time in the van and got a good chance to look at the pretty German countryside.

The drive to Weimar was quite easy in terms of time, but the weather turned quite awful along the way as it started to rain quite a bit. It did not slow Stephan down though, he did a great job and we arrived in the core of Weimar at 2:09 PM. And, because it was raining so hard and we had appointments in Erfurt later in the day, we skipped the walking around tour together in favor of a very fast Stephan car tour with Sue as guide.

Quick stop in Weimar.

The Chorus Tour will take us - in terms of host cities - from Leipzig to Erfurt on the first leg. Weimar is roughly half way between them. So, the plan is to stop in Weimar on the way to Erfurt and give people several hours to explore the city on their own and get lunch in the city. Weimar is quite small and easy to navigate and, much like Jena, a very cool little city. There is a lot of historical stuff to see in Weimar, and a great park, so I encourage you to Google it and check it out.

Before we left Weimar we made about a four minute stop at one of the local historic churches - forgive me that I didn’t get the name - that is being fully restored having only opened recently. It was interesting that inside they were actually painting back on the ornate gold trim along the sides of the church. 

Stephan was illegally parked, so we made this visit very quick and then got back into our little coach to continue our drive to Erfurt. It was 2:21 PM when we left Weimar and we were pulling up to our hotel, the Radisson Blu (which, like all of the hotels we visited has a great location) at 2:55 PM. By 3 PM, we were all checked in and headed quickly to our rooms before our inspection of the hotel for the tour.

Erfurt

The Radisson Blu is a big, modernish tower in an otherwise very, very old city. It has recently undergone a renovation and all rooms have new mattresses. Its lobby is very large and very comfortable with one very nice and big bar and a big sports bar too. It will very easily accommodate us. Like the InterCity, I think this hotel will work great for the Chorus.

The check-in process was easy and, after dropping off bags in our room, we began our inspection. It was worth noting that our rooms looked out on a very old church that is basically the Bach family church - with, oddly, the exception of JS Bach (who never worked there) but 60 or so of his real family did and his parents were married there, so it’s the family church. It’s right next to the hotel and that was quite cool.

The sales manager, a young blonde German woman who’s name I have forgotten, toured us around the hotel. The rooms here are all bright, clean, and, again with new mattresses. We do have options for families and such, so that is great. The room’s aren’t all huge, but I found them acceptable in size. The beds are comfortable. The bathrooms are interesting. It’s hard to describe this, but the toilet and the shower are not together but share a door. Okay, that doesn’t make sense. 

So…

Imagine a shower facing you, right in front of you. Now directly to your right, there is a toilet. There is a door, right now, it closes in the shower. But, if you want a door for the toilet, you open the shower door and then swing it to become the toilet door. And imagine it is made of glass, but the top and very bottom are clear. You can’t see anything, but it is a little odd. You still have privacy, but they used the space here creatively. If you went on the 2014 tour and and the weird open shower in Vienna, it’s not quite like that in turns of “exposure” to the entire world, but it’s one of those goofy European designs.

You just have to see it to believe it. The shower works great, though!

The hotel has 16 floors plus the ground level (there floor 0 or floor E). The upper level is the gym and fitness center which is not free but 2.50 per person if you want to use it. All of the floors are smoke-free. With possibly the exception of the 15th floor (don’t worry, we can all fit in the hotel without the 15th floor). But, let me tell you a funny story about the 15th floor.

So, as we went up the elevator, our nice German manager told us all the floors were smoke free. But, very quickly, both Nick and Andrew quizzed her on that because on the elevator button panel every floor BUT the 15th was marked non-smoking. 15 was the only without that particular tag (it said nothing). She insisted that everything was smoke free and this was wrong. But, as fate would have it, we were headed to the 15th floor to see the suites up there as another family with small children possibility.

The minute we stepped into the hallways it was clear that this was a smoking floor. You couldn’t help but notice. Nick, Amanda, Andrew, Sue, everyone commented on it right away. This was a smoking floor.

No, no, our German friend insisted, it was not. Someone must be smoking in their rooms and we will have to come investigate this as soon as possible. Seemed odd but it was a fair point. 

Then, almost dramatically, we went into a suite. And the suite smelled like a smoking room too. It was not just someone’s sensitive nose. 

No, no, this must have been leftover smell from way back when this was smoking. It is a non-smoking room. Sue asked in German, Nick asked in English, and Andrew really asked - was this smoking or not. Then someone, I can’t remember now if it was Nick or Andrew (I think it was Andrew) quickly noticed an ashtray - a Radisson ashtray on the table. She said that was just a leftover.

So, the 15th floor is non smoking in theory only. It is a smoking floor. Why she wouldn’t acknowledge that is beyond me — it’s okay with me to have 1 floor out of 16 or 17 for it. And it being at the top is fine for me too (and everyone else). Because, truthfully, it is a few lovely hotel and will be great for our group. We were pleased with everything we saw. It just was amusing she wouldn’t acknowledge it. And there were no translation problems either. Sue asked in German, and all of us heard the answer in German and could understand it - non smoking. So odd.

This hotel is great in that, in its lobby, it has a wonderful Altstadt city map that is really easy to read. Plus they have tons of material available and their lobby staff was very helpful. That’s sort of a random comment, but I thought I would share it.

Another thing: empty fridges in each room here, but no safes. There are safes and they will store valuables for you here at reception. 

Oh, here’s another funny thing about our visit to Erfurt and actually all these cities. It’s Fasching here in Germany. Their period of Carnival or Mardi Gras before Mardi. Whatever, Lent starts on Wednesday and the Germans celebrate starting today. Lots of people in costumes, parades, bands, things happening in places all over.

Erfurt apparently has “princes” or something — that’s not the right title, but Sue kept calling them princes (by the way, Sue is hilarious - a good hilarious). Well some of these princes were in the hotel. Now, imagine getting on the elevator with a very tall German man where black pants, a white shirt, and orange tails. No tie. Then a crazy bird like hat with feathers and bling. And imagine something even weirder than this and is what we had in the lobby with us throughout the date, plus beer.

The other Fasching tradition, as this was the start of it, is that if men wear ties on Fasching, women have permission to cut the tie and then wear it as some sort of prize. I am not sure what that all represents, but I am sure the internet can help you with that if you are interested!

Let’s talk a little more about Erfurt, shall we? First, Google it and read up about it to get the history. It’s got a lot of it and it is quite a special place. Its medieval core is preserved mostly, and it has great streets to explore and wander across. Leipzig does as well - within its core ring - but Erfurt feels a bit older as criss-cross it and get loss in its insides. Like Leipzig and so many European cities, the core of the city is all within a ring street. Our hotel is right off the ring on the inner city side. You walk one block from our hotel to the Bach family church and boom, you are in the middle of everything. One couldn’t ask for a better locale.

We wrapped up our hotel tour at 3:42 pm and reconvene the group together just before 4 pm in the lobby to go on a guided city tour around the Altstadt with an old friend of Sue’s, Gudrun Alt (age 83 and still going strong!) and a woman in her twenties named Yvonne from the Erfurt Visitors Bureau. Gudrun and her husband Hans Peter, who is of similar age, have been apparently the go to Erfurt guides forever.  She is a delightful woman and served as the primary guide for our entire walk around Erfurt (Yvonne walked with us and answered a lot of questions for me towards the back. She lives in the Altstadt and is very much in love with her city. I don’t blame her, it is a great place).

Bach's family church. His parents were married here.

Our tour took us all over the Altstadt. It was a very busy place with lots of people - all locals - out and about. It was also quite cold and raining, but we were all well bundled and wit rain gear. Gudrun had a great Erfurt umbrella that I wished we could have stolen and taken home!

We weaved in and out of lots of streets. Erfurt has many beautiful buildings, lots (and I mean lots) of shops and restaurants, and has a really great and fun vibe to it. To me, it is a lot like a much smaller Prague with the big castle or sprawling suburbs. I cannot way to see it in the summer time when its streets and squares are filled with tables and life from all their restaurants. Despite the rain, Andrew and I immediately understood why this place was so highly regarded by so many.

I should note that like Leipzig and, in the inner core more extensive than Leipzig, the Strassenbahn Tram network here is very good and very extensive. You can use it very easily all of the old city and it stops everywhere. Andrew commented on it was amazing that it could navigate through so many streets and how cleanly it was integrated in to the fabric of the city. This leads to a tip, however.

Leipzig is filled with trams. They are a little easier to spot than Erfurt. Erfurt is really filled with trams and they whip around corners quickly. Be very, very mindful of this - they are frequently coming and at all hours. And they are quiet. One can easily sneak up on you and they really do go right through the pedestrian zones and such so you have to remain alert.

The tip: Don’t get hit by a tram. Thank you for this consideration.

Some of the most beautiful places or Erfurt are around the river - in fact the name Erfurt comes from its relationship to the river. I have no internet access at the moment to give you a few overview, so Google that too if you would like — information is great!

Here’s another tip. All over Germany, there are a lot of cobblestones. But Erfurt (and Ulm too, less so in Leipzig) is filled with them. They are everywhere. So, our advice, wear only good walking shoes. Comfort. Safetly. Speed. Style. Follow this for your shoes.

Here endeth the tip. Amen.

About 40 minutes into our tour we arrived at the cathedral in Erfurt and its sister parish church. Two incredible buildings on a hill at the other end of the Altstadt in Erfurt. Time was crucial as they closed 4:45 so we made our way up the 90 or so stairs to get to the entrance level and first went into the magnificent Dom (Cathedral). 

In the rain, we head to the Dom (left)
and Servuskirche (right), 90 stairs to them.

The Dom is a very interesting building. Hugely high ceilings and a cavernous nave, it was pretty jaw dropping. The way the church was set up internally though was curious, with a prime alter in a weird place in the middle of the church. Then, the main high alter was sort of tucked away up front — almost like two different churches in one. It’s not a good venue for the Chorus to sing in however, though. The acoustics are just way to soupy and/or muddy, and the space itself on the inside just doesn’t present itself well for performances. It is beautiful though, especially when you see it all lighted up at night and between it and its neighboring parish church, it creates and incredible seen for us all to see.

We snuck quickly after this to the huge Parish church next door - The Severuskirche. Another beautiful structure and a lot like St. Margaret’s next to Westminster. The Dom is the Bishop’s church, the Parish church is the people’s church. Together, they make quite the complex. 

I can’t say enough how beautiful it was up there, and we also got one heck of a view of the city.

Our tour wan’t over though, and we headed back into the tiny streets of Erfurt, passed the grand city hall and square (a hot bed of activity in the summer), Andrew and I took a picture with a weird cartoon character statue, and then we went down this little street and stopped into the Visitors Bureau to warm up for a few minutes. Yvonne had to leave us here, but, before we left, she gave us each a play mobile Martin Luther. Apparently they are collectors items. Who knew?

Our next stop on the tour took us really into the depths of the old town and to the Krämerbrücken - the Kramer Bridge. It is a bridge, over the river, filled with houses and shops on it. Different and, in my opinion far more beautiful than its Florence counterpart, there are lots of great shops on the bridge. There is also a great window to see and a great story for me to tell off the internet about why, in this region of German, being “blue” is an interesting thing. I’ll tell you about that later because this is a family blog.

Erfurt - so lovely even in the rain.

We made a trip down to the river to look at the outside of the bridge and its houses before continuing or city walk. We learned a lot and were very impressed with the city and what we saw. We finished up back at the hotel at about 6 pm and said thank you and farewell to Gudrun and finally had a free period until our dinner call time at 7:45 pm. Nick and Amanda used this time to rest, have a drink, and catch up on work for the day. I think Sue used this period for a rest. Stephan was somewhere in the hotel or city. Andrew and I, after about a 10 minute pit stop, decided to just got out and walk more around the town again to get a good feel for it. 

We spent about an hour or so walking around, intentionally trying to vary our route from what it had been, but did find our way back to the cathedral to see it all illuminated at night. The rain had at this point started to end, but it was still a bit cold. We did get to see the cathedral and it was well worth the walk.

Walking back to the hotel, which we managed to do without a map (the entire walk actually), it took about 15-20 minutes end to end, maybe less (probably less), we had a long conversation about elements of the tour we have seen so far. Funny too.

At this point, Thursday at say 7 pm Europe time, we had been, since Tuesday, 7 pm, Boston time, in the Munich Airport, in the Berlin Airport, in Magdeburg, in Leipzig, in Jena, in Weimar, and now we were in Erfurt. We’d been in maybe a dozen churches, a lot of restaurants, on multiple tours of hotels or a city, and with very, very little sleep. Andrew and I were both having some difficulty keeping track of where we were or what venue we were talking about. At one point, rather humorously but honestly, Andrew asked me, “Wait, where are we?” as we walked back to the hotel. Things were moving so fast and we were seeing so much (and also processing so much), it was easy to get confused.

We arrived back from our walk, dropped off some stuff, and then immediately headed out to dinner at a place called Feurkugel. It was on the other side of the Krämerbrucke and about a 5-10 walk from the hotel. Stephan met us at the other end of the bridge and then we went in for a fine German meal. Stephan and I got the Thüringer Spezialitäten, which was more meat on a plate than I have ever seen. We also got the table a plate of wurst and kraut, so we were a very “full” group when we were done.

The famous bridge.

An interesting thing happened while we were there, which is another good tip. Nick’s credit card didn’t work. He had to drain his cash to make things roll, but folks, in Germany, cards sort of work. Cash is still king here. When you go out with your friends, make sure everyone has a little cash on them — it can’t hurt – or, at least locate an ATM near your restaurant as you walk in. I know we love credit cards, heck, that’s all I use is credit and debit these days. But, in some of the smaller cities and restaurants they don’t always work. Mind you, we are going in a year and a half, but keep this in mind before you go.

We were back at the hotel at 9:32 PM after a great dinner. Nick went to the bank across the street to use their ATM, but there was none (at least, none available early or late hours). Eventually, he did find one in the post office complex which is right in the first square you encounter near the Bach Church (3-5 minutes walk if that). So, keep that in mind.
Random aside topic, in that main square, really, really close to the hotel, is a shopping mall and in it you can find everything - grocery store, drug store, everything. It’s not open late, but during the day, it is there and very handy.

Many in the gang were exhausted, and I don’t blame them. So, we all said Gute Nacht a little before 10 pm and headed to our rooms.

I worked a lot of this blog once I got up there, and then, despite being exhausted couldn’t sleep. I think I fell asleep a little after 3 am, unfortunately. I did take a picture of my playmobil Martin Luther at 2:15 am and talked to home around 12:40 am.

But, once I was asleep, I did find the bed really comfy. My brain was just on fire that night as I was spinning on everything that we had seen.

And it was morning and it was evening, another great day.

More Erfurt pictures...