Eisenach

September 9

On to Erfurt was my next destination. That’s where Frau Möller lives, or so I thought. Katharina organized for me to meet up with her mother-in-law and we’d agreed that I would arrive on Sunday afternoon. I got off the train, found a phone and called her to let her know I was here and on my way. During that phone call I realized that this idea my brain had led me on was false. While dialing the number I noticed her address was actually Eisenach and realized that my brain had played a trick on me. So back on the next train I got and continued on the journey. Thankfully the two cities are not too far from each other. And Frau Möller was very kind to offer that I could stay overnight as well. I found her place well enough too, had to ask a few people, but that worked out fine. The tour guide I asked was most helpful, the guy at the Gasthaus right around the corner from her place was least helpful. Had no idea where the street was.

Visiting with Frau Möller was very lovely. She’s 81 and living on her own in a nice, little apartment that in some small ways reminded me of my grandmother. The room I slept in had a Klappbett that folded out of the wall unit, like my grandmother had. That’s where I slept. It was very homey. And small, other little things too were familiar in that way. She was most hospitable and we had some wonderful conversation around experiences that I’ve recently had. We took a little walk, to Bach’s house and Luther’s house. I then continued on exploring the town somewhat. It too is very beautiful. All the old buildings are newly renovated and painted and beautifully kept.


The next morning I hiked up to the Wartburg where Luther was in hiding, during which time he translated the bible in to German. There was also a St Elizabeth of Thüringen exhibit at the Wartburg so I had a beautiful tour of the medieval palace. It was all very interesting to see though unfortunate that there were so many people there. It made it a little bit harder to really take my time to enjoy and inspect the many books and documents and artifacts. The rooms in the Wartburg were stunning medieval rooms and the plain and simple, small room Luther wrote in was moving somehow. The forest walk back down the hill to Frau Möller’s place was beautiful. And lunch was ready and waiting for me when I got there. After lunch it was time to move on, continue further west. Frau Möller walked part of the way with me and then I headed off to the train station again on my own. Next stop Karlsruhe.