A Count, a Saint & a Monk all Walk into a Castle...

Yea, yea bad joke I know.  Seriously though, I am really lucky that there are so many places of historical significance to see in central Germany.  I love old architecture and I studied history in school...what more could I ask for than a few months in Europe to visit as many towns, castles and sites as I can.


So, this past weekend I went with a co-worker and her family to the town of Eisenach in the state of Thuringia to see Wartburg Castle.  Eisenach is also about an hour away from Morschen.   When I heard that, all I could think was, "Well, ain't this place a geographical oddity. One hour from everywhere!"  Bonus points if you get the reference.


Anyways, Wartburg Castle is kind of a big deal. People know it.  It has a pretty awesome legend regarding it's founding and some pretty important people have lived there.  So, from what I remember (And what Wikipedia has filled me in on what I already forgot), the castle was founded by an ancient German Count, Ludwig the Jumper, in the 11th Century (1068 per Wikipedia). 

Not my picture. Shamelessly stolen from Wikipedia

Supposedly, it got it's name because when he first saw the hill it is built on, Ludwig said, "Warte, Berg -- du sollst mir eine Burg tragen!" In English, this means, "Wait, mountain -- you shall bear a castle for me!"   My favorite part of the legend though is that the Count didn't actually own the hill.  So he did what any badass nobleman would do...He had soil from his land spread all over the hill so that he could swear to the powers that be that the castle was actually built on this land.   It would be amazing if that were true, so I'm just going to pretend it is.  And that's all I have to say about that.


Fun Fact:  Remember St. Elisabeth from the church in my last post (Who, by the by, went through one of the fastest cannonization processes in history) ?  Yea, she lived there. She was married into the ruling family of Thuringia and this was their castle. Who else?  How about Martin Luther?  Yea, he lived there too.  After he posted his 95 Theses and was excommunicated and outlawed, he was taken to Wartburg Castle and lived there for 10 months under the alias of "Squire George".


Another fun fact: Apparently Luther referred to Wartburg as "My Patmos", i.e. the Greek island of Patmos and place where St. John hid in exile and received the revelation of the Holy Trinity.  St. John's Grotto is basically the 2nd holiest site in Christianity, and I have actually been there:

 

 

 

The entrance to St. John's Grotto in Patmos, Greece (Actually my photo)

Inside St. John's Grotto (Not my photo b/c photography was not allowed inside the church)

Sorry, small tangent there.  But I really enjoyed my day at Wartburg.  Even got to have a traditional bratwurst from the Sunday craft market that was going on that day.  Random Note: this was my second bratwurst in my time here so far, and both were amazing.

Ok, so down to it, here are some of my photos from Wartburg:

 

 

 

 

 

On the way back to Morschen, my friends showed me the remnants of the Iron Curtain, which I think is fascinating.  It's amazing to see just how much this country has changed and moved forward in 25 years.  Below are a couple of pictures I took from the Border between East Germany and West Germany.  This spot used to be heavily militarized and patrolled.  You could come into the East, but you could not go out.  Now they are working on a beautification project and planting trees in the shape of a cross in the checkpoint areas.

 

 

 



First Weekend: Marburg

Well the first thing I realized while here is that I absolutely love to travel and I want to see everything I can while I'm here, it just isn't the same as traveling the world with my friends (BVC rules). Nevertheless, I have already managed a few small trips around the local area already.

My first full weekend here I went to a small university city named Marburg, about an hour away from Morschen.  Marburg is a pretty cool medieval (or Gothic I suppose) town that is exactly what you picture when you think old European/German city...it's got winding cobblestone streets, half-timbered houses, a cuckoo clock in the city hall, and gorgeous old architecture.  Plus there are random artworks throughout the city depicting different Grimm's fairytales.

Fun Fact: Marburg is the home of the world's oldest Protestant founded university.

There are two main sites to see in Marburg, the Marburger Schloss castle and the Elisabethkirche - St. Elisabeth's Church.  Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

City Hall - Cuckoo Clock and all

 

Cool old cobblestone street

Marburger Schloss Castle from the path below

And from the courtyard

 

St. Elisabeth's Church from the outside - clearly not taken by me as I was there during daylight hours only

And one from the inside

 



Adventure is Out There!

So, a little bit of background information first.  I've been offered a short term assignment with my company in Germany and of course, I said yes.  Because really, who could turn that kind of offer down?  

I try to live my life along the lines of the famous Mark Twain quote:

Twenty years from now you'll be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do.  So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

Note: If you're reading this blog, be prepared for regular quotes, trivia, historical facts and pop culture references...consider yourself warned.

So, about two weeks ago I headed off for my grand adventure.  I've travelled around Europe with friends for holidays, but I've never come close to doing anything like this before, especially on my own.  I was so excited and terrified to do this. My feelings were pretty much along the lines of, "I'm so excited, I'm so...scared."

I hopped off the plane at Frankfurt Main with a dream and my cardigan...wait that's a Miley Cyrus song.  Ok, but really, my adventures began almost immediately.  As is usual practice here in Deutschland, I was booked to take a train from Frankfurt Airport to Kassel and then pick up a cab to Morschen.  

Never heard of Morschen? Me neither.  Well, it's a small town of about 3500 people (Or so they say...I've counted approximately 20 total in two weeks here), right smack in the middle of Germany in the state of Hesse.  It's nice, quiet and clean, but nothing happens here.  Found the bank, supermarket and train station so far, and that's pretty much all I think I'll find here.

Anyways, back to the train.  So of course this was a great idea in theory.  In practice, it was me lugging two 40 pound suitcases, a book bag, and a laptop case with two computers.  And then my original train got cancelled! What a freaking trip. But thanks to some awesome people who are willing to help, I managed to lug everything onto the replacement train, make the connection, grab a taxi and get to the middle-of-nowhere Morschen. Yay!  And I even found another American who's German is worse than mine! We're really knocking those stereotypes out of the park here. 

Work has been really good.  I have some pretty awesome co-workers who are amazingly nice and fun to hang out with, and all speak perfect English.  But I definitely need to learn more German so I started lessons this week.

Ok, this is super long so that's all for now. Tschüss!