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.