Germany Day 12: Erfurt & Schloß Wartburg
Our daughter had not toured a medieval castle yet (Really? In Germany for 3 months and haven't seen a real castle? Unglaublich!), so we headed back west to Schloß Wartburg. We returned to Erfurt for lunch and to visit inside the cathedral. From there, we had just enough time to drive back to Berlin and meet one of our daughter's roommates for our reservation to go up to the top of the Fernsehturm (TV Tower) for the view of Berlin lit up at night.
Schloß Wartburg is on UNESCO's World Heritage List and the tour was beyond our expectations. This was a great pick for our daughter's only castle to visit. We would like to take credit for great planning, but it was more luck as it worked with our itinerary, especially since we didn't know that our daughter was going to be able to join us in Erfurt until quite late in the planning process. She seemed to enjoy the tour despite the fact that it was in German and her German is weak.
We did most of our touring of Erfurt the evening before. Wandering around the old town, we walked over the Krämerbrücke with its shops lining the bridge over the Flutgraben. The Flutgraben is a flood control channel of the Gera River. Winding our way through some neighborhoods, we ended up at the Zitadelle Petersberg, the town's fortress. The grounds on top of the hill, above the stone walls, seemed to be used as a gathering place for locals to hang out and use as a park. The largest building on the fortress grounds was the Defensionkaserne (Defense Barracks) built between 1828 and 1831; however, it was the only building that looked like it was not currently being used; its windows and doors were boarded up and looked like it needed some loving care. Hopefully someone is thinking about how to restore this building, preserving its history and making good use of the space. If we had more time to spend in Erfurt, it would have been interesting to go on a tour of the underground maze of passageways beneath the fortress.
Because we didn't have a chance to go inside the Erfurter Dom (cathedral) the previous day, we came back to Erfurt after touring Schloß Wartburg. Our arrival in Erfurt was just in time for a downpour. The weather was very kind to us during our vacation and this was the only heavy rain we experienced while traveling. We found an inkling of shelter under some table umbrellas at the Biergarten am Dom (the beer garden in front of the cathedral), where we enjoyed our lunch despite the rain. Left Buddy thinks every town center and church should have a beer garden. After lunch, we gazed around inside the Erfurter Dom and the church next to it, St. Severi Kirche. Before hitting the road again, we stopped to have Baumstriezel (chimney cake) for dessert. We had seen these several times before, so we were curious to try one. It is yeast dough wrapped around a baking spit and rolled in your choice of flavorings, such as sugar and cinnamon or almonds, and roasted over charcoal while basted with melted butter. Further research reveals that it is a Hungarian treat. It was rather tasty, but Right Buddy was a little disappointed because she thought it looked like it should be used like a shell, to be stuffed with ice cream or sweet pastry cream.
The rest of the day was probably the most rushed we felt during our whole Germany trip. We had 7 pm reservations for the Fernsehturm in Berlin, so we were on a time schedule. We stopped at an autobahn rest area for dinner to save time. Yes we know. It sounds boring. However, the one we stopped at called Marché Fläming West, was unexpectedly nice for a rest area restaurant. The number and variety of selections was almost overwhelming. The food was high quality, fresh and freshly made food, with lots of vegetables and fruit dishes to choose from. It reminded us somewhat of the deli and prepared food section of a Whole Foods store. Then we finished our drive to the Berlin main train station to drop off the rental car, hopped on the U-Bahn to get back to the Grand Hostel, checked in, then figured out the sequence of U-Bahns to get over to the Fernsehturm. When we arrived there were only minutes to spare before our reservation time to ride up the elevator to the top. Our daughter, who had made her own way back from the main train station to her school to pick up her roommate, met us at the Fernsehturm with her roommate right on time. Once we were in the elevator, we could relax again. We made it. Even though it was dark outside, we could still pick out the landmarks of Berlin since the city has so many lights. Of course, the annotated pictures circling the tower, just below the windows, helped us out quite a bit. Despite the rush at the end of the day, it was another fulfilling day in Germany, made even more special by being able to share it with our daughter.
(RB)