Erfurt

     The trip to Erfurt began rather oddly.  I found a shorter way into Ilmenau, but I could NOT find the City Travel Buro.  I found the train station, but could NOT understand the schedule.  After trying the patience of a very helpful gentleman, I finally understood that the train had not left but merely pulled out to have a break.  When, I finally boarded and bought my ticket, as instructed, I had an uneventful journey without having my ticket checked.

     The gentleman in the information booth told me the Mercure was easy to find, "just go straight ahead out of the Bahnhof and it was not very far away, on the left."  WELL,,, straight out of the building was a courtyard faced by a building that made it impossible to "go straight ahead."  When I went back to the information, desk, he apologized, instructed me to go left then straight ahead, and there it was across the street from the Kaufmanns Kirche

     Since I had spent a lot of time looking for the travel bureau in Ilmenau, and my nephew took off work early, he and his wife were there before me about an hour.  That gave my niece some time to rest and my nephew time to reconoiter the city.  After dropping my bag in my room we got together and spent the night walking, talking,  eating and drinking until midnight.

     Eight the next morning, we started all over again.

  

 Wr are surrounded by marvelous artwork and buildings of every imaginable color and shape.

This city has suffered very little damage from wars so these buildings we were seeing have been seen by people for centuries.

The Kämmerbrücke is the only bridge with occupied houses and shops north of the Alps.  Wonderful shops for antiques, Meisen ware, souveniers, restaurants, etc. Here, I found an Erfurt hat pin.

     In the Cathederal place, I oriented myself as directed and easily found the bookstore from which I bought a children's prayerbook.  A short distance from here we discovered Erfurt is holding a three-week musicfest.  We heard and saw the children practicing,  Tender.

     Our next stop was in the Cathederal.  The majestic High alter was crowded with silent people.

The "so called Wolfram" is a bronze Candlelabrum circa 1160.We spent several hours in  this massive structure.  Just a few steps from this Cathederal is the St Severus Church.  This easily took another several hours to view.  This church had some fire damage in 1472 and was repaired with "Indulgence Money" in 1473.  Both buildings hold fascinating memoribilia.

Although the Citadelle Petersburg is located atop a long set of stairs, we made the climb and it was well worth it.  To give you and idea of the beauty of the place, five different wedding parties were having their pictures shot here.  This fortress was built for protection against the inhabitants of Erfurt, not for the.  This is a shot of Erfurt from this fortress.We spent several hours here, including time to stop for refreshment.  My niece and nephew escorted me back to the bahnhof, which was another few hours ow walking, talking and gawking, and waited with me until my train arrived.

The information from the packet gave me an idea of what  to look for but in no way prepared me for the splendor this city displays.

It is difficult to put into words the feelings of awe, reverence and humility I felt as I walked, talked and prayed where people have walked, talked and prayed for a thousand years.