Happy Birthday, Jon Erik! He is fifteen years old today and we are having a great time celebrating together. We have been in Eisenach since Monday. Eisenach is a city we really liked when we traveled through this area in 2005 and vowed to return to one day.
When we drove here on Monday afternoon, we wound up driving through the countryside because of a detour. I am glad we could get off the Autobahn and see a little bit of East Germany. Twenty years ago this area was in the German Democratic Republic, and a member of the Warsaw pact alliance. It is very interesting to be somewhere that would not have been open to us during the Cold War.
In Eisenach we visited many very memorable sites. On Tuesday we walked through the town and went to the Bach house. We saw St. George’s Church, where J. S. Bach was baptized and where members of his family were organists. On Wednesday we went to the Wartburg castle. The Wartburg is famous to Lutherans and linguists alike, because it is there that Martin Luther lived in hiding and translated the New Testament into German. This served to make the Bible accessible to the common people and to standardize written German. Luther lived in Eisenach as a youth while attending school, so we were able to see the house he lived in. It is now an interactive museum – very well done and informative.
Today we are parting with the Haines clan. We are driving up to Lübeck to stay with the Imsdahl family. The Haines’ are driving to Münster. They will be staying with Martin’s uncle and aunt. After a few days Heidi, Jeff and family will visit the Imsdahls too. They will be on their way to Scandinavia. We will see them then.
When we drove here on Monday afternoon, we wound up driving through the countryside because of a detour. I am glad we could get off the Autobahn and see a little bit of East Germany. Twenty years ago this area was in the German Democratic Republic, and a member of the Warsaw pact alliance. It is very interesting to be somewhere that would not have been open to us during the Cold War.
In Eisenach we visited many very memorable sites. On Tuesday we walked through the town and went to the Bach house. We saw St. George’s Church, where J. S. Bach was baptized and where members of his family were organists. On Wednesday we went to the Wartburg castle. The Wartburg is famous to Lutherans and linguists alike, because it is there that Martin Luther lived in hiding and translated the New Testament into German. This served to make the Bible accessible to the common people and to standardize written German. Luther lived in Eisenach as a youth while attending school, so we were able to see the house he lived in. It is now an interactive museum – very well done and informative.
Today we are parting with the Haines clan. We are driving up to Lübeck to stay with the Imsdahl family. The Haines’ are driving to Münster. They will be staying with Martin’s uncle and aunt. After a few days Heidi, Jeff and family will visit the Imsdahls too. They will be on their way to Scandinavia. We will see them then.
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