First I helped my dad get their Eurail tickets stamped and ready to go...
...and then we took the S-Bahn to the central station, where we were able catch the next train heading toward Dresden, which after checking the schedule we realized was leaving in... 6 minutes! Ah well, it's not really an accurate train-going experience if you don't have to run at least once.
We made it to Jena around 4:30, and by the time we made it downtown, it was around 5:00 or so. I stopped by Jeremi's office, to let him know we were all there, and he finished up at work while the three of us had a Bratwurst and a Gluehwein at the Christmas market. (Jeremi's office is right on the market square, so it was easy for us to meet there.)Then he joined us for yet another glass, before heading on to our place (still with all our luggage in tow.)
That first weekend we decided to head to Eisenach on the train, which is about an hour or so west of here. Eisenach is famous as the birthplace of J.S. Bach, as well as the site of the Wartburg, an impressive castle on top of a hill (as are almost all castles in Germany), where Martin Luther hid out under an assumed name while translating the Bible into German. The castle was also hosting a Middle Ages-style Christmas market, which promised lots of interesting things to eat, drink, and see.I hadn't been to the Wartburg before, but thought it would be nice to walk there from the train station rather than taking the bus. While this was true, it was a bit further than I'd expected. (My parents had to walk up lots of hills with us while they were visiting, and they were complete champs about it.) One nice thing about walking there was that we were able to see the castle appear through the clouds on the next hilltop over, and hear the music from the Christmas market through the mist as we approached.
After lots and lots of walking...
...we were finally there!
Before visiting the market too much, we went on a tour of the castle. Unfortunately it was only offered in German, but they were able to provide a small text in English to explain what was in each of the rooms, and I was able to add a bit more information by translating the main points that the tour guide was making.Some highlights of the castle: the mosaic-tiled room that tells the life story of St. Elisabeth (who lived in Thueringen):
A painting telling the story of a contest of minstrels, on which Wagner's opera Tannhaeuser is based:
...and lots of lovely stone work:
Here's the view from the castle, to give you an idea of how big the hill is.
And here was the main hall, where there was a concert of Advent music every couple of hours throughout the day.
Once we'd seen the sights, we were ready for some eating and drinking. Being a Middle Ages-style market, we were able to enjoy our Gluehwein out of lovely pottery mugs.
One of the impressive giant cast iron pans in which they prepare the pan-fried mushrooms and various other pan-based dishes at this sort of market.
Here they had a sort of merry-go-round that was built of wood and powered by hand.
Here were some candle-makers, with colourful pots of hot wax at the ready for individualized candles.
My mom really wanted a picture of this oven, particularly as he was loading and unloading batches of flat breads, but she was having trouble with the timing, and then he posed so nicely for her (with all the oven doors closed), that she ended up giving up.
After a good afternoon at the Wartburg, we took the bus back down into the city centre, where we visited the Bach Museum for around an hour before it closed. It's a great museum, having lots of historical information about the time period in which he lived, and lots of artefacts from his life and the lives of his family, most of whom were musicians, as well as lots of modern interpretive information about the music itself. There are lots of listening stations where they explain one of the musical forms or breakthroughs of the period, complete with musical examples, along with score for those who read music. Overall, a highly-recommended museum for any interested in the music of the period.We then headed into the city square to visit the Eisenach Christmas market, which in general was nowhere near as nice as the Jena market, but it did have something like curling!!!
My parents, being avid curlers, were quite excited about this, which resulted in both Jeremi and my mom taking simultaneous pictures of the ice surface from opposite ends, catching each other's flashes.
Eventually we headed back to Jena, where we enjoyed a late supper at R2, a relatively new restaurant on the market square in Jena. We closed the place, after having a few bottles of wine and lots of good food.
That Sunday we headed up to Cospeda, to visit Calin and Susanne for supper. Again, this involved my parents climbing up a giant hill. I didn't really plan on this being a fitness vacation for them, it just ended up that way. Here we'd made it to the Landgrafen, a popular restaurant overlooking the city, which may well be popular as much for the view as the food (though the food is good too).
We paused to enjoy the view over the valley, and to celebrate making it up the stairs.
Of course, after the stairs, we still had to climb a little, but it was over a field, and we were rewarded by reaching the Napoleon monument in the middle of the conservation area that Calin and Susanne's apartment overlooks. (It's to commemorate the battle of Jena/Isserstadt in 1806, which Napoleon won.)
And then we made it to Calin and Susanne's, where all that climbing was rewarded with good food, drink and company.
During the next week my parents headed to Berlin on the train for a few days, while Jeremi and I went to work as usual. Only one thing was a bit unusual - on the Wednesday morning of that week I woke up to find that most of my bras didn't fit all of a sudden. The month before, when Jeremi had started his new job, we decided that we wanted to try to get pregnant, but I honestly didn't expect it to happen that quickly. I took a home pregnancy test that night, but it was negative (still too early to show up on a test, but not too early to show up in my body!). I was pretty sure though, and stopped drinking right away, which meant some subterfuge was required when my parents got back from Berlin. Anyone who knows me is suspicious when I stop drinking, and we didn't want to tell people, including our families, until I'd passed the first trimester mark. (Incidentally, I didn't mention anything to Jeremi that morning, but that night when I got home from work he did compliment me on the shirt I was wearing, and how good I looked in it. It was at that point I told him what I suspected.)My parents got back from Berlin that Friday, and I met them at the train station. The following day we headed to Buergel, a town about 12 km east of here, which is renowned for its pottery, particularly a distinctive dark blue pattern with white dots on it. There are lots of potters in the village though, so there's more to see than just that. Here's the view outside one of the shops:
There are also a preponderance of orchids in the windows of the houses in this town. In general Germans are crazy about orchids, but in Buergel this seems to be taken to a whol other level.
Here we are at one of the workshops, where I bought my mom an pottery advent wreath/bowl the year before.
This workshop wasn't open, but I was greatly impressed by the decoration around the door, which was made entirely of pottery.
They also had lots of pottery decorations on the outside of the building...
...and even a sign with a little potter sculpted out of clay.
A group photo before leaving the city, in which Calin went half into the splits in order to not dwarf me and my family, though he's still the tallest I think.
On the way back we stopped at a restaurant in Kunitz, a village just outside of Jena, for supper. Jeremi and I had been there before after the Eierkuchenfest, and were really impressed by the quality of the food. I knew my dad would enjoy the house-smoked trout as well, which he did.
That night was the going-away party for our friend Raul, who was heading back to Barcelona. While we were tired after the long day, we still went out to meet them for a few drinks...
...and then headed to the Rosenkeller, where we danced (relatively) late into the night. Jeremi was a champ, smuggling me alcohol-free beer so that none of our friends would notice. Usually it's served in a bottle at clubs, partly because it's not on tap, and also so you know it's really alcohol-free, but he managed to shout above the noise that he wanted it in a glass, so that no one grew suspicious. (This sort of thing went on for a long couple of months, with varying degrees of success. The next week I was at the market with some colleagues, and was ordering Kinderpunsch, a nasty sweet concoction that at least sort of looks like Gluehwein so no one would be suspicious. But then I went with a friend to another booth, where they served it in glass mugs, rather than the usual pottery, and everyone was asking what I was drinking because it was the wrong colour. One person even asked if I was pregnant. I told everyone I was on antibiotics instead...)
Raul, wearing one of his going-away gifts.
The next day was my parents' last before flying home, and we went to Erfurt for the day. Erfurt is about 50 km west of here, and has a really nice, well-preserved city centre dating from the 12th century or so, as well as a giant square, at the foot of an enormous cathedral, which hosts their renowned Christmas market.
Our first stop was the tourist information office, where we learned that city tours were not available in English in the winter. We opted to take one anyhow, which nearly made my brain explode as I tried to remember everything the tour guide was saying at each stop so I could hurriedly translate it as we walked to the next stop of the tour. Still, it was worth it, as the history of the city is pretty interesting.
Here is one of the most picturesque streets, the Kammerbruecke, which is lined with well-preserved store fronts housing shops selling regional products and specialties.
Of course, if you know German, you'll have already figured out that it's actually a bridge, but it's really not clear while you're walking over, as you can't see the water at all, until you view the bridge from the shore on either side.
Here was our first view of the market, while still on the tour, but it looks much more impressive at night, when the lights are on and you can't see all the tram wires.
Some more of the well-preserved store fronts downtown...
And another view of the market square, showing the towering cathedral which overlooks it.
One of the many impressive shop fronts in the city.
Once the tour was finished, we took advantage of an offer from a local coffee house for all you can eat coffee (fancy coffees included) and cake for 5 euros per person. Not only were we a bit hungry, but we were all cold, and it was nice to get inside and warmed up with warm drinks. Then we felt suitably prepared to head back to the market, and enjoy some more warm (and warming) drinks and food.
While at the market we also visited the underground display of decorative Christmas scenes prepared by various area florists. These ranged from the traditional to the downright bizarre, but it was interesting to see what people came up with.
And finally, one last view of the Christmas market from the steps of the cathedral (which was unfortunately closed for a service) before we headed back to Jena, for one last night before they flew back to Canada the next day.
