A Well Kept Man

My final official stop on my German Heritage Tour was Eisenach, with the Castle Wartburg perched above the city watching the valleys below. I parked my car in the castle parking lot and proceeded to climb the roughly 200m to the castle above, often taking two steps at a time (all that biking and walking in Lausanne's hilly streets finally paid off). The other American tourists were easy to spot as they were taking full advantage of the benches and plateaus every 30 steps on the climb up the hill. The castle is where Martin Luther hid out under the assumed name Knight George and translated most of the Bible into German...he also managed to get into a fight with the devil which apparently resolved by throwing ink at said Devil. The castle contains the room where these activities occurred, although previous treasure seekers have managed to chip away all of the ink-stained stone. Nevertheless, it was an interesting place to visit.

After leaving the castle, I headed down to my hotel which is perched on a different hill within the city...my room opened up to a view of the Wartburg Castle across the valley (I highly recommend the Haus Hainstein for those staying in Eisenach). After taking a quick nap, I walked down into the city to check out the sights and avoid the rain drops. Johann Sebastian Bach was born in this city, so his house is now a museum. I walked through the church where he was baptised and thought how cool it would have been to hear him play his music in a church like this...Eisenach also had its own Luther statue, and quaint pedestrian mall where one could pick up a tasty wurst for a couple euros and people watch until it was ice cream time.

The town of Eisenach has an old automobile factory from the Cold War that now sits in a state of ruin much like many of the old factory buildings in this part of Germany. In spite of this, Germany is making many strides to redevelop areas like this in hopes of bringing new economic growth to the country. It is encouraging to see this, and for visitors from the States, it gives one a chance to see the remains of an era past without having to travel all the way to Eastern European countries.

The second city stay on my Germany Heritage Tour took me to the university town of Wittenberg, where Martin Luther lived a majority of his life. It was here that he raised his family with his wife Katharina, and it is here that he was finally laid to rest in the Castlechurch of Wittenberg. The church is also the church of the 95 Theses fame which helped to spark the Protestant Reformation (which in turn spawned Lutherans and as a result, sauerkraut suppers in church basements across America, as well as sitting in the back row of church). While in Wittenberg, I toured the Castlechurch and the amazing museum which once housed Luther and his brood (as well as his pupils, employees, and whomever else was hanging out...the place was huge). The Luther residence had previously been a monastery and thus had tons of space. Some of the highlights of the museum included the pulpit Martin Luther used to preach, as well as many paintings and sculptures of Luther. There was also a library on the top floor dedicated to preserving many original manuscripts and documents penned by Luther himself, as well as his contemporaries.

I also amused myself by realizing the more German beer I drank, the better my German became. I am sure the waitress was less amused, although she seemed to laugh anytime I said anything so apparently my German isn't as good as I think. Another favorite spot in Wittenberg is a tree, the Luther Oak, where Luther supposedly burned his Papal Bull of Excommunication (sort of like a predecessor to a non-binding UN resolution). The town itself is in the Saxony region of Germany so the food is more reflective of its East German past (lots of potatoes and simple dishes featuring cheap sausages...but all very tasty).

A nice side trip was in order as I needed some country scenery so I drove about 25-30 minutes out of town to a place called Wörlitz which is home to the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz. This place is a 50 square mile park created in the late 18th century by Duke Leopold III of Anhalt-Dessau (falling asleep...must not turn into History Channel...go to Wikipedia for more details...). Anyway, I walked around the garden grounds for a few hours enjoying the magnificent weather with a delicious Coca-Cola Classic (have I ever mentioned how thankful I am that Coke dominates the international soft-drink market? Seriously, I love Coke, as do many Americans (or Pepsi if that's your preference)...but this experience would have been so much harder without Coke). The garden grounds had various buildings that evoked images of other landmarks from across Europe (which is evidently part of the story of how the buildings came to be in the first place), as well as a nice sized lake with many little islands and inlets. If I ever were to live inside a cheeseball romance novel, this would probably be what I would picture when the author begins to describe a summer romance which blossomed in a palatial European garden.

I would have to encourage anyone looking for a day trip from Berlin to stop in both of these places to capture both the essence of Martin Luther's life, as well as to appreciate a hidden gem in the German countryside. And if anyone from the Coca-Cola corporation wants to send me a welcome back to America gift basket, I'll be happy to forward you my home address.

The first overnight stop on my German Heritage Tour was a stop in the birthplace (on subsequently death place) of Martin Luther, Eisleben. It was quite obvious that I was now in what was formerly East Germany due to the deteriorating buildings and lack of charm. Most of my time was spent in the streets wandering about looking for the various sights, but being a small town I was able to find everything quite easily. Although the house we he was born burned to the ground many years ago, it has been rebuilt in what they assume to be an indicative style of the time as no original plans exist of the house. A rather large museum adjoins the home which is dedicated to his life and the reformation (very well presented).

Across town is the home he died in, which is a little less exciting except for those who are a bit morbid and like such things. A death mask sits in a glass case at this house to show that he died here (I don't think they had CSI Miami in Germany back then so they made the mask to prove to everyone else that he actually died I guess). I tried to get into the various churches in town where he either was baptised, parishioned (I think I made up that word), and preached before his death but they were all locked up. For the diehard Luther fans out there, this town is worth the visit, but for those who just want to see one Luther site while in Germany this is probably not your place (Wittenberg is much better).

A recurring item of interest is that every town that Luther is associated with in Germany seems to have a statue in the town square of him. I've included a snapshot of this as well as a curious picture of a Soviet cemetery near my hotel (definitely Eastern Germany).