Back From the Land of Luther and Bach

So I have not written on of these bad boys in a while so it is time to get on that.  I have been recuperating from my travels to Leipzig, Wittenberg, Eisenach, Erfurt, and Wurzburg.  99% of this was with my prof for our Luther and Bach class and then Sarah and I took a side trip at the very end to Wurzburg.  So this is gonna be a long one, but I will include pictures for the people like my mom who just like the pretty pictures;)

The beginning of our trip to Leipzig was not without its issues.  Our second train was so late that we missed all of our connecting trains afterwards and thus our reservations, but we were so lucky and made trains in time with seats.  Leipzig has a famous orange beer so that night we went to a famous brewery and tried it.  The next day was all about Bach and music in Leipzig.  We went to the Thomaskirche where Bach worked and taught and then went across the street to the Bach Museum.  Other places we visited include the oldest coffee house in Europe, the Stasi museum, Mendelsohn's house, and the Grassi Museum.  Below I am having a moment with my man Bach.

 
The next day was Wittenberg where it was all about Luther.  We visited the house and school where he lived and taught as well as the Castle Church where he posted the 95 Thesis and St. Mary's church where he preached.  Sarah, Allie and I stayed later than the others to shop and go to an English church service.  You would not believe it but there were two Valpo graduates at the church and one of them was the coordinator....it was unbelievable.  This is the door where the Thesis was posted.


Eisenach was our next step where we went to the Wurzburg Castle where Luther was held in exile and where he translated the bible into common Germanic language.  After the castle we visited Bach's house and a museum there.

Erfurt was a blast the next day.  We went to the monastery where Luther stayed and studied as well as the Cathedral where he was ordained.  One of the highlights was stumbling upon this church that had opened up there tower to the public so we climbed all the way up and looked down on the city.  Dinner was with the whole group at Luther Keller which was like Medieval Times.  This cathedral was one of the major highlights


The last day Sarah and I broke up our travels back with a stop Wurzburg.  We visited the Residence, which is Europe's second largest palace and my gosh was it fantastic.  Not only was the inside gorgeously painted and sculpted but the gardens were also exquisite.  After that we visited the cathedral they had which was very different from the other churches we had visited, because everything was stark white.  The next stop before we made the last leg home was the Marienberg Fortress at the top of the hill and above a vineyard.  We made the long sweaty hike but it was definitely worth it.  The gardens of the Residence were my favorite by far.

This was an amazing trip but it was good to be back in Reutlingen which feels more like home everyday.  It has also been great coming back to all kinds of new international students who are so fantastic and great new friends to hang out with.  Tomorrow morning I will be heading out to Munich and Fussen to see Neuschwanstein.  A week from tomorrow we will be taking our other class trip to Berlin and then with some free time I think I will be doing the Rhine Valley and a day at Oktoberfest.

Auf Wiedersehen,
Chels