This morning we were off to Eisenach, both a Luther and Bach city. On the way into town, we stopped at the Wartburg Castle, perched on top of a hill just out of town. Here it was that Luther hid for ten months as “Junker Jörg” after the Diet of Worms.
It is an interesting medieval castle, with all the sorts of rooms one would expect. The castle was begun in the 8th Century, and is fairly typical of medieval castles. It has also seen many additions and revisions over the years, something else common with such buildings. And the remaining Luther connection is mainly one fairly small room. It was here that he translated the New Testament into German. (Truth in history: there is no ink spot on the wall from his throwing an inkwell at the Devil.) It was very good to see and experience this important piece of Luther/Reformation history.
We then drove into the town of Eisenach for lunch and a walking tour. The tour started in front of the house in which Johann Sebastian Bach was born. There is, of course, a large statue of him in the park near the house. We saw the house where Bach lived as a young boy.
We then walked through town to the house where Martin Luther boarded as a student. At the town square is the church in which Bach was baptized.
Erfurt was our destination for the night. After dinner at the hotel we embarked on self-guided walking tour of the town. This is where Luther attended university, studying to become a lawyer. The Augustinian monastery where Luther became a monk was our final destination before returning the to hotel.
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