Weimar and Erfurt

I'm sitting on a park bench in Erfurt overlooking a river or stream, not entirely sure what it is. We left the hotel in Berlin yesterday and are staying in Weimar, which is apparently three hours south of Berlin. It was a really beautiful drive south. The highway that we were on is lined throughout with farms, including many windmill farms if that's even what they're called. They are really beautiful to watch and makes you feel good because it's actually a sustainable energy source, something I wish our country would do a lot more of. The sun was also setting, which made for a very picturesque view. We got to the hotel and were disappointed to see it was not quite the same as our beautiful 5-Star Swissotel in Berlin. This was a reluctant 3-Stars. Not terrible. It reinforced the notion that Germany does not believe in air conditioning.

The next day, today, we had a walking tour of Weimar. It is best known for being where the German writer and philosopher, Goethe, lived. It was also home to Johann Sebastian Bach, Martin Luther and many others. It's a really adorable town. Unfortunately our tour guide did a really poor job of giving background information on many of the people were talking about. After the tour, the group broke and Jen, Rivky, Deborah, Staci, Sara and I wandered a bit. We found a cute French crepe place and had some lunch. Later we wandered and had the most delicious gelato. Mine was called "Nougat Minze." It was some sort of chocolate nougat with mint and cardamom. Sooooo delicious.

Here in Erfurt it also seems lke an adorable town, but they gave us free time to wander around without much explanation of the town. I am enjoying the relaxation of the river though.