Day 2--Will Zimmerman

Today was incredible. Right after breakfast, we exited the hostel and went straight into the train station. All of us just following and being directed by Annette and Dan. After a couple of get-ons and hustling to get on the next train, we stepped onto the train that would take us to the town of Eisenach, located in the center of the country. As we were about to leave the train station, we ran into our guide, Eva. She was wonderful. We strolled into the town, full of small shops and restaurants. The green was where Eva introduced us to the town, gave us some background of Martin Luther, whose statue was located on the green, and waited for the city bus that would ship us to the Wartburg Castle. The castle was home to many many famous people. St. Elisabeth lived there for some time, as well as Martin Luther, who we got to see and be in the room he translated the New Testament from Greek to German. The castle contained small courtyards and beautiful outlooks on the mountain it was on, to see the town and forests. As we were leaving the castle and gift shop, it started raining. We waited for the shuttle to bring us back to town. Next, we visited the house of the famous German composer, Johann Sebastian Bach. Immediately, we walked into a concert room with five different organs, harpsichords, and other instruments from Bach's time. A young man, who also translated some of the presentation for us into English, gave us information and a song by Bach, on each instrument. He was very talented and was impressed that all of us were musicians. There was exhibits and information about Bach and his family. Bach only lived in Eisenach until he was 10 and had to move for education reasons and the death of his parents. Eva always gave us facts and information about anything she could. We had to get to the Luther House before it closed. Martin Luther lived in that house when he was a boy and attended the Latin school in Eisenach. He and other schoolmates would sing for their school and to get money for people at their house. Martin was invited to live with a woman that adored his voice for three years. After the Luther House, Eva took us to the shopping area in Eisenach to say good bye to her and to get a bite. We dined at an Italian cafe and I had delicious Pasta. The train back to Frankfurt was at 6:51 pm, so we bored our train and two hours later back in Frankfurt after Day 2.

Written by Will Zimmerman