Day 3: Erfurt, Eisenach, Dresden

We woke up and checked out of our hotel and walked around the corner to the Domplatz, where there was an outdoor market going on.

We crossed through the market and up the 70 steps (Nicky counted) to the two massive churches overlooking the square: the St. Severi Kirche and the Dom St. Marien. Both churches date from the 14th century and we were awed by the incredible amount of detail, both on the outside of the Dom and inside both churches. Of particular note in the St. Severi Kirche was the sarcophagus of St. Severus, from approximately 1365.
 The Dom:

St. Severi Kirche:

After getting a quick breakfast pastry from the corner bakery, we walked through the Fischmarkt, a small square surrounded by houses from many eras, to the Krämerbrücke. The 'merchant bridge' was built in 1325, and the shops lining the street to the bridge date from the 17th-19th centuries.

Unfortunately, that was all the time we had in Erfurt, as we needed to pick up our rental car - a lovely Citröen minivan - so we could make our way east. As we headed out of the older area of downtown Erfurt, there was a stark contrast in the architecture - we were suddenly surrounded by very plain apartment buildings from the post-WWII years in East Germany. This lead to some interesting discussions with the boys at dinner tonight as we tried to answer their questions about why some people thought this was a good way to live.
In fact, we started out heading west - we got to drive on the Autobahn, which I think Dave really enjoyed!  We drove to Eisenach, up to the Wartburg castle. This medieval castle is where Frederick the Wise hid Martin Luther as he worked, among other things, to translate the Bible into German so it would be accessible to the common people. The boys loved Dave's history lessons about the construction of the castle and the purposes of various parts of the castle. Wartburg castle was definitely a highlight so far in the trip.

We left Eisenach and headed east (for real this time) to Dresden. Our trip took almost an hour longer than anticipated due to a traffic jam on the A4 about 30km from our destination. I guess it wouldn't be the full experience in Germany if we didn't get to drive in a traffic jam on the Autobahn - we should thank the Deutsche Bahn workers for striking so that we could have this opportunity! Actually, we did hear on the radio during our trip that the strike is ending early - it was scheduled to end on Sunday and it is now going to be ending on Saturday evening. We found our hotel with no problems - it is very comfortable and we happily stayed here for dinner tonight, followed by a quick dip in the pool and then back to the room. Tomorrow we will head into the center of Dresden to do some exploring!