Wartburg

Nick and I spent the day traveling to the Wartburg and back with the students and most of the staff. The Wartburg is the castle that Martin Luther was taken to where he translated the Bible; by the way, there are castles all over the place here (the Bible above was actually Luther's!). Once we got to the castle after the 3 hour bus ride, we had to hike up the side of the mountain the castle was on! Phew. I was glad to get to the top; I can truly say I understand why putting a castle on top of a hill is good for defense. Once we got to the castle, we were taken on a tour where we got to hear so much history. It was so interesting. There was one room we went to called the Singer's Hall (I think). Back just a few hundred years ago, 6 of the most reknowned singers entered a contest that was held in that very room. All the singers in the contest decided that whoever lost the contest would be executed! AH! I don't know about you, but I would pretend I didn't even know what singing was. After the tour, we were let go to wander and explore the castle, both inside and out. In the slideshow attached you'll see a pictures of Nick and I peeking out of the door of the actual room Luther translated the Bible in! Woot. After we ate our packed lunches, we all headed down to the town of Eisenach and spent a few hours window shopping, getting coffee at a small cafe, and just enjoying the day. We found one shop that had a bunch of coo coo clocks; they were so fun! I felt like I was in the movie Pinnochio. Nick and I also enjoyed eating a REAL German sausage we bought at a stand in the street - Mmm. I never expected I would like sausage so much. After a few hours, we all headed back to the bus to warm up and shortly thereafter start the trip back to Siegen. What a great day!