Dresden!!!!

Dresden is definitely the most beautiful city I have been to in Germany. I absolutely love it! With all the talk I've heard of East Germany not being very pretty because of all the destruction, I expected to see nothing but crappy buildings. Boy, was I wrong! Even though there are some ugly soviet stacked housing buildings, the city has rebuilt tons of buildings that were destroyed during the war and put memorials all over the town. Everywhere you go there is something cool to see! And... there is a HUGE mall!

Today, we went on a four hour tour of Dresden. Good thing I had my Cola Light!

 Just absolutely beautiful!

 

There were statues EVERYWHERE! 

 The Elbe River

 Memorial from WWII

 How could you not love this city?

 One of the memorials from WWII

I can't reiterate enough how much I loved Dresden! I wish I had more pictures of everything, but alas, I suck at taking pictures. Maybe I will be better in Berlin? Maybe...
This was our welcoming wagon (quite literally) once we entered Berlin today. I have a feeling this is going to be an interesting next couple of days...

We just got to our hotel in Berlin, and we are going to celebrate my 21st tonight! It's a wii bit early, but who cares? Birthdays should last for a week right? Wish me luck!

Tschüss!

Eisenach, Wartburg Castle, and Erfurt!

Talk about busy! Today was a very full day. The bus ride wasn't soo horrible, but it was long. Our first stop was in Eisenach. Eisenach is famous for two very important people in history. One, Johann Sebastian Bach was born there; two, it is where Martin Luther lived as a child.

Another fun fact: the Social Democratic Party was also founding in Eisenach. Although we were only there for an hour I was able to discover the city center which was home to some awesome schnitzel!

After we all ate lunch, we started the hike to the Wartburg Castle. Supposedly, this castle got its name when its founder exclaimed "Warte, Berg- du sollst mir eine Burg tragen!" (Wait, mountain- you shall bear a castle for me). Not sure this is true, but it's a cute little story. This castle has been known for the artists that have made it their homes. Also, it was the place where Martin Luther translated the New Testament from Latin to German. He was not the first to do this, but his became the most well known and wide spread. 

 Look at that view!

After the tour was over, we were able to see some cool artifacts from the castle's prime.

After the Wartburg Castle, we headed to the capital of Thuringia (the state we were in), Erfurt. It is almost in the perfect center of Germany. We had an "interesting" tour guide. He was dressed (and spoke) like Martin Luther. Martin Luther attended the University of Erfurt and also lived as a monk there.

These two churches stand side by side, on the left is the Catholic Erfurt Cathedral, and on the right is the Lutheran St. Severi Church.

The town is quaint but beautiful. I absolutely loved walking through it. It is full of life and color.

Even the graffiti is interesting!

Then, our dinner at Christoffels was absolutely delicious! We ate like kings!

I think there were more than ten of these!

 

... And a couple of these too... when in Rome, right?

After our feast, we headed out on the town a little bit, but we had to get home early because tomorrow we have an early bus ride to the Buchenwald Concentration Camp!
Bis bald!

Tschüss!