Dornburg Castles

I'm terribly behind in our travels, and I'm afraid that will only get worse since we have four more trips planned in the next three months (not including the one we are currently finishing). But tonight we are taking it easy and I've decided to take full advantage of the internet we're paying 20 euros for 24 hours for.

At the beginning of September, Jason, Jackie, and I randomly decided to head up to the Dornburg castles on Saturday afternoon. Jackie and I had gone kayaking on the Saale in July and saw these gorgeous castles from the water. We knew we had to go see them up close and ended up picking the perfect day to do it.

There is not a lot of information on these castles in English, but if you want to try out the German wikipedia site you are welcome to do so. The small town has three castles right next to each other, each one in a different style. The Old Castle (Altes Schloss) is the oldest of the three and belongs to the University in Jena now, so it is not open to the public. However, meetings and conferences are held there all the time. Of course, you can visit the outside all you want!

The castle in the middle is the Roccoco Palace and is the newest. It was a built as a hunting lodge for Duke Ernst August in the 1700s. It is open to the public for a small fee.

The last, but not least, castle is the Renaissance castle and was build in the 1500s over a 14th century farm house. It is open to the public, has a small cafe, and certain rooms can be rented out for special events. There were so many people around that day since the weather was gorgeous that I was not able to get a better picture of it. You can barely see a white building on the hill in the picture below. R-L: Renaissance, Rococo, and Old.

The grounds around all three castles are well-kept and simply beautiful! They have a rose festival every year, and you can see why!

Statue of Bacchus 

Hanover!

Hanover in German, Hannover in English. I don’t get it. But I did enjoy the city!

One of our friends from Winston-Salem was forced to do research for two weeks in Germany (poor thing). So we just had to meet up with her!  Jason and I arrived in Hannover just after dark on a Friday night and went to dinner at his favorite place in town: HBX, a brew pub! After a lovely dinner of beer and a pike and salmon salad (for me), we headed out into the town. The first thing Jason showed me was the Neues Rathaus (New City Hall). Breathtaking. It is considered “new” as it was completed in 1913. The Altes Rathaus (Old City Hall) was used for city council meetings as early as 1303.

The next morning we got up fairly early to get to the airport to pick up Sarah. Our original plan was to meet her at the bus station within the airport, but we got there so early and found out how direct the path was from the train stop to her gate, that we just decided to meet her at the gate. We got money exchanged, luggage dropped off at the hotel, and headed out to see the city!

Our first stop was the Aegidienkirche (Aegidien Church), an old church that was bombed in WWII and not rebuilt, instead it was preserved as a memorial. You can see a lovely picture of it here, but I did not take many pictures since Jason had taken so many the first time he visited Hanover.

Clock tower on the church

Next up, the New City Hall in the daylight. Gorgeous! You can see from the pictures that it is absolutely stunning (and that I still haven’t figured out how to hold a camera straight). 

The best part is that you can go inside and see more! The building on the inside is beautiful, complete with spiral staircases and a beautiful dome. But in the foyer of the building is also a very solemn sight: four dioramas of Hanover. The first one, from 1689, shows a small town, surrounded by a brick wall.

Next up, 1939. The city is much larger and most of the wall around the city has been removed in order to allow the city to expand. You’ll also notice a field in the lower left corner, the Waterlooplatz, which contains the Waterloo Column, a statue commemorating the Battle of Waterloo.

And then devastation hit. Over 90% of Hannover was bombed during 88 bombing raids between 1939 and 1945. The picture speaks for itself.

Today, Hanover mostly has been rebuilt. The city is thriving and a wonderful place to visit if you get the chance.

We wandered away from the displays to see the rest of the building. 

From the somber foyer, we stepped out into sun and wandered around to the back of the City Hall. And of course, the back is as impressive as the front.

Behind the City Hall, you get the tiniest glimpse into why Hanover is called the City of Gardens. We probably saw four brides out in the garden behind the city hall having their pictures made (only one groom, though). The location and the weather were perfect for a bridal shoot.

Near the New City Hall is the city museum. It was way too pretty a day to spend it cooped up inside a museum, so we went on, but I snapped a picture first.

Like every city I’ve visited in Germany, there is a river running through the middle, so we stopped at the dam along the Leine River.

From there we wandered on, stopping at a flea market to haggle for a new stein, stopping to take pictures of the fountain in the Ballhofplatz (Ball Courtyard Place) and snickering at the name. So mature, I know.

We paused to take pictures of another intricate fountain before settling down at the outdoor tables of a bar for a beer.

Yes, that's a beer with a straw in it... and a shot of raspberry syrup.

And now that I was a tourist in Germany, I decided we had to have ice cream so I could take a picture of it! Don’t worry, we paused between beer and ice cream and dinner, but it sure didn’t feel that way. We spent the rest of the in the old town, but it appears that I didn’t take any pictures. I guess I’ll have to leave you with the ice cream! 

Weimar!

Jason and I took a trip to Weimar yesterday. It suddenly dawned us that we have been living in Germany for a year (okay, there was nothing sudden about it... I've been watching the time go by in amazement, but fully aware of how long we've been here) and we had not visited the next town over. Oh, we've been to the train station there half a dozen times, but we've never ventured out into the town.

Friedrich Schiller and Johan Wolfgang von Goethe

The building in the background is where the Weimar Republic was formed in 1919.

Part of the market in Weimar. By then end of the day it was packed with people. 

(Sorry, I really need to clean the filter on my camera.) This grassy area was quite cute.

We stopped at a cafe to try a beer we'd never had before: Franken Bräu. 

While we were sitting there, I learned just how touristy Weimar actually is. I saw lots of people taking a picture of the building in front of us and told Jason to take one too since it must be important. He thought my idea was quite silly because we didn't actually know what the building was. So we pulled out our trusty iPhones and looked it up: it was Goethe's house. Mystery solved. We also heard English spoken at the cafe (from patrons, not the staff) and realized there were several college groups visiting Weimar. This town is so incredibly close to Jena, but the only American college kids I've seen have been individuals doing study abroad rather than whole groups touring the area. It really gives you a sense of the importance Weimar has had in the history of Germany.

Weimar Rathaus

After the cafe, we made our way over to the Market Square where the Onion Market and Christmas Market are held every year. Our Rathaus is currently covered in scaffolding, so it was nice to see a Rathaus is working order. The city offers horsedrawn carriage tours of the town. I considered following one just to see the sights, but realized that was a silly idea as well. My guess is that some of the tour guides speak English, but I don't know that for certain. The town does have a tourist information center across the market from the Rathaus where you can organize all tours (including a trip to the former concentration camp Buchenwald which is only a few miles out of the city center) and accommodations.

The clock town in town

Another view. We knew what we were looking at had the potential to be palacial, so we decided to check it out. 

And we walked through the archway... 

And found The Weimar Palace!

The Weimar Palace is now a museum (6 euros for entrance) of both the palace and art. The museum prohibits cameras, so we were unable to take pictures inside. 

A lion guarding one of the outer entrances to the palace. 

When we came out of the palace, we decided to take a break at one of the local cafes. This place seemed to specialize in mixed drinks and Jason had a kiwi margarita. It wasn't sweet at all, and it sure was tasty! After our break, we continued to wander around the down and took some random pictures. 

The building covered in ivy is a hostel.

There was a plaque on the side of this building mentioning Martin Luther. Originally I thought he lived here (the plaque was in German), but now I'm wondering if this is where one of his works was published. 

A church. It must be important because one of the horse drawn carriage tours stopped here.

We saw an old mini. It was shorter than the Smart Car behind it! 

The town of Weimar is a quaint, quite city. It feels much more relaxed than Jena, despite the number of tourists. I'll be heading back in October for the Onion Market! I can't wait! 

Flowers

It has been brought to my attention that I have not been posting enough on this particular blog. I'm sorry folks, but I just haven't taken many pictures lately and I feel guilty posting without pictures. So, here are some of the photos I have taken with my iPhone over the last 3.5 months. (Please forgive the picture quality)

 These flowers were the first of the season. It was so lovely to see color after a long, dark winter.

I think the contents of this picture dates the image: can you find the Easter egg? This pic was taken about a week after Easter... it seems everyone always leaves one!

I found green! And purple!

The River Saale. This view is from Paradies Park and the peak in the distance is Jenzig. We hiked the peak the following week and found a beer garden at the top! Yay Germany!

This bridge is the oldest one crossing the Saale in Jena. Just outside the view to the left is... you guessed it! A beer garden!

Every year my institute has a summer festival on the longest day of the year. Germans know how to party! It started at 4pm and lasted until they ran out of beer and wine... around 2am.
Nicely though, the firedancers didn't get drunk until after the fire was out!

Two weeks ago the institute I work for sent out an email telling us all about this little flower. Or should I say, GINORMOUS flower? The scientific name is Amorphophallus titanum, and I think you can deduce what that means on your own. When David Attenborough did a series for the BBC on The Secret Life of Plants, he decided he wasn't about to say the scientific name over and over, so he dubbed it Titan arum. Some places call it the carrion flower instead because it smells like rotting meat. It's aptly named. This flower blooms very rarely (only a bloom or two max thoroughout the world every year) and the bloom only lasts for about 24 hours. I took this photo about 18 hours into the bloom cycle and you can see that the middle stalk has already fallen over. There are only two of these flowers in Germany and one is located across the street from where I work at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology.

What have you been up to for the last 4 months?