Saturday, July 14, 2012

Weimar

After the horror of the concentration camp, we headed the few miles into the beautiful city of Weimar.


We managed to find our way into Weimar and park the car. Weimar is mostly a pretty city and it was a pleasure to walk around.


I really liked the beer which was local.



Lunch at a cafe. We ate outside and to Marianne's amazement, I ordered a salad with melon. It was pretty good.


It was quite pleasant sitting there watching the occasional car go by.



Like everywhere else in the former East Germany, there was construction everywhere.




A film unit was parked outside this building. All sorts of support buildings were lined up but I have no idea what the film was about.




There are lots of grand buildings. Weimar was a very important city, particularly after WWI.





The best part of the city is the river and the park that lines its banks.




It was a lovely afternoon and people were out in force enjoying the sun.






The Goethe Summer House. We didn't walk over there but it looked pretty from a distance.



I was curious about the statue so I walked around to see who it was and it turned out to be Billy Shakespeare.




Remains of a church.





This was an entrance to an underground car park in front of a grand building.


We had not realized that Weimaraners came from this town until we saw the sign.


Now this is a hotel to inspire confidence. It was right across the street from the University.


Franz Liszt lived here.


The gate to his house.


Path to the house.



His house was right across from the park and he would have often walked down this path. Some classical music lovers down rate Liszt because he could and did write very flashy music that showed off his pianistic talents. There was another side to his compositions however and he was quite an innovator.





We came across a lovely square with outdoor cafes.


Marianne loves the yellow houses.



One cafe had grape arbors that looked very cool and refreshing.



These seats were surprisingly comfortable.





One of the main shopping streets has been turned into a mall. There were quite a lot of people strolling about or sitting at the outdoor cafes.







The Weimar Theater. Classical music is very important and very much loved in Germany.


The Bauhaus movement started in Weimar. The museum is apparently quite small and reputedly the museum in Berlin is better.


Two of Germany's most important writers / poets lived in Weimar, Goethe and Schiller. Pictures of this statue are everywhere in Germany.





When we first arrived in Weimar, we were trying to find a parking lot that the Tom Tom GPS unit was to lead us to. Somehow we missed the turn to the lot and suddenly finished up being pulled over by the police into this big square. We were just following other cars but apparently we had driven into the wrong area. The policeman looked at my driver's licence and then we thought he said ' it normally is a twenty euro fine, but have a big ice cream.' Later we realized he probably said 'have a nice day.' He did give us directions to the parking lot we were looking for.


Interesting playground.

Weimar is one of those places I would like to return to but with a German to show me around. I suspect there is a lot of stuff to see here.

No comments:

Post a Comment