I couldn’t sleep very well on the plane, so I watched Eat Pray Love and Despicable Me. I read A Christmas Carol on Mom’s Kindle for a little while before the Melatonin kicked in. I dozed on and off until we touched down.
Now I’m in Frankfurt on the train. I think it’s the right train. I’m not gonna lie, I’m terrified right now. I’ve been having nightmares about this part of the trip for the past week. I don’t know how to take trains. I’m from Texas for crying out loud. Luckily everyone in charge speaks English, but they give you that glazed over look when they realize you can’t speak their language. I don’t blame them. I’m a tour guide.
I don’t even know if I’m in the right seat. My ticket is completely in German. The train arrived just as I bought it, so I jumped in the first door that I saw, which happens to be the second carriage. To me, this should be “first class,” which I definitely did not purchase. My section of the train is called “The Quiet Zone,” with glass doors closing it off from the rest of the carriages. So far nobody is telling me to move, so I’m going to stay as long as I can. I wish I knew where the bathrooms were…
The temperature isn’t so bad. Around 34o F I think. Wet. From my window I can see Frankfurt flying by. Lots of construction. Graffiti. Lots and lots of graffiti. I remember someone telling me they weren’t impressed with Frankfurt because it wasn’t “quaint” like the other towns. Whatever. I think it looks gritty and cool.
Whoah. We’re going backwards. Why are we going back? Shouldn't the rail go in, like…a circuit? I don’t get trains. I don’t get them at all.
11:09am
I think I’m in the clear. The ticket master came through asking for our papers (or something), she stamped mine and didn’t make me move. The landscape is beautiful. I’m now seeing quite a bit of snow. I’m surprised by how much undeveloped land there is. Every now and then we pass a cluster of old brick houses and apartments, which, I suppose, signifies a town. Each hamlet as at least one ancient church with a very tall steeple. Some of the houses we passed flew German flags, I am happy to say. I’ve always heard of the lack of nationalism in Germany because of their past, but I think people are getting over it.
I’ve already picked up a lot of German. It’s funny how much easier it is to learn when you have to. No wonder I stink at Spanish.
Just passed through Eisenrach (sp?). Next stop, Erfurt! Hopefully Katie is waiting for me.
*******
…And that’s all I wrote down.
As soon as I got of the train at Erfurt, I saw Katie and Martin (her boyfriend) waiting for me. After lots of shouting and hugging, we all took the escalator downstairs to the station where I exchanged some more money for euros, bought a week-long tram pass, and a bottle of water. Thus began my first few lessons in German culture.
First off, these bottles of water I see everyone with are huge. They’re about as long as my forearm and you can get them with regular water or water with bubbles. Katie told me that Germans are obsessed with bubbly drinks. (You know, like it’s slightly carbonated.) The stuff tastes like fake champagne, but for some reason you can get any type of drink – be it water, fruit juice, whatever – with bubbles added.
We took the tram to Katie and Martin’s apartment that they share with another girl, Johanna. It’s a short distance away from the university they attend. Katie is going to a graduate program here in Erfurt in Public Policy. We dropped off my stuff and Katie took me around the Domplatz (Cathedral Square) where the Christmas Market is.
The Christmas Market is something that tourists come to see from other cities every year. It reminds me a bit of Santa’s Workshop in Richardson, but about 100x as large with vendors from all over Germany, selling hats, gloves, handcrafted ornaments, wreathes, baskets, pottery, you name it. And glühwein. Lots and lots of glühwein!
Glühwein is how Germans stay warm, according to Katie. It’s literally “mulled wine,” and you can buy a mug of it for about 2,50 euros. If you return the mug once you’re done, you get 1,0 euro back. There are glühwein stands all over the place, and each one claims to be the original, but Katie can pick out the best. It really does make you warm. It is strong stuff.
For instance, after buying me a mug, Katie took me across the Domplatz and up to the Mariendom (Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary). We had to chug our glühwein because we couldn’t bring it inside. By the time I got up the 70 14th-century steps to the entrance, I could barely stand up, and it wasn’t because I was jetlagged. And they say Americans can’t hold their alcohol…I wonder why?
The cathedral is huge. It originates from a chapel founded by Boniface in 742. Inside are massive stained glass windows and stone walls. Very cold and dim. Inside are 14th-century choir stalls, a Romanesque stucco Madonna, and a bronze chandelier, or candelabrum, named “Wolfram,” which dates to 1160. In the middle steeple hangs the bell “Gloriosa,” which, according to this English brochure I bought, rings on religious holidays. Katie tells me that the people of Erfurt are obsessed with this bell. She has heard it repeated to her a dozen times that it is the largest free-swinging bell in the world.
This may actually be the inside of the Severikirche... I can't remember.Just next door to the Mariendom is the Severikirche (St. Severus Church). While it’s significantly smaller than the Mariendom, this church began being built in 1280. Supposedly the bones of St. Severus, a bishop of Ravenna (wherever that is), were transferred here. Before that, though, this church was the site of the Benedictine convent of St. Paul. On the inside is St. Severus’ sarcophagus (1365), a stone Madonna (1345), lots of wall paintings, and a fountain (1467).
After exploring we got dinner at a café near the Medieval Market across the Krämerbrücke (Merchants Bridge), an extension of the Christmas Market but with a medieval theme. (If you haven't already guessed, Erfurt was the boom town of the Middle Ages.) The bridge is lined with 64 medieval houses, 32 of which still have inhabitants and shops lining the road. I ate jägershnitzel for the first time, which was so good but so big I had to take half of it home. Katie made me stay up till 9pm watching National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation so I wouldn’t mess up my internal clock. I slept a whole 12 hours, something I haven’t done since I was probably 2.
Krämerbrücke
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