I woke up to a beautiful view from V's windows. Erfurt was absolutely more my vibe than Berlin, hands down.
V still had school to attend while I was staying with her, and I had some chapters to submit for work so we both did what we needed to do until she returned later that morning.
I also had more baby mincemeat for breakfast with lingonberry. While wearing the comfy slippers V said I should wear. She took good care of me.
Once V got home, she took me biking around Erfurt, and insisted that I wear the one helmet she had. She said she didn't trust the trams. She even tightened the strap for me when I struggled with it haha. (I posted a little biking video here as well: https://youtube.com/shorts/yHqmDClEXpY?si=WjblskCjwYSZgj4J )
She taught me more about Erfurt as we cycled along and later walked, including how it became known for producing blue dye - called Erfurter Blau. It was made from an indigenous plant (particularly to the Thuringian region, where Erfurt is located), woad (Isatis tinctoria), and made some cool shades of blue that hadn't been seen before.
While wandering down the market streets, we stopped into a couple of stores, including a truffle one where I got some apple truffles, and an assorted box because when in Erfurt... V was nice enough to act as communication liaison for me as well.
She was also very encouraging during the biking parts, saying she was impressed I kept up so easily haha. Though I should mention, it was relatively flat so fairly easy biking.
Erfurt is a more old-timey style, village-y city, boasting lots of bakeries and churches. It was also where I first learned when you order coffee of any kind in Europe, you get a little cookie with it - like shortbread, biscotti, Speculaas, biscoff.
We checked out one of her favourite churches while we were there, where I learned more about Martin Luther (not to be confused with Martin Luther King). There are a lot of statues and effigies of him around Germany - he was kind of a big deal. He was a German monk who apparently, "forever changed Christianity when he nailed his '95 Theses' to a church door in 1517, sparking the Protestant Reformation." (https://www.biography.com/religious-figures/martin-luther)
There was also this bridge that resonated with me because... of all of the locks on it symbolizing people's love. I wasn't surprised when V told me the locks would be getting cut off soon - bridges can only sustain so much weight safely, and locks are pretty heavy. But they'll live on in pictures like this one!
We next went to a more central area, to see the cathedral and its partner church.
It was, unfortunately, partially obscured by the Oktoberfest fair rides...
But we were able to bypass it and ascend the steps up to the cathedral. V told me that the hill the cathedral and church were built on, was man-made to support the expansion of their building the cathedral. It's definitely big. Imagine having dreams so big, you literally move the Earth to reach them. Maybe we should take after that example.
Although, it also took so long to build, they erected the Church of St. Severus (incidentally, mine and V's favourite Harry Potter character) beside it so people would have somewhere to worship in the meantime (AND I learned a bit about how those spiky stone bits along the church edges indicate it's of high Gothic style). She also mentioned how the church there owns a lot of the land that's been built upon around it, meaning that cathedral and St. Severus' will never hurt for money, unlike most other churches.
V also told me how many of the areas around the cathedral had been bombed, but not the cathedral itself. Maybe it was being protected - belief can be a powerful thing. Though later on in my travels through the UK, I read about how the enemy would avoid bombing major cathedrals because they could use it as a landmark to weed out other towns to bomb... I much prefer if it was the former.
Inside the cathedral, you could hear the bass from the Oktoberfest rides outside. V mentioned the bishops live in the cathedral, and we both wondered if they had earplugs. And maybe if they disliked Oktoberfest. Imagine living in a big, beautiful stone building like that, and the bass might be louder than the hymns. Definitely not the organ though. It had a colossal one, as well as massive, beautiful stained-glass windows.
We went to St Severus next, and it was definitely smaller, and also not a cathedral. V informed me that it needs to have a bishop in order to be a cathedral. The organ was still impressive, however, I noted more of a lack of stained-glass windows there. V stated something that was matter-of-fact to her and should have occurred to me, but hadn't.
The shockwaves from the bombings had shattered a lot of the stained glass, and it hadn't been replaced. I can understand why, having made just small versions of simple stained glass myself, it's a lot of work. It's heart-breaking to think of that hard work shattered by acts of war. People spend years trying to build peace, and it can be as easily shattered as glass. We become naught but beautiful fragments scattered on the ground.
I did also take the time to light a candle for some loved ones in St Severus. I hope they felt it.
V also really wanted to show me the cathedral gardens, but they were apparently closed to anyone who didn't have access through the university. Possibly because of the crowds for Oktoberfest.
More promenading and biking ensued. I really loved the cobblestone everywhere, it's exactly the aesthetic I like. V kept teasing me for stopping a taking photos heh. These aren't even half of them.
As well as when we were taking a break in Fischmarkt (the city hall square) and sharing a blueberry cream cake, we saw some little tit birds scurrying about. They were SO FLUFFY.
We also happened to be there right when a tour group came through, and V unofficially "gave me a tour" of the monument in the square (he's in the middle of the previous picture) by translating the tour guide's spiel. Originally it was a "false Roland" statue that symbolized freedom. Some... shall we say, "issues" happened and the statue was remodeled into Saint Patrick, and is still a symbol of freedom.
We then walked to see this really cool bridge that had houses on it.
V told me it's over 800 years old, and Erfurt is very proud of it. They're holding off on replacing it for as long as possible in order to preserve it - I think I mirror that kind of tenacity too. I hope I can still stand up to adverse weather and time when I'm... well... let's hope I make it to at least 60, eh?
It was also at that bridge that I learned ducks walk right up to you there, especially if you have food.
I watched, awed and envious as one waddled right up to a girl eating a pastry. She even got to pat its head! She didn't feed it though, which is good. There are bylaws about that to protect the ducks - you can feed them duck food though, which can be found in some shops.
I also learned about Bernd the Brot, a sarcastic, nihilistic burnt loaf of bread who is the mascot of Germany. Apparently they made him sarcastic on purpose for the kids' shows, and it made me wonder if it raised them to be more prepared for the world. Learning sarcasm and about nihilism early on.
Next was a stop at the Deutsche Bahn office where V helped me buy a Deutschland Ticket that would cover the majority of my train/bus trips while in Germany. It can only be bought by someone with a German bank account, so this was very helpful. I'll note here as well that Germans don't tend to line up the way we do. Even if you're already in line, they'll just walk right in. It happened in line for the DT when a random guy just walked in front of us to the kiosk. Thankfully, the clerk very sternly told him to get to the back of the line. I liked him.
We then biked about 20 minutes away to V's friend's place, to pick up some food she wanted to give V, including pretzels, dip, and buns. The pretzels were amazing. While we were there, her friend's young toddler showed us around the garden. I had no idea what he was saying as my German is very very minimal, and he didn't speak English. He stared at me a bit later on, and was saying something in German. I glanced at V and she laughed and said, "He really can't understand that you don't speak German, it's baffling to him." Which makes sense. If you're, like, 4, and have only known one language your entire life, it's hard to fathom that there could be more than that one. And a lot of them at that.
The bike back to V's apartment was pretty easy, and we freshened up before heading out to find somewhere for dinner. Our previous plans - eating at a little place that serves "authentic German grandma food" fell through when we saw the sign saying they were on vacation. Thus, after some meandering, we went into a medieval restaurant called Wirtshaus Christoffel.
The vibes were super cool, including wooden tables with bench seating, proper stein mugs for our drinks, and suits of armour everywhere.
V graciously explained the menu to me, and gave me a sip of her drink - beer mixed with Sprite, apparently very popular there. I can't fully remember what I ordered, I think it was the meal called "Hausgemachte Rinderroulade," but it was a gamey type meat with potatoes and reaaaally good gravy.
We chatted as we ate and I learned the different ways of saying thank you: Danke (thank you), Danke shön (thank you very much, I THINK this was the more polite version, like vous versus tu in French), and Vielen dank. In my time with V, I also learned a bit about economics in Germany, and how government workers can also be sworn in as officials, if they want to.
We ended the night on a high note, and I got some more work done before going to bed pretty late. This is why my blog is so behind haha. I packed a lot into my stays in each place while at the same time having to prioritize work. But don't worry, I've got a lot more posts coming, even if they're slow.
Erinnerst du dich, als wir uns alle liebten?
Much love,
Alison
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