It's been a long time since we've done a written update, so here's one for you! We started our second session of classes today. Jon and Lindsay are now in B.2.1 with Jochen, my teacher from last session. I'm now in B.2.2 with Ralf - a new teacher this session. He's pretty much like a German Mr. Feeny (from Boy Meets World) and I like him a lot so far. Also, he's retired and teaches in the summers for fun, so he really likes what he's doing. Also also, he spent his career training German teachers, so I'm really excited to learn from him. Jon (or maybe Lindsay if she ever posts again) can tell you about their new class soon.
Here's some highlights from last weekend (Eisenach, Wittenberg, and Berlin). Watch the videos that Jon posted too.
In Eisenach, we went to the Bachhaus - the house where Johann Sebastian Bach was born. It was really cool and the museum there had a lot of interesting things. Jon kept making lame jokes the whole time (see the video).
Some of the items in the museum's collection were amazing. Like this one, an original copy of some of C.P.E. Bach's (J.S. Bach's son and a pretty famous composer himself) editions of J.S. Bach's works
Or this, the only existing copy of the liberetti that was the basis for Bach's St. Mark Passion
Or this, a booklet for Mendelsson's first performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion with an admission ticket handwritten by Mendelssohn.
Also, Bach liked to collect writings from Martin Luther, like this collection of his sermons
After the Bachhaus, we hiked up to the Wartburg Castle, which is where Luther translated the New Testament from Latin to German.
There were some original paintings and etchings of Luther by Lucas Cranach the Elder like these:
This is the Wartburg Bible - Luther's translation with his handwriting in it.
This is the room in which Luther translated the New Testament.
After Eisenach, we went to Wittenberg (where we were homeless for the night - watch the video for more details). However, of all the cities we've visited, Wittenberg was the best one to spend the night on the streets. It was really quiet and we only saw like to other people night. Also, we got to hang out in front of the doors of the Castle Church for a few hours, where Luther is said to have nailed the 95 Theses.
Here's the doors in the morning
Ok, it's time to go to the Biergarten. I'll put up some Berlin highlights later.
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