Bad Sulza und Buchenwald

Its been quite a while but there has been so much going on! I'll start with our trip to Bad Sulza Thermal Baths yesterday. Its a secluded thermal saltwater bath, spa, and sauna. The baths have several saltwater pools, indoor and outdoor. There is an entire room called "Liquid Sound". The room is round and dark with pin holes of light in the ceiling. Swimmers tuck their toes under a rail that circles the pool and float. You can hear music coming from beneath the water. It was pretty funny to walk in and see twenty people just floating in the water and bumping into each other.

The saunas are a whole other story. Once you enter the sauna bathingsuits are not allowed. Towels are permitted but rare. I sucked up the guts to go inside but I sure clung to that towel. They had a series of saunas varying in temperature and humidity. One was called the rain forest. It was dark and extremely steamy inside and the ceiling dripped water. Its ceiling had pinholes of light that looked like stars. I never dreamed there would be so many people so comfortable with public nudity though. As shocking as it was I would definitely go back.

Today we had a visit to Buchenwald, the concentration camp 8 kilometers from Weimar. The guide told us a story hard for most people to believe about a woman who had lived in Weimar while Buchenwald was operational. When the camp was liberated, the American troops forced 1,000 citizens of Weimar to walk through the camp and see the death and crematorium and labor camps. A woman, who had been one of those 1,000 came to visit the camp a few years ago. The guide who led our tour was the same who had lead hers and he told us that when she came to a photograph of bodies piled by the crematorium she said "I have seen this. The Americans did this, not the Nazis. The bodies were too fresh." (The photograph is one of the men who died in the first few days after the liberation because they were in such poor health before the liberation.) Its so hard to believe that after all these years someone can still believe something like that.

front gates at Buchenwald

You grow up learning the history of the World Wars and the Nazi regime but it is an entirely different story to be standing where those people once stood. There was a memorial plaque that I found very interesting. Originally it was intended to have the names of all those who died in the camp to be placed on the plaque. The artist however had a difference of opinion and the result is somewhat of a cross between he two ideas. The plaque, as it sits in the ground now, is heated to exactly 98.6 degrees, the temperature of a living person. It represents the lives of all those lost within the gates of Buchenwald.

plaque

hidden urns found during a renovation

cremetorium

Erfurt

We got to visit Erfurt last week, a neighboring city of Weimar. I haven't had time to write much because of our language course but here are some pictures! Guten tag!

Weimar

Clearly I am not so good with the whole blog thing, but we made it to Weimar!! 11 days ago to be exact...Anyway Weimar is absolutely wonderful!! Its sort of a cross between the epitome of a quaint little German town and a hub for artists, musicians, and young people. A very interesting combination. The piazzas are beautiful and so active with street vendors and a street musician here and there. We were taking a walk in the park yesterday and there are families and old couples everywhere, and there is a little old man sitting at the end of a bridge over the river playing the violin. I mean what the heck?! Everything here is so surreal and seemingly perfect. We have yet to actually find a "bad part of town". John has litterally had me over every square inch of he city, from the Bauhaus buildings in the south to the rail yards in the north to the park in the east and all the way to the suburbs across the river. 

As of now I have decided that the German bakeries and chocolate will be the death of me. Even heir bottom of the line chocolate is fantastic! And there is seriously a bakery on every corner with fresh bread. We learned our lesson the hard way though that some things don't ranslate exactly as you think they will. Our first night here we went to a kebob shop and ordered a pepperoni pizza and what we got was a ham and jalepenio pepper pizza. I'm pretty sure most of the German words I have learned are for food. Oh well I'll learn the rest sooner or later!

We have been living in a hostel for the past two weeks which has been quite the experience....both good and bad. We actually met several English speaking students who had come to Weimar for school as well, so we are already meeting people! Our hostel stay has been so prolonged because it has been so difficult to find a place to live! As if it weren't hard enough in English, we have to translate everything from German and then cross our fingers and pray that when the apartment owner answers the phone they will speak some english. But success at last!!! I have a beautiful hard wood floor room with three giant windows that open up over a stream and a garden. So things are looking up and hopefully this will mean oportunities for more travel soon!

For now here are some pictures from around Weimar