a few months ago we had an invitation to visit weimar and erfurt. it was a special treat from a friend who had lived there for some years, and wanted to show her friends around in a weekend… we were really happy to accept, delighted in the knowledge that we couldn’t be in better hands! :)

accommodation was sorted out on a quaint bed & breakfast, cars were rented, and our group got on the way one early saturday morning!

the first stop was an autobahnkirche, or a road church, which was something new to me. road churches are churches near a highway, where people can go to pray or meditate on their trips. the road church of gelmeroda is especially famous because it was painted numerous times by lyonel feininger, a famous german-american expressionist painter.

in weimar, we headed over to the lovely duchess anna amalia’s library for a quick peek…

… after which we ran to the market square for some food! (priorities!):D

weimar is renowned for its cultural heritage – and especially for 2 very famous writers who lived here: goethe and schiller. between 1788 and 1805, the two of them led the cultural and literary movement known as weimar classicism. everything in weimar seems to have been touched by them, and so a tour of the city wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the houses of the masters!

both houses couldn’t be more different from each other. while goethe enjoyed success from an early age, poor schiller did nothing but work like a slave to sustain his family. this is goethe’s house:

you’ll notice the different colours in every room – goethe was fascinated with them, and published the theory of colours in 1810. he also spent some years in italy, from where he brought a lot of architectural influences to weimar.

in contrast, schiller’s house was very simple…

after a day filled with goethe & schiller, we were almost ready to retire… but little did we know, the best was yet to come! i’ll tell you more about it tomorrow :)