Today we took a drive through Bach country, from Eisenach to Weimar. We drove first to Ohrdruf, where Johann Sebastian Bach lived with his older brother when he was orphaned in 1695 at age 10. His older brother, Johann Christoph, was organist at the Michaeliskirche (St. Michael's Church) in Ohrdruf from 1690 (at age 18) to 1721. He was only 23 when he became the guardian of his younger brother Johann Sebastian.
 |
| Michaeliskirche (St. Michael's Church) in Ohrdruf |
Bach attended the Lyceum in Ohrdruf, and he sang in the Kurrende Choir. Ohrdruf is a small, clean town, with a Lutheran Church. An American invented Kewpie dolls here in 1912! There is something called the Tobiashammer there, but I don't know what it is. The Michaelis monastery is also near here.
 |
| We noticed that people-watching from a window seems to be a common pastime! |
In Ohrdruf JS Bach studied organ with his brother, but his brother would not let him study the music of Pachelbel for some reason. The young Bach used to sneak into the library at night, reach through the ornate metal grating on the door with his small hand, take the Pachelbel music out, and copy it by hand. After months of doing this, his brother caught him and tore up all of Bach's copies! What could be so wrong with Pachelbel???
From Ohrdruf, we drove to Arnstadt. We went into the Bach church there and saw the organ. It was the first place we saw, where I had that "Wow! Bach was here! Right here!" realization. The church was cool and quiet, and we were the only tourists in it at the time, so that probably helped.
 |
| Bachkirche, Arnstadt |
 |
| Formerly the Bonifatius Church |
Formerly the Bonifatiuskirche, which burnt down in the Great Fire of 1581, it was rebuilt from 1676-1683 as the Neue Kirche. Bach began to play as organist there in 1703. In 1935, it was renamed as the Bachkirche.
 |
| Nave and Altar |
 |
| Nave and Narthex. Organ in the balcony. |
 |
| Bachkirche Organ |
 |
| Bach Statue in Arnstadt. Do I detect an attitude? |
I stopped in the Apotheke to buy some arnica cream for Dan's neck. Homeopathic medicines are quite mainstream here.
 |
| Apotheke in Arnstadt |
Next we drove to Erfurt, where Martin Luther studied law. We found a cafe serving Schnitzel Toast for lunch -- It was good!
 |
| Erfurt Market |
Dan went up the hill and photographed the cathedral there, while I wandered around the Marketplatz and did a bit of shopping.
 |
| Fresh berries at the market |
 |
| Fresh herbs, vegetable, and berry plants for sale at the market |
Then we drove on to Weimar. We stopped there for Kaffee und Kuchen. Mandarin Quark Kuchen is very popular everywhere, but the Rhubarb cake with Strüdel and Eclairs were a nice change. We had them with fennel tea and coffee.
We then drove back to the hotel in Bad Tabarz for a swim, a nap, and dinner. We ate dinner at the hotel each night because the chef there was very creative. I ordered mint sorbet again for dessert tonight, and here is what I got!
 |
Mint sorbet with chocolate cream and blueberries,
strawberry asparagus salad and a Tasmanian mountain pepper |
No comments:
Post a Comment