not much going on, really

But I do have good photos!

No snow falling yet - other than this

but back when autumn had its last burst-of-amazing, we went walking among the golden trees.  Yes, this was a while ago, but rather than save the pics for next year and pretend they're fresh, I figured I'd better put them up!

We took the train to Bad Langansalza, a really lovely small town where it seemed the houses had so much color; at least more so than Göttingen which has a lot of white.

After wandering around for a bit we took a bus to a national park where there's an elevated walk through the treetops.  And I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Let me backtrack a bit

So ever so long ago I mentioned that we were going on a field trip and then I let it drop and didn't share any of it with you. Let me remedy that selfishness and show you pictures of where we went, back before the leaves had started to turn all sorts of fantastic colors (that'll be a different post).

Wartburg is a castle in the state of Thuringia (Thüringen, in German). Now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the castle's foundation was built around 1080 while other portions were added up until the late 1800s.  Major repairs have been undertaken since the 1960s.

Among the things the castle is famous for other than it's age:

• 1207 - essentially a medieval poetry slam, the Sängerkrieg (Singer War) is surrounded by legend and yet still appears mostly factual - so there's speculation about whether or not it happened, but some fantastic art work in its own right resulted, including the frescoes by Moritz von Schwind (see below for photos);
• 1211-1228 - St. Elizabeth of Hungary was sent to be married to Ludiwig IV of Thuringia and resided in the castle but after her husband's death she turned her attention to charitable works and was eventually canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.  (see below for photos)...
• 1521-1522 - Martin Luther, after being excommunicated by the same, was sequestered in the castle and it was there that he translated the New Testament into German; 
• 1817 - several hundred students came together and were the first to call for a unified Germany (which prior to 1806 consisted of over 300 kingdoms, territories, or imperial cities).

Of course I took pictures, and there's more to be seen at the official Wartburg site, including a virtual tour and more historical information.

Do click on any of these to see them better!

First of all, the location.  On this map, the town we live in is circled in red, while Eisenach, the town nearest the castle, is circled in orange:

The region is hilly and forested.

And this is the castle itself.

One of the Ludwigs (sorry, I've forgotten which now, probably not Ludwig the Leaper who founded the castle, though.  Gotta love the name).

And a fantastic tapestry.







Architectural details:

A 15th century oriel window:

And below is one of the frescoes by Moritz von Schwind, which was painted to resemble a tapestry of the event of the Sängerkrieg.  In reality, it's not a tapestry, but is painted directly on the wall. I love that it includes Klingsor of Hungary about whom I can find very little information other than that he was a wizard who predicted St. Elizabeth's birth in addition to his minstrel abilities. He's the guy in yellow who seems to be levitating over the crowd on the left.

I was really awed by the artwork in Elizabeth's chambers - a mosaic created in the early part of the 20th century, it's richly patterned and stunningly colorful.

 (This one is from Wikipedia, as I don't have a wide angle lens.  The rest are mine)

 (that's Klingsor again... quite the intriguing guy)

Again, I definitely recommend clicking on the photos so you can actually see them!

Up soon will be autumn colors and the lovely town of Bad Lagensalza.  How's that for a name that sounds weird in English?
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I just discovered a cool thing in blogger that didn't used to be there.  Now, when you click on a photo, you get a nifty album that lets you see all the photos (without their captions) in larger format.  Arrow keys let you navigate.  Cool!)

Snow(ish)

I am, in case you hadn't noticed, amused by weather.  It's not just a conversation filler, it's interesting! So many variations, options, effects...

Anyway, here I go again.  It's been getting steadily colder and then suddenly we had frost and our little pond froze over.

This morning, the girls set off for the bus stop and within a minute or two the phone rang - I panicked, realizing Merlin had forgotten her clarinet, said to Devin who was on the other end saying, "It's snowing!" that I was bringing it; grabbed it, dashed out the door (at least I put on shoes, didn't deal with a coat over my sweatshirt) and then realized... it was snowing.  Well, snow enough for us, I guess, more like spitting little ice pieces.

It did this to everything outside:

 I didn't realize that spiderwebs could get iced up:

And then if they get jiggled the ice breaks apart:

It's really pretty and really cold and Merlin's quite entranced by the ice on the pond.  She keeps getting me outside to look at it and watch her poke it to break up the ice.  Some folks are easily pleased. :)

On the bus, later, a lady told me it wasn't actually snow, but something I've now forgotten, maybe Schnee regen (snow rain: sleet).  I find the German word for snow hilarious.  Say it several times and see if you don't laugh. Schnee Schnee Schnee.

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Here, a snippet of today's poem on The Writer's Almanac, by Kenneth Rexroth.

...November has come to the forest,
To the meadows where we picked the cyclamen.
The year fades with the white frost
On the brown sedge in the hazy meadows,
Where the deer tracks were black in the morning.
Ice forms in the shadows;
Disheveled maples hang over the water;
Deep gold sunlight glistens on the shrunken stream...