Day 8 - Fri. June 17: Weimar, Erfurt, and Eisenbach

Today was a busy day. Our morning started early with a trip to a local elementary school in Weimar. The school housed grades 1-4 and every class was mixed grade levels. We joined the students on an excursion to a beautiful open field with cherry trees. We were able to interact with the kids and pick fresh cherries right from the trees!
Next we got on a train and headed to Erfurt to meet with the company "Kids Interactive." This company makes several programs for German schools to use on their interactive whiteboards in the classroom. These programs range from German language lessons to interactive historical war maps.
We then jumped on another train to Eisenbach where we toured the Wartburg castle. This castle is best know for the place where Martin Luther translated the Bible from Greek to German. Luther did this translation after he was excommunicated from the Catholic Church during the Diet of Worms. The Wartburg sits atop a large mountain which I had the pleasure of climbing today (After this workout I felt better about all of the heavy foods I've been eating).
We returned by train to Weimar and had dinner at an Italian restaurant. I ordered maccaroni pasta with peas, onions, and italian sausage in a light white sauce. It was voted the best dish at the table by my fellow travelers.
Tommorow we will head to Berlin where we will spend the next 5 days!

Above: A classroom in the school we visited.

Above: The view from the cherry orchard.

Above: Cherries on the trees. We were able to pick them right off and eat them.

Above: The Wartburg as seen from the climb up.

Above: The mosaic tiles in this room of the Wartburg come from the same place the mosaic tiles inside the St. Louis Basilica.