Quick note from beautiful Erfurt

Sometimes I just walk into a city and fall in love. Erfurt is one of those cities. We’re here for a quick stop to see a WWII museum, but we wandered off from our hotel and came across these two dominating buildings on the main square. St. Mary’s Cathedral is on the left – from the 14th century. Martin Luther was ordained there in 1507. The church on the right is St. Severus – from the 12th century.

St. Mary’s has some incredible stained glass, which was just a wonderful surprise to discover:

Erfurt sustained limited damage in WWII and our first stroll around the city really provided a contrast to Stuttgart and Nuremberg, which were largely rebuilt. Of the 54 largest cities in Germany, only 4 survived without significant damage – and Erfurt was one of those 4.

I loved the carnival setup in the main square:

Here’s the Merchant’s Bridge from 1325 – the longest series of inhabited buildings on any bridge in Europe (pic not mine)

We also came across some stellar ice cream here – small batch, unusual flavors, and, as we sat and ate, these ducks stalked Ron, who is, as ever, unfazed by birds near him in stark contrast to me.

We also popped into a Stasi Museum. It gives a great overview of the division of Germany in 1949 and the rise to power of the Stasi. The museum has left the building partially intact as a prison. Here’s Ron in a prison wing:

Here’s one of the cells:

And then here’s the super inviting museum bathroom, built into a jail cell. It’s dark when you pull the door open and I had to really negotiate with myself to be brave enough to go in: