Erfurt, July 2005
At the end of July 2005 my friend Iain Simcock was on the jury of the third Erfurt organ competition. He suggested we make a trip of it, so I came for the final (which turned out to take place over two days). I hadn't been to the former DDR's territory since 1985, and was interested to see what it was like. Indeed, the only part I had ever visited was East Berlin; all I remember of the drive there and back was featureless fields on either side of an almost empty road.
In fact, other than from prices being a little lower than one might expect, I couldn't tell much difference between Thüringia and, say, Bavaria. Perhaps after fifteen years this is not so surprising. Iain tells me, though, that the East Germans still revered Bach and Luther, and so preserved much of the historic fabric associated with them. I imagine they couldn't afford to knock it down, anyway, and Erfurt is a pretty old city.
A ruined church across the road from the Ibis hotel in which we stayed.
Two minutes' walk from the hotel was Meister Eckhart's old church. Iain made friends with the organist, who allowed him to practise a piano there in what looked like a small chapel, though not part of the church itself, every day. I found a WiFi signal outside, so it was a favoured resort for both of us.
The front of the cathedral, where the final was held, was being turned into an auditorium for a touring production of "Jesus Christ, Superstar" while we were there. The cathedral stands on a small hill along with a church dedicated to St Severinus.
After taking pictures of the cathedral I went to find ice cream. I ended up having two double scoops, one from each of the last two establishments pictured. Puzzlingly, Iain's Pocket Oxford-Duden translates "Quark", which seemed to be plain (i.e. not even vanilla), as "quark".
There seemed to be a selection of large animals dotting Erfurt; thankfully they were not real. The cat and dog are found together, whereas the tortoise is a few streets away. I wonder whether they are moved from time to time.
A couple of interesting things: a raised fountain, and a building, one of several built over arches, only one of which has water flowing underneath.
This evening (30th July) there was a street barbecue with live music. The group pictured, who seemed to be related to Morris Dancers were called "The Black Boots". From their dress and English name I took them to be dancing in a mid-Western American style. I'm not sure why the American West has such an appeal to Germans.
Last updated 2006/07/09