Weimar's Beauty and History

Last weekend we hopped a train to Weimar,  two hours away from Frankfurt.  Despite the nasty weather (sleeting rain, piles of snow on the ground, huge puddle lakes of melting snow, and ice avalanches sailing off 6 and 7 story buildings) we had an amazing time.  Weimar is where the constitutional assembly to establish the parliamentary republic in 1919 took place.   It is where Goethe and Schiller lived and wrote for a good part of their lives.  It is where the Bauhaus style of architecture and design originated.  J. S. Bach lived and worked here for many years too.  Gary and I had been in Weimar 24 years ago, when it was still of course East Germany.  When we visited this time, the town was beautifully renovated - every building made our jaws drop with its beauty (we don't remember having that feeling long ago...funds were probably not relegated to building facades at the time we were first there).

Of course Weimar had a Weihnachtsmarkt - here is the Rathaus (City Hall), Gary and Wanling enjoying snacks (bratwurst - Wanling, Glühwein - Gary), and some Russian musicians that were entertaining the crowds.

Goethe and Schiller, with the National Theater behind them (this is where the constitution of the Weimar Republic was written).

Wanling and her buddy, J.S.

Gary and Wanling thinking about Knödel - those "snowballs" on the tray are dumplings - typically served with gulasch or any kind of meat with gravy.  Nummy!

"Der Ampelmann" - the figures in the stoplight, from the time of the former East Germany, are pretty famous, and a sort of cult.