Erfurt

[bjd]

As I mentioned in my Leipzig thread, we spent 24 hours in Erfurt, a small city just over an hour away by train. We usually find that it's good to go elsewhere for a day trip when we are spending 5 days somewhere, although they are usually just day trips. This time we decided to stay overnight, but by about 9pm we were wishing we had decided to return to Leipzig. Erfurt is very picturesque but quite small, with a completely different atmosphere than a bigger city like Leipzig. Erfurt was not much damaged in the war, so has retained a lot of old buildings, many of which have been restored.

There were tourists there, but mostly German. As usual, mostly concentrated in a few specific areas, like the big square in front of the cathedral, Domplatz





view from the citadel


The cathedral and a church (both Catholic) right beside each other



We also had one of these yummy sausages for lunch. Figured they had to be good if all the German tour groups were heading for the stand



As was this tourist

[bjd]

The most famous tourist sight in Erfurt is this bridge with houses and shops on it. This was taken from the back.





The cathedral again


and a bunch of miscellaneous photos taken while wandering around

[bjd]

[bjd]

[bjd]

After a few hours in the perfectly maintained historical area, we were happy to find a shopping street where there were what seemed to be locals just hanging around.





















and finally back to the hostel we stayed in, a converted police station

[fumobici]

Either your photos unduly flatter this little city (they are wonderful) or I can imagine being quite happily stuck there for an evening. If not much was going on I guess I could console myself with good German beer, sausages and cake.

[htmb]

Your photos are really lovely, bjd. I love the shot of the kid taking a picture of his food, but there's also a lot of interesting detail in the buildings you photographed.

[bjd]

No undue flattery, fumobici -- it really is very picturesque and well-restored/maintained. A bit too perfect perhaps -- after a while it felt a little Disneylandish. Of course, there are areas where people live and go out, etc, but you need time to discover those, not to mention knowing people and speaking the language.

[anshjain97]

Indeed, you got some really clear and nice pictures. Enjoying this!

[bjd]

Thanks, Ansh. Keep your German up and you will be able to enjoy the country when you visit. There is a lot to see.

[bixaorellana]

This is so much fun, Bjd. I can see why you found it Disneylandish after a while, but boy did you get some great pictures! Your profile shot of the tourist & his hot dog is a hoot, as is the blonde kid mimicking the mannikins. As for the overnighter, from now on you can tell people you had to spend the night in the pokey.

Lovely report ~~ thanks!

[Deleted]

The pictures are great. Erfurt is bigger than I thought since I see that the population is over 200,000. The Wiki about it mentions that it was one of the luckier German cities and did not suffer much damage during the war, which is probably the main reason that it still looks great.

[bjd]

I just had a look at the Wiki page about Erfurt. I hadn't realized it was so big. For some reason, I had misread the population as 20,000, so I called it a little city.