Eisenach

We were in Eisenach one week ago - the last stop on our Luther/Bach journey. Luther studied there as a high school student (essentially), and the Wartburg, where Luther translated the New Testament into German, sits on a high hill overlooking the town. Bach was born and grew up there.

We found a wonderful place to stay - the Haus Hainstein. Owned by the Evangelische Kirche, it sits right on the edge of the forest on the way to the Wartburg. We had a wonderful room with a view of the Wartburg. Here's the picture from our room:The hotel has a history as a place for youth. I was surprised to see a statue of Nathan Soderblom,, the great Swedish theologian, Bishop of Uppsala, and father of the ecumenical movement, in the hotel's front garden. No one could really explain why, except that he had been involved with the place at the beginning of the 20th century. And here is a Holden Village connection! Dr. Conrad Bergendorf worked for Soderblom when Bergendorf was a young pastor. He went on to be president of Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois, and in that context (and the Carroll Hinderlie connection) came to Holden Village in the 1960's and '70's! Here is a picture of Haus Hainstein:The first afternoon in Eisenach we went to the Bachhaus. This is another wonderful Bach museum. We really enjoyed all the excellent displays. There was a concert in the afternoon showcasing Bach's keyboard music on four different instruments from his time. It was very good. They have done a really superb job of showing the whole spread of his music in a variety of ways. Here's a picture from one of the listening stations where Nancy is listening to Cantata 140, "Wake, Awake":The next day we walked through the woods to the Wartburg. It was a lovely morning. We so enjoyed our walk and all the scenery. The tour of the place was interesting, but there wasn't much English, even though the tour guide did his best. We had no idea that the place had such a rich and powerful history besides the Luther stuff which is almost presented as an afterthought. His study where he translated the New Testament looked out into the castle courtyard. I'd like to think he often saw the amazing views on all sides as well.

We went to the Lutherhaus in Eisenach as well, which tries re-create the school Luther attended as a teenager. It's very small, and not very good. But there will be a new museum in 2015 in Weimar all focused on Luther's translation of the Bible and his theology. We saw the descriptions and it looks very good indeed.