Erfurt and Weimar

This weekend I and 3 others of my friends have a short trip to two cites on the state Thüringen , Erfurt and Weimar. Erfurt is said is a student city and Weimar is one of the cultural centers of  Germany, where Goehthe and Schiller lived .

walking in the Weimar center the first thing that captured my eyes is the status of Goethe and Schiller, standing shoulder by shoulder representing the city .

walking further in the city, I could see the home of schiller and some street away the home where Goethe used to live. In front of his home there are some coaches carrying tourists to show them around the city, but there are also small buses with dark windows that carry tourists around. I did not  understand why the windows are so dark, and no one could see inside, but i hope the people inside could see outside well .

we decided to visit Goethe national museum where is actually he lived for years. He was one of the Poets I learnt about as a child in school in Iran ,and it is all because he read somehow poems of Iranian Hafis and he got inspired with what he read and later on made one of his books ” West-Östlicher Divan” under the influence of Hafis.

Here are some pictures from inside Goethe’s house and garden.

walking more around the city, we passed by something I did not expect to see in a city in Germany, Goethe-Hafis Memorial , where tow chairs are made , one for the eastern poet and one for the western poet, where they can sit face to face and say us the story of how people are connected despite their race,color, religion and culture.

between the chairs a Poem of Hafis is written in Persian

and a poem of Goethe behind one of chairs.

I never thought visiting Weimar could bring me back to the time i was in Iran and still in school , when I used to read Hafis and go wherever its poems was read to listen to them.

walking more on the city, we passed by a place where Martin Luther used to live , just close to Weimar City Hall ( Rathaus) .

The other city we visited on the weekend was Erfurt, were the food was so delicious.

walking on the city at night, again i faced a surprise when I saw that there was a Faris Calligraphy workshop on the city.

walking in the city, there are many nice buildings that one can see. we did not have time to get information about everything we saw, however I can share some of the pictures i captured during our walk in the city. Hopefully you like them.

 

 

I want to finish my post this time with this poem from Johann Wolfggang von Goethe :

 

Liebhaber in allen Gestalten

Ich wollt’, ich wär’ ein Fisch,
So hurtig und frisch;
Und kämst du zu angeln,
Ich würde nicht mangeln.
Ich wollt’, ich wär’ ein Fisch,
So hurtig und frisch.

Ich wollt’, ich wäre Gold,
Dir immer im Sold;
Und tät’st du was kaufen,
Käm’ ich wieder gelaufen.
Ich wollt’, ich wär Gold,
Dir immer im Sold.

Wär’ ich Affe sogleich
Voll neckender Streich’;
Hätt’ was dich verdrossen,
So macht’ ich dir Possen.
Wär’ ich Affe sogleich
Voll neckender Streich’.

Wär’ ich gut wie ein Schaf,
Wie der Löwe so brav;
Hätt’ Augen wie’s Lüchschen
Und Listen wie’s Füchschen.
Wär’ ich gut wie ein Schaf,
Wie der Löwe so brav.

Was alles ich wär’,
Das gönnt’ ich dir sehr;
Mit fürstlichen Gaben,
Du sollst mich haben.
Was alles ich wär’,
Das gönnt’ ich dir sehr.

Doch bin ich, wie ich bin,
Und nimm mich nur hin!
Willst bessre besitzen,
So laß sie dir schnitzen.
Ich bin nun, wie ich bin:
So nimm mich nur hin!