All-day excursion to Wetzlar and Bad Nauheim - Wednesday, September 24, 2014

On Wednesday we took an all-day excursion to Wetzlar and Bad Nauheim.

We boarded the bus outside Moore Haus by 8:28 a.m.  About two hours later, we deboarded at Wetzlar, a town famous for Goethe and optics. 

We deboarded in front of the building for Leica, the maker of Leica cameras.

We consulted the direction sign post for Lottehaus, one of the settings in Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther, a loosely autobiographical novel of his youthful love for Charlotte (Lotte) Buff, a beautiful woman already engaged to another man.

Meredith gave an overview of Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther in front of Lottehaus.

Jack explained how the ending of Goethe's The Sorrows of Young Werther came about.  It involved the suicide of an acquaintance of Goethe by the name of Jerusalem.  We saw Jerusalem's house later in our excursion.

(Meredith, Jack, and other students in Herr D's literature class have already read the novel.  But the rest of us have not, so we appreciated the background information.)

Lottehaus allows only 20 visitors at a time.  Because our group consisted of 60 people, we took turns going into Lottehaus.  While I waited, I took this picture of six students.

The doorbell handle for Lottehaus is actually attached to a bell on the inside of the house.

Photographs are not allowed in Lottehaus, so I couldn't take a picture of the bell inside the house, but it looks like the one in the picture below, which I found on the Internet.

We next visited the Dom.  Because this church has never been a bishop's seat, it cannot hold the title of "cathedral."  Construction on the Dom began in 1230, and it still stands unfinished.  Not surprisingly, the Dom exhibits architecture from different periods, including Romanesque, Gothic, and Baroque.

The Dom serves as a gathering place for both Protestants and Roman Catholics.  The altar for the Protestants appears in the picture below.

The altar for the Roman Catholics appears behind the altar for the Protestants.  What is the difference between the two?  The Roman Catholic altar holds the tabernacle that houses the Eucharist.

Look at this magnificent organ!

After lunch, we walked to the Reichskammergericht (Imperial Chamber Court).

Dr. Sattler explained the symbolism of the double-headed eagle on the Reichskammergericht.

We next walked to Jerusalemhaus.

Herr D read a quote before we toured Jerusalemhaus.

Ashley took this picture of our group in front of the Jerusalemhaus.

From Wetzlar, we rode to Bad Nauheim, where Elvis Presley was stationed when he served in the U.S. Army.

 An altar for him stands outside the house that he rented while in Bad Nauheim.

He sang "Muss I Denn" in the movie G.I. Blues.

 The house that Elvis rented while in Bad Nauheim appears in the picture below.

The house has become a hotel.  Check out these humongous containers.  I am 5 feet 5 inches.  Chris is 6 feet 4 inches.

We took a break at a gelato shop.

Kristina got cinnamon gelato.

Happy gelato fans.

Some locals talked with Micah.

While we enjoyed gelato and conversed, Mac hung his hammock and relaxed.

On the ride back to Moore Haus, I videotaped the group as they sang happy birthday to my 2-year-old nephew Aaron.  His mother reports that he has watched the video at least 20 times and has clapped for the singing.

By the time the bus returned to Moore Haus, the clocked showed 18:02 (6:02 p.m.).  Our itinerary had us returning to the Haus at 6 p.m.  Excellent German time!