For me, one of the greatest thing about Anjte & Tom’s residence, was Eddie and Frida. Eddie was a street dog when a puppy and has never lost his scavenging habits. Being blind only makes his senses of hearing and smell that much stronger. Antje not only permits hand feeding but 1/3 of his daily diet consist of table scraps. (1/3 dog food, 1/3 human food, 1/3 scavenging or ’sidewalk cleaning‘ dog style.) He makes the best pot scrubber ever! Even Frida gets in on the act of the morning oatmeal offering. (But he nudges her out if she is too slow.)

Weimar, while another beautiful city in East Germany, was disappointing. But only because we were counting on the Bauhaus Museum! Unbeknownst to us, not only was it closed, it was gone. Reopening in a new location next year, we have something unique to look forward to.

Buchenwald blew my mind. I know quite a bit about the Nazi Concentration camps, or so I thought. I live in an area where our local theater supports art films. New and creative stories related to WWII and the Jewish plight is quite common. (My first neighbor had the prison tattoo.) But I was not aware of the how extreme the Nazi’s treatment of the camp prisoners was. Believers were trained and assigned in areas directly opposite of their skills, solely to create more chaos and suffering. After experiencing the exhibits (which are tastefully and respectively done and very, very clever) and walking the main property, I left feeling moved, tearful and aware of how fine the line is between belief and reality. Fear controls humanity in so many ways. While I have many seemingly small remaining fears, fear of death is not one of them. Fear of pain, however … much cruelty rides on that wave.

 

To ride onto another wave we decided to go to Erfurt again – for icecream. And a nice walk through town.