A Day Out in Marburg
Dirk and I woke up and took our time getting ready. As I was getting ready, I realized how strange all the outlets and light switches looked to me. I mean, sure the outlets have different sized plugs, but the whole faceplate etc is really big. The just seem a little obtrusive. They seem much more utilitarian, where as in America they are kind of hidden or incorporated into the room décor. Anyway, we ate a typical German breakfast, killed some time checking email and what-not, and then hopped on our bikes. We rode on a very nice bike-path that followed the river and went into the city center. We arrived downtown, locked up our bikes and before we went on our way exploring, decided to have an early lunch. We sat at a small café and ordered personal pizzas. I had the Margharita pizza, it was pretty good. After that, we walked through one of the many narrow passages between buildings into the REALLY beautiful part of Marburg.

Downtown Marburg
Small shops, restaurants, and businesses lined the cobblestone road that sloped into the hill. The exteriors of every building were a different color, timbers painted red, blue and brown crisscrossed white stucco walls. Window-boxes overflowed with beautiful flowers. I had never seen such a quaint little city in my life. People walked through the city square, some sitting on a small fountain across the street from the impressive town hall. This was the moment I fell in love with Europe. American towns and cities dreamed of re-creating this kind of feel, but could never come close.

Seeing the Sights
We walked further up the hill towards Marburg castle, which we had visited in the dark one night earlier. In the daylight, the castle was an entirely different. The view from the castle wall was fantastic. Looking across the landscape, I got a much better feel for the city. But, we couldn’t stay at the castle for long, we had a full day planned. We went back to our bikes and started riding across town. Soon we arrived at one of the oldest gothic churches in Germany, the Elisabeth Church. For me, this was a pretty special moment. It was my first time visiting a European cathedral. The stonework was beautiful and the gothic architecture was like nothing I had ever seen before. We spent some time walking through the church just looking around, but soon again we were on our bikes.

Traveling to the Tower
When we were at the castle earlier, we saw a small tower across the valley. It was one of the higher points on the hillside, and it looked kind of cool. When we were in the valley itself, it was one of the two highest landmarks on the skyline (the castle being the other). We pointed our bikes in the direction of the tower and started pedaling. After winding our way through side-streets, we met with a long set of stairs climbing a wooded hill. We tossed our bikes on the hill and started hiking. After the stairs, there was only dirt trail. As Dirk and I hiked through the forest, I began to think about what it would be like if we were in this exact place sixty years earlier. We would have had guns in our hands trying to kill each other. WWII was the war of our Grandparents generation, and today we were hiking through the forest like old friends. It made me happy to think that it was possible for us to be doing what we were doing. After walking for quite some time, we finally arrived at the tower.

Kaiser Wilhelm Tower
We entered the bottom of the Kaiser Wilhelm Tower and found that there was actually a small restaurant at the base of it. To climb the tower, it only cost a Euro. So we paid our way and started climbing the stairs. It was a long way up a spiral staircase but when we reached the top, all our climbing was worth it. We had the best view of the entire city, the surrounding towns and the rolling hills of the area. It really was one of the best views I have ever had of a landscape, and since it was a huge tower, it was a complete 360. As we climbed down the tower stairs, the clouds started to roll in. We hiked back down the hill and as we rode our bikes, rain started to pour down on us. I luckily had packed my rain jacket in my backpack so my upper half and my cameras stayed perfectly dry, my pants on the other hand were completely soaked.

Night Time in Marburg
We arrived back at Dirk’s apartment, dried off and killed some time once again, checking our email and just sitting around. It was much later in the night that we decided to have a late dinner. This time, we we walked into the downtown area of Marburg. We stopped by a series of indoor shops, one of which was served Döner. We ordered our food and walked to the market square. We ate our food as the clock tower chimed twelve midnight. We walked through the quiet streets back to our favorite place to chill, the Castle Walls. We brought some beer in my backpack and sipped it while looking at the city lights below us. We took a quicker way back home, got ready for bed, prayed together, and went to sleep.

Marburg Panorama
This photo shows the tower up on the hillside (view larger)

Marburg from the Tower
This is the full view of Marburg from the Kaiser Wilhelm Tower (view larger)

Google Earth Placemarks for Day 7: Open this map