Schönbrunn and to Weimar

Often we like to do a lot and explore new things but this holiday is especially to get some rest because we have a busy year behind us. On this Monday we actually stay the whole day at home to read and look around a bit since we are on a beautiful spot, on a mountainside and we have a nice view over the valley and the opposite slope.
The only thing we go out for is to do some shopping for the next few days in a nearby village.

This valley lies in the Thuringian Forest at an altitude of about 650 meters. We are located between the villages Schönbrunn and Giessübell which both are part of the municipality of Schleusegrund. After World War II, this area became part of the GDR.
The local mill and factory where herbs are made was expropriated in the 50s and developpoed into the largest herbal supplier of the GDR. There is now a herbal museum in it.

All in all, we have a very relaxed day and with all the books that we have with us that is fine. We do not often have such days on vacation, Teije always knows to think of sights that we really we need to see. But this time we have already agreed in advance that we mostly want a lot of peace this holiday and that's why I immediately claimed the whole couch for myself.
I am glad that we now know how the stove works because it became very cold last night.

The next day we start again quietly but in the afternoon we want to go out and we drive to Weimar, an hour away from here. After the abolition of the German Empire at the end of the 1st World War, the Constituent Assembly was held here for the German Reich, which was also called the Weimar Republic from 1918 to 1933.
A lot of celebrities have lived or died here and for the theater there is a statue of Goethe and Schiller (both playwrights among others) who died here.

Weimar is an old city with many historic buildings. A large part of it was renewed after being bombed in the 2nd World War but immediately after the end of the war reconstruction started because of the historical cultural value.
And thanks to the many famous inhabitants who were born, lived or died there are many museums and monuments to visit such as the Goethe National Museum and the Schiller Museum. And not far beyond Weimar was the Buchenwald concentration camp.

We mainly walk around a lot and visit a terrace on the market square where we eat outside. We had promised ourselves to take it easy and that works fine even though we may miss out on a lot of things
There are also plenty of beautiful buildings to see walking through the city like the two Renaissance houses on the right where one of the most important German Renaissance painters lived, one Lucas Cranch (the Elder). We have never heard of him, so that says enough about what we know about painting in general.