Two visitors to Coburg

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My, my, have I been busy. I bet you’re thinking I finally went to school… nope. What did happen was a full-fledged vacation. Yes again. Like I needed it, I know. But John came all the way from dinky ol’ Manhattan, Kansas to visit, and only for a week, so I couldn’t very well keep him cooped up in Coburg, an also relatively dinky town. Now, I have to explain here, there was a third traveling companion, and it might get confusing, because his name is Jon. Without the ‘h.’ So, there we were, John, Jon and Rachel, all ready for adventure. After the boys got their fill of Bavarian beer (the same day they arrived… ew) and a full night’s sleep, we went into town, to the Markt to partake of some tasty Coburger Bratwursts, then moseyed over to the Schloss Ehrenburg, the royal home built in town. Don’t even ask me to try to explain the extremely confusing way in which this particular royal family was important. I think it’s pretty much that they all *married* important people. Anyhow, it was as splendorous as one would expect a royal palace to be, complete with velvet lined handrails and a plumbed bathtub and flushing WC (one of the first on the EU continent). Ooh. Aah. Wow. No, seriously, they did have a lot of Gobelins tapestries, which were pretty damn cool.
And then we did the unthinkable. We hiked (back) up the hill to the Veste. I was last to make it to the top. Again. We showed *during* museum hours, and discovered that the place really *is* as big as it looks, and that the €1.50 entrance fee to get in the door could very well provide you with enough stuff to do for the whole day, provided your brain is up to the challenge. The part billed as the star attraction is the room that Martin Luther stayed in while he was on trial for heresy, but my favorite was the room that was outfitted entirely with intarsia (inlaid wood), the Jagd-Intarsienzimmer. The walls, the ceiling, the table and chairs - ev-er-y-thing. It was a marvel of craftsmanship.
Due to some extreme circumstances, all my related pictures were lost. Thanks to John for helping out!

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Photos

John and the Veste
the only picture I salvaged off of my camera of our time in Coburg - very sad!

At the train station in Frankfurt airport
I am happy! But Jon is not...

Jon and Rachel
at the Veste, in front of what I believe is the living area.

A view of the city to the west
those high rises on the right are the dorm towers of the Fachhochschule (university).

*The Hill*
this is what you have to walk up to get to the dorms and the main campus if you have no car.