Weimar is a very walkable city with a compact old town. We thought we’d spend the day here, pottering about and set off this morning in the direction of the main event. More about that in another post.

Our hotel is set alongside leafy parkland and having enjoyed our breakfast sitting outside in the sunshine, we felt quite optimistic about the forecast. We still took umbrellas though!

Our first stop was the National Theatre where the opera Samson will be premiered tomorrow evening. It’s a rather important location in German history and I remembered the figures of Goethe and Schiller there on the plinth in front of it. We took a quick selfie to WhatsApp to our friend Bernd in München but did so hurriedly because there were so many people wanting to do the same!

The huge banner hanging on the facade was good to see as well.

A funny old photo but here is the main Post Office, a fine old building there in Goetheplatz. Now, had I not included the bus stop in my picture, I would have forgotten the name of the location, even though in Weimar, everything is named after Goethe…or Schiller or Wieland, another poet and writer.

Of course, this used to be the DDR too, not that it’s particularly noticeable today. Except, just occasionally there’s a building or shop front that still looks like the old days. A bit like this one I thought.

At the end of this road, there’s the Hauptbahnhof - the railway station - somewhere that, during all the rental car parlarver yesterday afternoon, I’d wished we had investigated!

One feature of even the smallest German towns that we simply don’t have in the UK is the “Eiscafe”. Quite how we missed out on the magical Ice Cream Parlour I have no idea, but it’s one of my favourite places to take a break, especially when the clouds are getting a bit dark overhead.

No sooner had we sat down beneath one of these enormous awnings outside the Eiscafe Venezia than the rain started. Thankfully, we were warm and dry there with our iced coffee and chocolate and the shower soon passed.

We dipped in and out of shops, into the DM drugstore for one or two favourite bits and pieces and both a lovely old bookshop and a better stocked and more comfortable new one. We also admired the banner hanging in the trees!

One day, perhaps I should read something serious?

Walking a little further along the broad, pedestrian street, a table outside a shop on the far side aroused our curiosity. Just what was on sale over there? Food? Surely not. We’d better take a closer look.

The whole table was filled with fossils and geodes. How unusual! Inside the shop were many more, larger geodes and other geological curiosities, but I think this was the first time we’d seen such a thing on a city centre street. Fascinating.

I’d not taken much notice of the old Town Hall when we came through the Market Place last evening but this afternoon, it seemed to stand out rather more handsomely.

Though the side facing it is more colourful and has more personality, wouldn’t you agree? We thought we’d drop into the Tourist Office whilst here and get some ideas for where we might go tomorrow - there is plenty of choice, needless to say.

One sign by the bratwurst stand made me smile, just as it did on the last occasion we were here! Isn’t it great?

As we returned to our hotel, I spotted something. The Ginkgo shop. I had quite forgotten this “thing” about ginkgo here but soon remembered seeing that distinctive leaf shape all over the place. Why? It seems as though Goethe sent a leaf to a lady along with a poem, though since he didn’t appear to be in Weimar at the time and the leaf seems to have come from Heidelberg, it seems like a very odd association. But with all the Goethe stuff here, any excuse, eh?

Anyway, with the ginkgo connection restored in my mind (and the spelling checked and double checked!) our feet were telling us it was time for some tea. Time to put the kettle on!