A visit to the town of Erfurt

Time to head south! Today we are leaving Weimer and heading south back to Frankfurt. We are using an online ride-share to get to our destination. We simply go to the ride-share website and type in our current location and desired destination and a list of names of people traveling in that direction appears. You choose a person and a departure date, call them and work out a place for them to pick you up. We pay a small amount for gas (15 euro each) and get to our destination much cheaper than a train or plane. We may stay a day or so in Frankfurt before heading further south to visit friends.
Yesterday a friend of Kimberly’s showed up and invited us to jump on a train to a neighboring town called Erfurt. The adventure started with a dash to the train station to catch the departing train as the doors were about to close. We boarded the train and traveled 23 kilometers to the west. We enjoyed getting to know Carly while she walked us around town. She took us to a great chocolate shop where I had a fantastic cup of drinking chocolate. From the chocolate shop we went for some ice cream near the town center and then visited a large cathedral overlooking the town. While at the cathedral we were entertained by a peculiar event in the corner of the church grounds. Located in this corner was a perpetual mini tornado that tossed leaves into a captivating dance. Erfurt is hosting its own Octoberfest, a giant carnival like atmosphere. We briefly visited one of the beer gardens (a giant tent where food and beer can be purchase and consumed at bench tables). While entering the tent we noticed a man happily dancing on his own. Carly, a lively spirit, thought she would show him a few dance moves of her own. We also visited a ketchup and mustard shop with many varieties of the product. We taste tested onion ketchup, Mexican ketchup, garlic ketchup, curry ketchup, spicy ketchup and regular ketchup. After this experience we were never running behind. We did not need to ketchup (catch-up).