Weimar impressed me on arrival. As I emerged from the railway station the classical stone architecture gave a feeling of style and permanence. The mood only improved as I reached the the town centre. Beyond the centre there are so many other interesting buildings to see: the royal tomb and its Russian church, the Roman House and Goethe's garden house in the park beside the river Ilm. Then the local buses took me further out, to the Belvedere palace, Tiefurt Palace and the Ettersburg Palace, as well as to the site of the infamous Buchenwald concentration camp.

Weimar deserved three days to explore it fully, and to take a trip to nearby Wartburg castle in Eisenach