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So, we're about halfway through our second week and still in Germany. We've been here a little longer than we planned, but then it is pretty much my home country. Also; its an awesome place. The history here is so complex and almost everywhere you go there is so much to see. I reckon we could spend months just in Germany and still be pleasantly suprised by all the sights.
But we've been out of Braunlage for a couple days now and I gotta talk about our time there before the details go dim. Although we had such a nice time there that Ireckon it'll stay fresh awhile.
You may remember from my previous entry that we planned to go to Goslar, slightly NE on the map. Well, we booked our hostel on the net the night before and it turned out to be in a different place. 'Ah well.' we thought. The place looks nice and we'll just day-trip to Goslar. Braunlage is close to the Brocken anyway (highest mountain in the Harz).
Well, our first day there and the weather was awesome. It was a steep climb up the road on the bus, and in area there was still snow piled up by the road. We never even saw snow in Scotland this past year, so that was very nice.
We were greeted at the door of the hostel (Hostel Braunlage by the way, check them on facebook) by Krzysztof. Not a native German, so his English was great and was brilliant to be able to talk properly to somebody.
Well, it was still fairly early. Krzysztof showed us our room (very nice), so we dumped our stuff and went out to explore. Braunlage is a lovely little town. Once again, very traditionally German and yet another nice park to sit and rest in for a while. You'll see the pics in the photos section. Impeccable camera-work by yours truly, as usual!
After dinner it was time to head 'home'. Krzysztof had invited us downstairs for drinks that night, which we couldn't refuse. He's basically like an intern there, working on doing up the place and entertaining guests for food and board. He also showed us the website where we can find similar jobs. Its looking like a real possibility. But yeah, he was a great guy. Maybe we'll see more of him some day. Either way, he got us pretty drunk that night. Mainly on some tasty little Jagermeister style drink, locally made. It was about 2AM when we decided we should probably make it a night. We wanted to walk up the Brocken the following day. Wasn't going to be a gentle stroll.
So we woke up at 9:00 with banging heads and wind blowing through the rafters. It wasn't looking good. Breakfast at half 9, then pretty much back to bed! We had to figure out what the plan was. The Brocken didn't seem realistic, not in that weather. So we went for the Wurmberg instead. Its not too much smaller, but it was pretty much right outside the door.
It was a great walk. Cold and wet, as you'll see in the pics. And the walk was fairly exhausting. But it was worth it. Although there wasn't much of a view, the top was beautiful. In the winter it is all open for skiers. There is a cafe, and ski-lifts. Ski jumps, ski paths and even a little zoo by the looks of it. But this was all closed down and made the place look very desolate. Maybe even more so than most of the other mountains I'd been up with nothing but a pile of rocks to mark the top. Was quite strange. The sightts on the way up were awesome too. Lovely forests and streams all over. The camera was out the whole time. I've actually deleted 50 pictures. I've posted the best of the bunch.
So there's the highlights. We left the next day, legs fairly sore and headed North towards Minden and my Oma's place in Lerbeck where we are now. A lot of childhood memories here, which I'll talk about later.
Tchus!
- comments
aunt Dianne Love your blog and the pictures. So last week I was basking in sunshine in Auldearn while you are trecking in snow. Continue enjoying your adventure and thanks for sharing. love, Dianne