High in the hills

Today we decided to take a train ride up into the Harz mountains. The Brocken is the highest peak of the Harz mountain range and of Northern Germany, with an elevation of 1141m. We walked from our accommodation to the main train station in Wernigerode this morning at 8 am to get the first train up to Brocken at 8:55. The train is a beautiful old steam train, with restored carriages. We were glad we had decided to get the first train of the day because although it was very busy, we were able to get a seat.

The train travelled at a surprisingly good speed around the mountain range, stopping about 5 times to collect more passengers. By the time we reached The Brocken, the train was full of people and many dogs. It still surprises me when we return to Germany, that people take their dogs everywhere. They're in cafes, restaurants, bars and even on trains. I wondered if they had to pay extra to take their dog up the mountain. I can't imagine the train staff would be all that impressed if a dog had a little accident! The weather since we have arrived has been quite nice, sitting in the mid to high 20s. Looking at the weather for today, it is much lower up in the mountains of course and were very glad that when we were packing, decided to throw in our coats. When we stepped out of the train it was freezing! It would have been around 10 degrees and the wind made it feel colder. Our first port of call was to find the best place to see the view from the top. Apart from the station, there are a few restaurants, hotels and a museum. We went into the first hotel we came across and realised they had a viewing platform. So we headed to the eighth floor. We had a nice view of the mountain range and little towns that dot the cliffs. The trees are turning a lovely fire orange colour coming into Autumn. We headed downstairs into a food hall and enjoyed some German cake and coffee. Next to the coffee machine, we noticed a tap of sorts where you could fill a shot glass with some interesting liquid for about 1 euro. The cashier encouraged us to try it, so what the hell. It was a fire inducing schnapps that warmed everything from the neck down. I can imagine it would be very popular in Winter!

We wandered around the buildings and found the museum that we had read about. We paid 4 euro to go inside the exhibition. It would have been more meaningful to us perhaps if there was some English translation. The best thing about the museum was finding a hideaway cafe on the third floor. It was tucked away and you wouldn't know about it unless you paid to enter the museum. It was a tiny place, but we took the time to read the menu. Four years of German at high school has come in handy! We ordered variations of bockwurst dishes and beer of course. It turned out to be a lovely meal. It is these rare finds that we love about travelling. The lady running the cafe spoke about three words of English but with our few words of German and effort, were able to order and even have a little banter.

There was not much else to see after our lunch so we boarded the next train we could and came back to Wernigerode. We then decided to visit the Miniature Park. We had both read about this place and were keen to check it out. We have enjoyed visits to many miniature places, particularly Miniature Wonderland in Hamburg and Cockington Green in Canberra, so had high expectations. Sadly, this place did not live up to any expectations. There were miniatures of buildings and attractions in the towns of the Harz Mountains. What they lacked were points of interest, figurines and colour. I'm sure the locals get a kick out of it, but it wasn't for us. We didn't stay all that long before we started the walk back to our accommodation. A fun-filled day of trains and mountain air.