We were very lucky with the weather and visited lots of different places. Because we're not used to walk in the mountains we only made a couple of short walks, but even then we had sore muscles.
On Monday we went to Goslar. A city with lots of Fachwerk houses. My sweetheart needed some new walking shoes, so we bought those too.
On the way back to Zorge we stopped to take pictures of a small waterfall.
After we returned home and had Diner, we went for another short walk near the apartment.
On Tuesday we first went for a short walk near Zorge. There was a small stream, a waterfall and a lake. It was very charming.
After lunch we went to a small town called Stolberg known for it's Fachwerk houses and castle. In this castle used to live Juliana van Stolberg (1506-1580). Our Queen Beatrix is a descendant of Juliana van Stolberg.
They were renovating the castle.
On Wednesday we went to a nice sauna in Bad Lauterberg. We first looked around in the city and then took the cable way to go up the mountain. We had a cheap but delicious lunch in the restaurant. The sauna was great, with an Aufguss every half hour. When we came home I felt very lazy and we went to bed early.
The next day I was feeling great and although it was rainy at first, it turned out to be a wonderful day with lots of sun. We went to the Brocken (highest mountain of Northern Germany) by steam train. We left our car on a parking-lot in Schierke and walked up the mountain to the train station. It took us about 15-20 minutes because it was very steep. When we left the station of Schierke the sun was shining but by the time we reached the top of the mountain it was foggy and there was snow! We found out later that the fog is there for about 300 days per year. Although we didn't get a nice view over the Harz it was fun anyways! It was freezing cold on top of the mountain but there was a guy running past us in a t-shirt and short pants. He was one of several people who runs up and down the mountain every day!!! When he was passing us the second time (still running!) he had a sandwich with sausages and something to drink in his hand. On our way down to Schierke I took pictures standing on the balcony just behind the steam locomotive.
The plan was to visit the old town of Quedlinburg but it was getting late and we changed our plan and decided to go to the Rosstrappe (cliffs) instead. It was too late to also go to the Hexenplatz, famous for gatherings of witches! I would love to go to the Harz again during Spring or Summer. There's still a lot for us to see!
On Friday we had to go home again. We started out to take small roads to visit Hameln. Hameln is known from the story about the Ratcatcher. There was a large Mall (4 stores) in the center of the city (very nicely built we thought because they kept the outer walls of the old buildings that used to be there, but the inside was very modern) and I bought myself some new boots. We also did some last shopping in the supermarket before we returned home.
Have a colorful Fall!!
