Once More Into the Breach

This year's big adventure, back to Germany. Might be the last time for a long time, though there are a few sites (okay Aachen) that we haven't seen and won't be seeing on this trip. When we seriously began planning our trips over here, there were a handful of places I really wanted to visit. More were added as I did research. It would take mo ths to see them all, so we had to compromise. This time, we're hitting a few of them: the towns of the Harz mountains for medieval history, Harz National Park for hiking and scenery, one night in Spreewald for the Biosphere Reserve and Sorb open air museum, and Luneburg Heath for the heather bloom.

So this one's going to be full of kings, emperors, nobles, nuns, bishops, backstabbing, war, and witches. There's also going to be pretty and interesting scenery. The Harz was one of the regions that inspired Goethe, and I read Faust (ugh a POEM) in preparation. Another bummer like his book The Sorrows of Young Werther. We also hope to hike the former Inner-German border. So fewer churches, less music oriented, and hopefully no need to buy another suitcase for all the schnapps and pickles.Read more