Yesterday, some friends and I decided to attempt to take the Brockenbahn again, after we already failed twice this year. At the first time, there was a storm. And at the second time, a train had gotten stuck in a snow drift the day before we wanted to go. But this time, it finally worked!
But our journey was still flawed: there was just way to much traffic on the way to Drei Annen Hohne, where our train would start. And it would be quite pricey as well. 43 Euros per person, and no student discounts!
Luckily, the train was running slightly late so we could take 3rd to last journey up. The train takes about 50 or so minutes up the mountain, which isn’t actually all that bad. We were standing on the open carriage ends all the way.
When we arrived at our destination, we obviously didn’t want to head back down right away. So we had an hour to spend on the tallest mountain in the Harz. It was very cold, and I broke into snow cover with pretty much every step, but it was awesome!
We also visited a small museum in the Brockenhaus about the history about the Brocken since it was first recorded. A large section of it was devoted to the times of the cold war, as the Brocken lies in the territory of the former German Democratic Republic, and was used to house a listening post that was located in the Brockenhaus. Off course the mountain was off limits to the general public back then, so there were major news stories about it when the ban was lifted after the iron curtain had come down.
There’s also a weather station, a hotel and an ATC radar station on top of the Brocken.
Because our time was up, we made our way back to the train. And it was packed!
So I didn’t have much of a chance to get more photos or video. When we arrive back at Drei Annen Hohne, it was already too dark for anything too serious without a tripod, so we decided to head home.
Since this, all happened in a different Bundesland, namely Saxony-Anhalt, and we are all living in Lower Saxony, we decided to take the shorter route home. That route leads through the small town of Braunlage, and I have to say, our decision was very wrong. Traffic had backed up all the way past the town signs, and we were stuck there for at least 30 Minutes. All because of a traffic light that let through a maximum of 5 cars at a time.
So how would you explore your home area, if you would do it all over again? How do you learn about your countries heritage? (The train and the mountain/ the buildings on it are a huge part of the Harz’s history.) Tell Me in the comments down below.
Robin Ho Fotos 