Yeah! Whoo-hoo!! Loving this trip report, Peg.

Pierogi are all over Central/Eastern Europe and Russia.
It's as exotic as having a hamburger in the US :-)

Had to laugh when you wrote "It's always something".
That became our mantra when we engaged on a 3 week road trip through the SW states in May :-)

I had arranged for tours with Warsaw Adventure. Here's their link: http://www.warsawtraveltours.com/comunism-tour.html

The three tours I took were the WWII tour, the Cold War (or Communism) tour, and the tour of the Wolfschanze--Hitler's Wolf's Lair. They were expensive but worth it, in my opinion.

The best one was the WWII tour. I'd seen some of these monuments and sites on my own when I went to Warsaw last year, but this tour was more complete. I had especially wanted to see any remnants of the Warsaw Ghetto because I have a memory of seeing the site in the late 60's--I think in 1967--when I was there briefly with a tour.

My memory from that time is that where the ghetto had been, there was nothing. It was a field of rubble. I had wanted to investigate a little further to see if my memory had played me false--after all, it was 50 years ago. Now of course, the area has been built up, but I was pleased to see that there were at least the two small remnants of the wall.

I'm still not sure if my memory of the field of rubble was accurate.

I saw the Umschlagplatz, where the Jews were loaded onto trains which took them to Treblinka. Inside the walls of the monument are carved typical Jewish names from A to Z, symbolic of those who went to their deaths from this place.

We went by the Ghetto Heroes monument, where Willy Brandt famously fell to his knees in a gesture of contrition for German crimes against Polish Jews. Not too far from there is the impressive monument to the Warsaw uprising. It shows bronze fighters emerging from the shattered brickwork, while others descend into the network of sewers, which through which they moved. We also visited the Pawiak Prison Museum and the Warsaw Rising Museum.

As I said, it was a really interesting tour.

The next day I want to the Wolf's Lair. The website had said a guide would pick me up and put me on a train to be met by another guide at the Wolf's Lair.

That's not what happened. A driver did picked me up, but he drove me to the Wolf's Lair, where he handed me off to another guide. I think I made the Wolf's Lair guide somewhat nervous because I was a little concerned that I'd trip over a root and fall on my nose, so I was pretty tentative. We did see much of the huge site, beginning with a marble tablet telling a little about the attempt on Hitler's life.

The guide pointed out to me who lived in which bunker, where the attempt on Hitler's life was made, etc. At one point he picked up some debris and identified it as part of the camouflage that covered the roofs. It looked like that's just what it is, but I put it in a little plastic bag and now I've lost sight of it. Time to sort out the last odds and ends from the trip, I guess.

I would like to have spent more time at the Wolf's Lair.

The site is located in a wonderful forest with very tall trees. The "buildings" are of course bunkers, huge blocks of concrete scattered across the property. Hitler ordered the complex to be destroyed, but with walls and roofs six to ten feet thick, it was really impossible to destroy. The attempts at demolition merely broke apart these huge concrete structures.

When I saw this place last year, and I recalled that Hitler's Reich was supposed to last a thousand years, I kept thinking of Shelley's poem Ozymandias, and I can't resist printing it here.

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said, two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand
A shattered visage lies
Whose frown and wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command

Oops...

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said:'Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal, these words appear--
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty and despair!
Nothing beside remains.Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.'

Sorry. Couldn't help myself. That poem is just so appropriate!

Loving it Peg. Keep going :)

The Wolf's Lair is very impressive, with these huge blocks of concrete broken and tumbled against each other, all of them covered by moss or lichen.

I was a little disappointed with the tour because it didn't last very long, but I attribute that to the guide's feeling that I was not too vigorous.

My advice to anyone who wants to see this place is to do it before you're 80.

After the Wolf's Lair, I took a Cold War tour. The guide greeted me by saying "I understand you're a historian." I stumbled around and said, "No, I'm just very interested in WWII and Cold War history." But I wished I could have smiled modestly and said, "Oh, no. I'm just very interested in history," but I didn't have the nerve.

Come to think of it, that's just what I did, but leaving out the "modestly" part. I was flustered and didn't want to claim distinction that I don't think I have. I read a great deal about history, but I remember about 10% of what I read.

On the Cold War tour, we mostly looked at socialist realist architecture and art. The sculptures decorating the buildings were especially interesting--exaggerated stereotypes of various occupations--a sturdy mother with her equally sturdy son, a railroad man with his lamp, a handsome, healthy-looking farmer with his shovel, a really buff guy in overalls, but without a shirt. Very noble!

Interestingly enough, this art looks a good deal like the art that the Nazis, especially Hitler, favored. Coincidence? I think not...

As an aside here, in 1967, when I went on a tour to the Soviet Union, the people in my group traded odds and ends to the locals for these Communist pins. I got one with a head of Lenin and the word "October," another commemorating the 800th birthday of Moscow. I also got a red star, which looked like it belonged on a soldiers cap. On it are emblazoned a hammer and sickle.

It has finally dawned on me why the hammer and sickle--it's because Russia is supposed to be a society of workers and farmers. Didn't take me long to figure that one out, did it? Just 49 years.

My guide talked about the fact that the Communists wanted to create a society where the workers lived in apartments equally as nice as the higher status people. We looked at some of these apartments, which are still in use now, but my guide said that they're small and are usually inhabited by immigrants--Vietnamese, etc.

We also looked at monotonous government office buildings, and finally at the Communist Party headquarters, which was noticeably more attractive than other government buildings, partly because it was made of white marble. I asked the guide what it was used for now. He smiled and said, "The Stock Exchange." Then we went around to the side, where there was a Maserati dealership and a Villeroy and Bosch store.

A couple of times, he pointed at the steeple of a church and commented that the Communist government had tried to create buildings high enough that the steeple couldn't be seen from the main street. But no matter what they did, the steeple was always there.

interesting, Peg. When we were in Krakow we talked about spending more time in Poland but haven't yet managed to get back there. some people we met there [who lived in Warsaw] said that Krakow was much nicer so that has rather put us off going to Warsaw. Do you agree with them?

Yes, I do. The Old Town in Warsaw isn't nearly as nice as the one in Krakow. The town in general is kind of grubby, but if you're interested in WWII, the Warsaw Ghetto, the Warsaw Insurgency, the Wolf's Lair (about 4 hours away), and WWII in general, Warsaw can't be beat.

The other town I really liked was Torun, which is about halfway between Warsaw and Gdansk. Speaking of which, Gdansk was also just great. The Solidarity Museum was "extrem sehenswurdig" (extremely worth seeing).

The area along the waterfront near the Hilton hotel, AND the Old Town are also extrem sehenswurdig. I really loved Gdansk.

Unfortunately I didn't go to Westerplatter, where WWII started, but it's not far.

Those four cities are the only ones I saw in Poland, so I can't advise about others.

I was underwhelmed by Warsaw, although admittedly I had a cold at the time. Peg's tours do sound interesting but I hated the rebuilt Old Town, it was so very obviously rebuilt. (All the buildings looked the same and had weathered the same.) I loved Krakow, but I do hear that it has got (a lot) more popular since I was last there. Last time I went up to Zakopane and then across the border into Slovakia - loved the Tatras and Levoca.

I forgot to say that on my Cold War tour, we visited the Palace of Science and Culture, Stalin's monumental and ugly "gift" to the Polish people.More heroic socialist realist sculptures. I wasn't impressed.

On my last day, I went to the Insurgency Museum and the Museum of the History of Polish Jews. They were both well done, but for different reasons. The Insurgency Museum was especially interesting to me, with photos, films, and displays of printing presses, etc.. There was really a lot to see, too much for an old girl such as Peggy. At one point I sat down on a bench to rest. Pretty soon an old lady sat down beside me and began to talk to me a little.

I said I was sorry, that I was an American and didn't speak Polish. A few minutes later she asked if I spoke German. It was kind of funny because I had thought of asking her if she spoke German but had decided it was unlikely. She said that she had been born in Poland but was German and that after the war the family had had to leave Poland and go to Germany.

She said they were refugees and they had nothing, just what they could put in a backpack. But the Americans had sent packages to them--big, big packages, with food and clothing. She asked me how old I am and said that she was 90 years old--so she was 19 when all this was happening.

I've heard this sort of thing before, and it's always gratifying--one of those things that makes me proud of my country. It reminds me of a woman I met in Heidelberg who told me that her father was a prisoner of war in the United States, and that he liked it so well that he returned after the war and became a citizen.

Later on I went to the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, but I should have planned just the one excursion for the day. The museum was very well done, but I just don't have the stamina to visit two museums in one day, so I just stayed for a couple of hours.

The next day I got up at some outrageous hour to take the Berlin-Warsaw express at 6:00 a.m. I'm always nervous that I'll manage to screw up, so I had reconnoitered the train station on a previous day to make sure I knew exactly where I was supposed to go. When I got to Berlin, I took another train to Dresden.

I stayed at the Dresden Hilton, which I really like. I had a non-refundable deal, so it wasn't too expensive. On the first day I took one of those hop-on/hop-off tours. Later on I went to the Albertinum again, to see my favorites, the Caspar David Friedrich paintings. I also attended Mass at the Catholic Court and wandered around trying to find the Stolperstein that commemorated the death in Dachau of the young Sorb priest, Alojs Andritzki, from the diocese of Dresden. I did find it eventually.

These were all old favorites, along with the gorgeous Frauenkirche--perhaps the most beautiful church I've ever seen, especially with its clear glass windows making it very light. I wandered around the Zwinger for a while, and also spent some time in the New Green Vault. I'm sure that my bolshevik tendencies are coming out here, but as I looked at room after room of costly knickknacks, I just kept thinking that these folks had way too much money and too much leisure time. Almost none of these geegaws were useful, and they were all hideously expensive. Some of them were just hideous.

I guess if you've been raised all your life to believe that you deserve all this stuff and you have not learned to pay any attention to the poor or to the masses, there's some explanation for it. But I found it appalling.

But what do I know! Maybe Augustus the Strong had a great social services program.

One day there was a massive police presence and a few demonstrators because of the financial summit meeting at one of the gorgeous hotels--the Taschenberg Palais, I think.

Which reminds me that I saw considerable police presence, especially at train stations. Even tiny little Wernigerode station had the required police persons strolling around. As often as not, one of the officers was female.

"as I looked at room after room of costly knickknacks, I just kept thinking that these folks had way too much money and too much leisure time"

Understand the feeling! Visiting the Armoury in Moscow's Kremlin I wondered why the Russian Revolution took so long. Entering St. Peter's in Rome, I wondered why the Reformation took so long. Etc...

lovely story about meeting the lady in the museum, Peg. IME these sorts of things rarely happen when I am travelling with someone else, only when I am alone.

they are one of the real pleasures of solo travel aren't they?

Oh, Peg, Caspar David Friedrich is one of my favorites, too, and I should have gone to Berlin and Dresden to see more of his paintings. I did get to Greifswald and to the Eldena Abbey ruins....very interesting. I had an interesting discussion with the bus driver, too, (Greifswald to Wieck) and he was so helpful.

I do think the opportunities for those little personal interactions with people are so much greater when traveling solo. Those are always some of my favorite memories of trips.

Loving your report.

Thanks for pointing out the Caspar David Friedrichs in Dresden - one to add to my list. In return, can I point you to Hamburg, where the Kunsthalle has The Wanderer Above the Sea of Clouds and The Ice Sea?

Patrick: Thanks for telling me that. I'd love to see them. Looks like one more trip to Deutschland, maybe a side trip on the way to Spain next April.

I agree. When you travel solo, you really do have opportunities for interactions with others. I ought to count the times I had some kind of little chat with somebody else on this trip.

Travelsolo: Can you tell me something about Greifswald and the Eldena Abbey ruins?

There was lots going on in the square by my hotel--policepersons on horseback through the area, a white grand piano (on a moveable platform) being played by a man wearing a hoodie. Lots of people. I ate several meals at the little nearby café, Eidelweiss.

I wandered around a good deal taking bad pictures. (I'm not a good photographer--too careless and impatient.) I saw a couple of Stolpersteine, this time for Jehova's witnesses, who were killed a month before the end of the war. Such a shame!

I'd been to Dresden before, so I didn't go to the Semper Oper or various other worthwhile destinations, including the Grosser Garten, though I had meant to, nor to Pfunds Molkerei. I did see Pfunds on the bus tour but couldn't bring myself to actually get off the bus. I hate to mention my age again, but it really is catching up with me.

So we say farewell to lovely Dresden...and head to Bad Schandau...by a 40 minute train ride. I stayed at the pleasant Albergo Toscana, a nice little Italian-themed hotel which had the best breakfast buffet I have ever seen anywhere in Europe. I enjoyed the Toscana, except for the three flights of curving stairs I had to climb to my room. The employees were great about hauling my luggage up and down, however.

I had intended to visit Zittau, Bautzen and Görlitz also, but I had foolishly planned badly.

I should have rented a car, and I thought about doing so after a couple slooooow days at B.S., but I knew I needed a driver's licence and I didn't think I'd brought it with me. (Later on, when I checked in my money belt, I found that I HAD brought it.) Too late. Going by train would have meant a train ride west back to Dresden and then east again to Zittau.To Bautzen and Görlitz didn't look feasible without inconvenient train rides also.

However, I did find things to do. One day I wanted to go to the Bastei, and see the wonderful rock formations of Saxon Switzerland. The hotel gave me a schedule for the bus to the Bastei, so I started off one day to find the bus. On the way, a woman spoke to me, and we discovered that we were looking for the same area--she to go to a waterfall somewhere and I to the bus to Saxon Switzerland.

We wandered about but didn't find what we were looking for. Then we met this couple and asked them. They were very helpful and gave us directions. While they were at it, they also recommended that we go to Fortress Königstein. The man said that it was "sehenswürdig." (worth seeing) Then he added "EXTREM sehenswürdig." After which, the woman added a couple of times "Unabhängig von ihm," (independent of him) that she agreed. She thought it was worth seeing, and not just because he said so.

I just thought they were very cute. I'm not sure why, but I really enjoyed the exchange for some reason.

I do have to comment that I understood about half of what any of these folks said. I'm not sure whether it was because of the influence of the Sächsisch dialect or my imperfect German.

So we found the bus stop. On the way, we passed several buildings where the high waters of the Elbe had reached several times. It was amazing! All these places were up the hill from the river, but the marks showed that the water had risen maybe ten or fifteen feet than that. They often reached the second story of a place.

Fortunately the bus was waiting. My new friend took a waiting boat, and I got on the bus.

Oh Peg, your report is so inspiring. I've always been reluctant to travel solo but I might do it after reading your report. No one else I know wants to go to Poland but I do. My grandfather came from there in 1916 and I'm dying to go. Thanks.

The bus went part of the way, then we transferred to another bus and journeyed through the forest for a couple of hours. I mused, as I always do in forests, on Frost's poem,

"Whose woods these are I think I know
His house is in the village though,
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow."

..."The woods are lovely, dark and deep..."

I can't help it. I have a poem for every destination.

We were dropped off a little short of the restaurants and other installations. I love a good Bratwurst and Brot, which, along with a coke, was my snack. Then I wandered toward the Bastei rocks and took pictures of the rock formations and the Elbe Valley below. I started down the path toward the Bastei Bridge, but within a short time I thought, "What are you doing, woman? You'll never get down to that bridge and then back up. They'll have to send a rescue helicopter to get you out."

I regretfully turned around and went back up to civilization, muttering to myself, "I coulda done it 20 years ago. I coulda been a contender." I loitered in the area, stopping admire a little "Hundebar," with bowl of water that one of the many dog-loving Germans had set out for any thirsty dogs in the neighborhood. I'd seen that kind of setup in other places. Finally I stopped at the Panorama Restaurant and had something unmemorable. After that I walked down to the bus station and read my book while I waited.

The next day I went to the Königstein Fortress. As I recall, I took two buses, transferring from one to the other, which was waiting. It began to rain somewhere along the line and it continued during the whole outing, which dampened my enthusiasm. The fortress is impressive, rising over 800 ft above the river and containing many historical buildings. However, the rain continued and I was too miserable to do much but huddle near a fireplace in a little restaurant, drinking lukewarm cappucchino.

I gave up and went back to the bus.

Bad Schandau was filled with healthy-looking middle-aged German couples, there for the hiking. Many of them were on the the two excursions I took.

Those two little trips were all I did, really, except for wandering around admiring the architecture and looking for something to eat. I generally found it, too. I gained about five pounds during this month. I'm not sure whether that was the pizzas or the ice cream. I don't allow myself to eat either one at home, but all bets are off when I travel.

Great report.

Actually my mother would have told you the same stories about US being nice and helping. Thier logistics was great but nevertheless they weren't supposed to share what they had yet they did on many occasions.
There was a black guy (my mother told me they were all impressed since nobody had ever seen a black before) who came every morning in my mother's street and would put chocolate on thresholds of houses with kids.
They called him 'Pappy' I supposed it meant he was above 30 !
Since my greatmohter spoke english, which was a rarity at the time, she was actively seeked to facilitate communication, so my mother had plenty of anecdotes to tell.

Anyway, great report - However I'm sorry I wouldn't blame too much the accent of saxony, which is not as 'pure' as in Hamburg but 10 times more comprehensive than bavarian accent (often mixed with slang to make it easier to understand).

Peg, this is a joy. Thank you from the very wet and cold north of England.

" The rain dampened my enthusiasm"--get it? "Dampened..." Well, never mind.

After Bad Schandau, i took the train again from Dresden to Wernigerode. It was very roundabout, as the second leg passed Wernigerode and then returned to it from west. It took an hour and a half to go a quite short distance.

It was tiring, but the woman (conductor) was very helpful. She pointed out the electronic sign near my seat that told the next town at which we'd stop. I assume she realized I was a foreigner--or maybe she thought I just wasn't too sharp--because she was so informative and helpful.

This was my third trip to Wernigerode, so it had lost a little of the stunning impression it made on me the first time I visited it. The Fachwerk (exposed beam architecture) is just wonderful; beginning with the city hall (Rathaus) with its pointed towers, around every corner is another amazing building.

I stayed at the Travel Charme Gothisches Haus hotel, a fairly high end place that wasn't really expensive. My only (minor picky) complaint about it was the second-rate art in the public areas. Otherwise it was elegant and comfortable. The breakfast was ordinary, except that you get your (58%) butter, in a nice round patty, from a machine. Pretty cool! Service was excellent, and there was a good selection of foods.

When I arrived, there was a city-wide party going on, in the marketplace and nearby. Lots of people, some of them medieval costume, much beer. Parties often seem to happen in Wernigerode. Last time I was here, there was also a big celebration, including line dancing and line dancing lessons.

I stopped in a restaurant for cake and coffee. To order the cake, you had to go to a counter and point at the cake you wanted. The waitress would write the name of the cake you'd chosen and the price. Then you'd give the paper to the waitress who came to your table.

I pointed out what looked like some sort of chocolate-y cake, but the paper I was given said Mohntorte. I know that "Mohn" means poppy seeds, but apparently my brain didn't engage until I actually saw the torte up close. I did eat part of it, though it wasn't very tasty. The coffee on the other hand, was delicious. I ordered cappucchino (maybe even double cappucchino), but the waitress somehow translated that into cappucchino plus a teeny cup of espresso. I poured the espresso into my cappucchino and was transported into coffee heaven. Best coffee I've ever had.

Aside from its own sweet self, Wernigerode's two big tourist attractions are a mountain called the Brocken and the Schloss. The Brocken has long played a role in legends and is associated with witches and the devil, so that you see a lot of joking witch stuff around town. Goethe set his witches' sabbath in "Faust" on the Brocken. In real life, the summit was bombed during the war, and Americans occupied it for 2 years afterward. During the Cold War there were Soviet and DDR listening stations on the Brocken.

I visited the Brocken by means of a narrow gauge railroad, an old black steam engine, complete with smoke blowing back into the cars. It was a long trip up the mountain. My only entertainment was going out to the "back porch" to watch the locomotive when we negotiated curves.

When I arrived at the Bahnhof at the summit, I decided to walk to the installation at the top, but that wasn't as easy as it looked. There was a strong, cold wind blowing against me, so that I almost had to lean forward in order to remain standing. As I struggled along, a bicyclist pushed past me. I couldn't believe it! He was actually biking up the slope that I could barely manage to walk.

I had really wanted to see the little espionage museum there. It was mildly interesting. I liked the little model of the summit, along with the installation and the wall that surrounded it.

I had a mediocre schnitzel and soggy fries, along with a pudding at the echoing restaurant in the big hotel there.

When I went back to the little Bahnhof, I bought a mouse pad of our steam engine for my brother, who loves trains. He wasn't the only train afficionado, though. When we returned to Wernigerode, there were several men taking pictures of the locomotive.

SharonG: I found Poland to be fascinating, especially because of WWII. My suggestion to would would be to plan everything very carefully, and then do it.

If you want any help or advice, I'd be glad to give it to you. Just let me know on Fodors and I'll post my email address.

Whathehello: That's a great story!

Gertie: Thanks. I want you to know that your trip reports from the Baltics a while ago helped inspire me to go.

I do have to comment that I understood about half of what any of these folks said. I'm not sure whether it was because of the influence of the Sächsisch dialect or my imperfect German.>>

I agree with What that it's most probably them, not you. I know that on another thread someone said that they find the Bavarian accent easy to understand but i think that s/he is a long-term resident there so it's not the same as touring round and having to swap from one accent or even dialect to another. And even when they are speaking "Hochdeutsch", IME they still have an accent as well - Hochdeutsch as she is spoken in Hamburg is NOT the same as in Munich. and don't get me started on Vienna.

we too went up the Brocken on the railway and found it cold at the top - we walked part of the way down and it was less interesting than I had hoped though the cafe by the mid-station was clearly better than where you ate. We discovered, fortunately not too late, that we were on a train that split so we had to move to get into the right bit of it to get back to Wernigerode.

We also went up the Koenigstein, and even in good weather I would not have said that it was a "Muss" but somehow we couldn't find the Bastei, not even with a map and a car -so you beat us there!

Peg, sorry for the delay in getting back to you about Greifswald and the Eldena Abbey ruins. I was working on being concise and not long winded... ha

Three years ago I was in Binz (Ruegen Island) and saw some pictures, read some articles, bought a gorgeous book (Caspar David Friedrich, by Willi Geismeier....used available on Amazon dot de) and decided to go to Greifswald. I have been getting interested in the Hanseatic cities and the Backstein Gotik architecture, so I've been to a number of them, visiting the churches and admiring the step gable buildings.

This year I was in Binz, took the train to Greifswald, asked a young girl how to get to the Markt. She was a university student, very helpful, walked with me partway. I stopped in Pfarrkirche St. Jacobi and Dom St. Nikolai, went to the Pommersches Landesmuseum (interesting, but only a couple CDF paintings), had tiramisu and coffee on the Marktplatz --my only encounter with a non-friendly person, the waiter. And then I got bus information at the TI, in the big red Rathaus on the Markt. While waiting for the bus, talked to a lady to make sure it was the right bus. It was, and I sat up front so I could talk to the bus driver. I wasn't sure where to get off, which way to walk to the Eldena Abbey ruins, or where to catch the bus to go back. He was so nice, super helpful. The bus stops near the Wieck bridge, and I walked on a shady path about 10 minutes to the ruins. They're in a park, just grass and big trees, very cool, more than you would think from the CDF paintings. There were a couple people just lying on the grass, and a group of people in one end of the biggest ruin, maybe some kind of class. I took some pictures and walked back to the bus stop....took bus all the way back to the train station. And then train back to Binz. It was a really nice day trip. I hadn't realized the ruins were that close to Greifswald when I first decided to go, but looking at Google Maps showed that it was easily doable.

Oh, and slightly different subject...I know you wanted to go where you could speak just German...in my 12 days in Hannover, Luebeck, Wismar, Binz and Greifswald, I spoke English only once ---there were actually a couple Americans passing thru Binz between Hamburg and on to Berlin, etc. I spoke to them because I was so surprised to hear English spoken, first time in 3 visits to Binz!

Peg, as always this is a wonderful TR! Thanks for sharing.

I'd better get this finished before I totally lose interest.

Just one more comment about the little train to the Brocken. I'd been in Wernigerode last year but was having trouble with my digestion, and I wanted to stay where toilets were available. After I mentioned this, someone said there would be toilets available on the train. WRONG! I shudder to think of spending 3 hours on that train with no facilities available.

The day after the ascent of the Brocken, I took the Bimmelbahn (a vehicle tarted up to look vaguely like a train) to the Schloss (castle), which has an exotic-looking silhouette, with pointed roofs, very different from any other castle I've ever seen. The Bimmelbahn wandered through various lush neighborhoods on the way to the Schloss. We were dropped off a short distance from our goal, and we walked a pretty steep path to the actual Schloss.

I climbed to the restaurant on the terrace via lots and lots of stairs and had coffee and strudel. The views of the town, the surrounding hills and the countryside were beautiful. Later I walked around the castle grounds and into a courtyard but did not take the tour of the inside of the Schloss, which was on offer, as I've seen enough interiors of sumptuous castles as I can stand. Also, the idea of any more walking sent frissons of horror through my body.

The castle was very cool, though. Lots of round towers with pointed roofs, and little bowers sticking out of the walls. Very evocative. It also is great-looking from a distance, especially the pointed parts of the roofs.

Peg, did you see my post about Greifswald above? If you have questions, just ask. :)

After Wernigerode, I went to Halle because it had a museum of prehistory that I wanted to see. The exhibits in the museum were fascinating. The most spectacular piece from the museum was the Nebra sky disc, which is a bronze disc with gold images of sun, moon, etc., imbedded in it. There were also displays of tools, from simple early stone tools to adzes and daggers. Also displayed were bones of early humans and diagrams of the ages and genders of the bones. Too much stuff to remember.

I even bought a little souvenir, a key chain of the Nebra sky disc to give to a friend from my exercise class to add to the other little gifts I'd bought her--a refrigerator magnet of Nefertiti's head from Berlin and from Wernigerode little water color card of a witch, and a little knickknack of a "Schutz Engel"--a guardian angel. Unfortunately, the Schutz Engel seems to have disappeared. I drive myself crazy the way I can't keep track of things. It may show up eventually, or it may not.

I stayed in Halle only two days because the only site I really wanted to visit was this museum, but naturally I interacted with various people, as I always seem to do. I noticed that my waitress had an interesting accent, so I asked her where she learned English. It turns out that she had spent a year in Minnesota in high school. She mainly talked about how cold it was and how she had to dress for the cold. A couple of guys heard us talking and joined in. They turned out to be pilots from DHL, so we talked about that a little. I told them that I am also a pilot, a very bad pilot who easily becomes airsick, and who seriously considers the option of jumping from the plane as a cure for airsickness.

Later, I saw four more of them in the elevator, this time in uniform, and I commented, "Oh, more pilots," or something like that. At breakfast the next day, they talked to me. Nothing momentous, though one of them made a sort of denigrating comment about Michele Obama, so I didn't pursue further conversation.

It was very hot in Halle, so I was glad I wasn't staying long.

Well, that was interesting. I just had a visit from the fuzz--two cute young officers. Turns out they had the wrong address. The call came from 1007, and my address is 1017.

travelsolo: I didn't know that CDF came from Greifswald.That's very cool that you were able to visit the Abbey and to see one of the places he painted.

I just looked up Greifswald and CDF both and saw the connection. I wonder if any other of his painting depict scenes around Greifswald.

Yep, there is a painting of the Greifswald Marktplatz, I believe with his family in it. That painting is in the Landesmuseum there. It is also in the book I bought.

The book has about 100 of his paintings, and lists where each one is. I absolutely love it! I just looked and there is a painting Blick aus einer Laube auf die Nikolaikirche in Greifswald..in Dresden, Stadtliche Kunstsammlung.

Also a couple more in and around Greifswald.

Some of his paintings are in the Hamburg Kunsthalle, some in Berlin, many in Dresden and also Leipzig, Moscow, Hannover, Oslo, etc.
I really like Frau vor der untergehenden Sonne. That one is in Essen, Museum Folkwang.

Yep, the abbey ruins were cool! :)

Maybe I should do a Caspar David Friedrich pilgrimage--just visit all these places. I would never be satisfied just seeing them once, though.

I didn't know there were CDF paintings in Leipzig or Berlin.

I too saw a book in the Albertinum with all his wonderful paintings. I didn't want to add any weight to my luggage, so I didn't buy it.

I like Two Friends Contemplating the Moon.

I just looked up that one... I like it, too. The two are identified as CDF and his friend and disciple August Heinrich.

Some in Berlin are listed as being at Schloss Charlottenberg.

The ones in Leipzig at Museum der bildenden Kuenste.

I bought the book and sent it home from the post office. :)

Yep, a pilgrimage! Love the idea!

(There's a pen and ink drawing of CDF and G.F.Kersting hiking in the Hartz mountains in 1811) cool.

Oh, gosh, I didn't see the ones in Charlottenberg or in Leipzig.

Obviously, sending the book home is a great idea.

SharonG: I found Poland to be fascinating, especially because of WWII. My suggestion to would would be to plan everything very carefully, and then do it.

If you want any help or advice, I'd be glad to give it to you. Just let me know on Fodors and I'll post my email address.


thanks Peg!

I enjoyed your report, Peg. It sounds like you have some wonderful adventures and meet some engaging people on your travels!

I understand that castle overload feeling; but, I will say that I thought the interiors of the schloss had much more of a homey feeling -- more like the place where a real family lived than others I've seen.

We didn't make it up to the Brocken on our last trip so we'll have to get back there.

Thanks for posting!

Thanks for another terrific TR, Peg. I love how you seem to have these little side "adventures" with other tourists and with local people. Thanks for sharing!

Okay, I am going to finish, and this time I really mean it.

One of the aforementioned pilots said he was from Bakersfield, California, and I said I'd been there and that my clearest memory was the time a friend and I went to a country-western bar, where we met "Hoss" from Bonanza. The pilot was curious about which bar it was, and he kept scrolling through his device for the names of bars in Bakersfield. He'd tell me the name of a bar, and I'd say no, that wasn't it.

Finally I went up to my room, whereupon the name of the bar popped into my head. So I raced back downstairs and said, "Harmony Gardens." I was very proud of the fact that I remembered the name of a bar we visited once in 1960! Especially given the fact that nowadays I sometimes have to fake it with the names of people I know well.

The other conversation that I remember is with the taxi driver who took me to the museum of prehistory. He commented on my German and said that when he was in school they had to take Russian--but they could choose another language as well. He said he studied French, but he was disgusted with the fact that though he studied French, he wasn't allowed to travel to France. (Halle is of course in the former East Germany.)

After Halle, I went to Erfurt. The description in Frommers mentions the beauty of some of the architecture, and it surely is that. I took a bus tour of the city, but I had a hard time following the guides description. I understood part of what he said, but I kept thinking of my favorite German expression: "Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof." --that is, "I understand only 'train station,'" or "All I understand is 'train station.'"

I wanted to take pictures of the beautiful buildings, but that was hard to do on a bus. During the tour, the guide mentioned St.Boniface several times. I kept thinking of something I once read: "St.Patrick converted the Irish, and St.Boniface did what he could with the Germans." I've always thought that was funny, though Germans would probably consider it rude.

I went for a walk the next morning and saw more wonderful architecture. Not all the buildings were beautiful, but many of them were. I noticed a very large building that I wondered about. It looked to be about the right age to be a DDR construction, though it wasn't as ugly as so many of them are.

I was curious about it because the guide in Warsaw had told me that apartments in the Cold War Communist building are usually quite small, wondered about this one. Then I got near enough to the building to see the name: "Yuri Gagarin Ring." I think Gagarin was the first man in space, back in Kruschev's time. The "ring" refers to the fact that the building was in a semi-circle.

As I walked further down the street, I saw a streetcar stop sign that said, "Karl Marx Platz." I was a little surprised by that because in Berlin those Communist names have been changed to something western or at least non-Communist.

I had lunch around the corner from the hotel at a little café that seemed a little thrown-together--Not that I mind that quality. It felt homey. The plates were all different patterns and sizes, as were the chairs. Lunch was odd. The salad contained carrot grated VERY fine, along with a weedy-looking green that I've never eaten in the States, but that I see often in Germany. It's called "rucola," and I'm told that it's very healthy.I also had some foul-tasting bottled iced tea.

The quiche was a left-over. It would have been better if they had nuked it to warm it up, but this seemed to be one of those places where they don't nuke. All yoga-and-health food-ish. So the quiche left a lot to be desired. That was okay, though. At least it was a change.

and I said I'd been there and that my clearest memory was the time a friend and I went to a country-western bar, where we met "Hoss" from Bonanza>>

goodness me, Peg, there's a blast from the past. I can't hear the name of the show without hearing the music in my head as well - are you the same?

<<but I kept thinking of my favorite German expression: "Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof." --that is, "I understand only 'train station,'" or "All I understand is 'train station.'" >>

our current german guests have made me think of that expression more than once Peg - but I've resisted using it, up until now. The wife in particular speaks very fast, but I have learnt a new word for something she likes a lot: "supi"!

on our first lawyers' trip to Halle we had an elderly female guide who explained that she decided to be a tour guide in order to be able to use her english, as they weren't allowed to travel.