ANNABELLE: I laughed so hard

Our excursion to the Harz Mountains was probably one of my favorites because we were able to see the German countryside and lose ourselves (to some extent) in the forest. Before we made it to the Mountains we stopped in Quedlinburg which was a traditional German village with winding cobblestone streets and quaint stores and pubs.

According to local legend, witches meet in this town before flying up the mountain to have “relations” with the devil. All around town were toy witches and figurines. Once we took another train to the mountains we enjoyed a kind of ski lift up to the top of the mountain.

The views were breath taking. The day we went was a bit overcast, but instead of a dreary grey color, the trees and air were dewy and rich. The lift was both exciting and nerve wracking. We made our way to the statues of the witch, devil and I’m guessing the third figurine was their spawn and took more than enough pictures with the figurines. The mountain top was filled with every kind of person ranging from bikers to countless children, all enjoying the German country side. Soon after taking in the views off the side of the mountain we made our way to the “bob sledding” ride which was so much fun because we rode individually on little sleds through the woods. We could get up to pretty fast speeds, but unfortunately for some people in our group they were held up by an individual who completely stopped their sled. As soon as my ride was coming to an end a heavy downpour of rain began to fall on us. We found out a train was coming in less than fifteen minutes.

Thus began our sprint down the mountain to get to the lift. I laughed so hard as we messily ran and jumped downhill with our clothes and bags flopping. Once we made it to the lift we stood in an unorganized line where a older German woman tried to cut in front of us. A German woman who accompanied us on our trip that day began to reprimand her auf Deutsch that she needed to get into the other line. I found this so amusing and great that a sweet older German woman would put another woman around the same age in check. All in all, a great day.