Day 8 - Rest day
Yay a rest day! We had breakfast at 8am then took the train to Wernigerode where we connected to the narrow gauge, coal powered, steam train one way to the summit of the Brocken ( the highest mountain in the region and a former forbidden zone in East Germany).
It is actually the 2nd highest mountain in GDR and right on the border so it was a military restricted area with all sorts of soviet gear.riding up on a steam train was so much fun! Chooo chooo!!! Andrea nearly got smoked out when she was trying to take pictures and we went into a tunnel. The train was working hard to get up the steep gradients... Chug-a-chug-a....
Finally we reached the top and above tree line. It was very chilly and cloudy. We were glad we bought our fleeces.we had a snack before setting off on foot down the other side towards Bad Harzburg. The path was very steep on an old convoy road for most of the descent. We crossed into west Germany at a dam over a reservoir and we continued walking to see the Lynx getting fed at an exhibit about reintroducing lynxes to the German forests. The Lynx were hunted to local extinction in 1818 but are now being reintroduced. They had five in a compound and we happened to be there at feeding time, which only happens twice a week!!! After that we took the local bus back into Bad Harzburg and then a couple of short train rides back to our hotel. We had a fancy Italian dinner at Da Toni restaurant that tasted like the North End in Boston... Because it was run by a little Italian man Ned Toni!! very tasty!!
After a quick food shop at Lidl, we did a bit of bike maintenance and laundry to rap up the night.
Fun day but not sure if it was restful!
The World is Ours!
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