We wish you a happy and healthy new year!

Yesterday, still feeling a bit chilly, we went to our room after the delicious burgers to write the evening’s blog entry and sort through the many pictures from and with the Brockenbahn.
So nice and cozy in the hotel room. And warm.

The plan was for us to wrap up in three layers of warm clothing so that we would be at the Achtermannshöhe by midnight. This would have required a hike of about an hour. Not really a big deal. But the impression we got of the hiking trails as the altitude increased, combined with the warnings of squalls, made us doubt whether we really wanted to go out and up there again.
No, we didn’t want to. Adventures, yes, but walking over icy paths in the dark was too dicey for us. So we stayed in our room. At around 9:30 p.m., it started to fire outside. We had heard the occasional firecracker over the past few days. This was mainly coming from the youth hostel opposite – probably for the youngest guests who can’t hold out until midnight.
When the clock struck zero, we toasted with a Prosecco and watched the local fireworks. A calm and quiet transition into the year 2025.

This morning we checked out after a nice breakfast. We can absolutely recommend the Hotel Brockenscheideck. The team is friendly and helpful, our room was nice and big and comfortable. The location is a good base for all kinds of leisure activities.
As always, we had a plan for today, which actually worked out one-to-one. Well, almost. We would actually have liked to take part in the candlelit mine tour of the Grubensteiner Stollen, but unfortunately we couldn’t get any more places.
Nevertheless, we wanted to “get into the mountain” somehow and so we visited the Baumannshöhle cave in Rübeland. A really big and beautiful stalactite cave and even the oldest show cave in Germany! A highlight of the cave is the so-called Goethe Hall. It was actually named after Wolfgang von Goethe, who visited this cave several times. There is even a stage here, which is used for various purposes. Imagine, for example, “The Ice Queen” as a theater performance in such a setting. Wow.
Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take any pictures in the cave for various reasons. However, if you would like to see some impressions or even plan a visit yourself, we recommend the official website of the Baumann Cave.

The tour was over in just under an hour, and we can recommend it without hesitation. The young man conveyed the information about the cave, its inhabitants and stalactites in a good and lively way and responded to the group without getting bored. He also had the opportunity to control the light during the storytelling, which was very well placed anyway. A great experience! There was also a small light show with music in the Goethesaal.

But now home. Right?
The Rappbode dam isn’t that exciting, and I don’t want to cross the TitanRT. Suspension bridges and all that – you know that’s not my thing. But as long as we’re in the area, we’ll go there anyway to have a look at the bridge from the safety of the ground. Both the suspension bridge and the observation tower were open – albeit without staff, as everything could be done by machine – but with the storm we hadn’t really expected it anyway.
Marco was already here in the summer on one of his moped tours and (of course) also walked across the bridge. That’s why you get somewhat mixed pictures for the overall impression.
But that was really the end of what we wanted to see and experience, and we headed home.

Conclusion:
Sometimes things turn out differently. First with our London plans, then with our Vitara and finally not everything went as we had planned in the Harz Mountains. But as the saying goes: if life hands you a lemon, make lemonade out of it. Our “vacation lemonade” tasted fantastic and we have some great memories to take home with us. Maybe we’ll come back when the temperatures are warmer. There’s still a lot to discover here!

Good evening from Schierke.
Our hotel “Brockenscheideck” is situated on a slight hill at the end of the village with a view of the next hill. Schierke is small and the night was quiet. Not a single car drove past.
Disadvantage of such a quiet and small town: there are only two inns that are open in the evening. And to our dismay, the kitchen at no. 1 was already closed yesterday (at 8pm!) and there was no table available at no. 2.
We briefly checked to see if there was really nothing else available. Then, without further ado, we asked if we could take food with us. Yes, we could.
Next moment of shock: “We don’t have any cutlery! ”. Take something from here? Nooo, that’s not possible. But we have a lounge in the hotel, maybe we can at least find coffee spoons
In the end, we even found a knife, fork and plate, as well as cold drinks. Perfect. We enjoyed our meal and fell into bed satisfied.
Today’s destination: the Wurmberg. Up and down by cable car. A look at the weather radar: sunshine and around -3°, no clouds. That promises great views
When we arrived at the valley station in Braunlage, however, we were quite astonished. The cable car is closed? The display board says “Closed on 30.12. due to weather conditions” But today is 31.12. and not as stormy as forecast. Oh dear! Running uphill is out of the question with my damaged knee (yes, that’s also on the agenda for next year). What alternatives do we have? The Brockenbahn was already far too expensive for us when we were planning at home, which is why we chose the Wurmberg. The observation tower in Torfhaus? Yes, but only for a short time. So the Brockenbahn after all? At least it’s a narrow-gauge line with a steam locomotive. That’s nice. But €55 per person? There and back, but still quite a lot of money…. We bit the bullet and booked two tickets from “Drei Annen Hohne”. Now a quick bite to eat at the Christmas market in Braunlage. It’s supposed to be nice, says Google. First of all, we walked past the Christmas market – no wonder, as it only consists of 5 stalls and a children’s carousel. Okay, Google isn’t always right We couldn’t find anything here, so we decided to eat on the Brocken first. But now the lucky cents we had found were well-disposed towards us. On the way to the station, we passed Kukki’s pea soup from the goulash cannon. That’s what we do! And it was perfect, a large portion with knacker or bockwurst and really tasty! I took a tin of it straight home with me.
But now on to the station. We had to wait a while there, then the locomotive with the beautiful old carriages arrived.
We sat outside on one of the rear carriages to get a good view of the locomotive for our pictures on the bends. Which worked out really well. Luck was with us
See for yourself how impressive the journey was.
The further we got towards the Brocken summit, the windier, but also whiter and, above all, icier it became. The hiking trails were so icy that they were freezing.
Once we reached the top, a real storm awaited us We had to brace ourselves and hold on to our hats! But what a great view and again with great clouds between the mountains, the sun above and a bright blue sky. According to the app, it was supposed to be just -2°, but the wind made it feel like an icy -10° *bibber*
Marco took a few pictures with the 360° camera, which we’ll share with you later.
We warmed up in the tourist hall with coffee and cake.
The last trip of the day and of the year on the Brockenbahn, this time with a diesel locomotive, brought us back down quickly as the sun set.
We briefly thought about where we could get something to eat. We found what we were looking for in Braunlage in a small snack bar, where we quickly grabbed a burger and chips. That worked out well yesterday.

Conclusion: We read so many negative reviews about the Harz narrow-gauge railroad beforehand. And there’s certainly some truth in that if it’s too crowded. But we were lucky enough to catch a relatively empty train. Besides, it didn’t keep us in our seats anyway and we spent the whole time standing outside admiring the landscape. Expensive fun, but it was great. If you’re ever here and don’t get to the Wurmberg, then you have to give yourself the full Harz experience. And that includes the Brocken. Well, if you’ve been to the Carpathians before, it’s more of a crumb!

Come on, please come on!

As you’ve probably read, we’ve had to postpone our big plans for a pawtrail-themed New Year’s Eve. But without any adventure at all on New Year’s Eve? That didn’t appeal to us either. That’s why we were looking for something with lots of nature, as few people as possible and special highlights. We quickly decided on the Harz Mountains, just a two-hour drive away. Hotel Garni booked, suitcases packed and off we went!
With drizzle and low-hanging clouds. It has to get better
While we were still on the main road back home, we helped someone who had broken down to push his vehicle to the side. By the smell of it, his clutch was broken. He had tried to turn the car around all by himself. Oh my!

With this good deed in our luggage, we drove on and the weather got better with every kilometer.
At our destination for today, “Bad Harzburg”, there was even a bright blue sky with sunshine – surrounded by clouds billowing through the mountains. A great sight. And what do we want to do here? Up to the Harzburg ruins, of course. This is best done in combination with the cable car and the treetop walk. Something like that had always interested me (Regine).
How do we do it? First the treetop walk, then the path to the castle and back down again in the cable car? Sounds like a good plan
Although there were quite a few visitors, we had the path through the treetops almost to ourselves. How beautiful it must be when it’s really snowing, or alternatively when the trees are in full bloom. The trail always provides fun and interesting information about the Harz Mountains, the trees and local animals. Ideal for children, but we loved it too. The treetop path was very entertaining and then we headed up to the Harzburg ruins. Shortly before this is the starting station for a cable car where we were able to watch a family whooping in pairs. It’s nothing for me, but Marco would have loved to whizz back down the mountain like that too

Together, we opted for the view from the Canossa Column and a hot latte macchiato. It had been windy all day, but up here, with a great view, still framed by clouds, our scarves and hats were flapping. The tree tops were covered in ice, which the wind repeatedly turned into freezing rain. We then took the gondola back down again, slightly swaying. We treated ourselves to another French fries, then headed towards Schierke to our hotel.

Conclusion: It was cold, but also so beautiful! We hiked through the treetops to just under 483m. Admittedly: Compared to the Carpathians, we were standing on a small hill today. But the “Harz prelude” was great.