May 2, 2012 - The Harz Mountains

Today is my last day in the Harz region of Germany. I am writing from Bad Harzburg, a town home to more than 20000 people. I was hesitant to visit the town because of the name (I would have much preferred to visit Good Harzburg) but in German bad means bath or spa, and I was informed by Wikipedia before my visit that it is recognised as a "saltwater spa and climatic health resort." Unfortunately I didn't have time to pamper myself at one of Bad Harzburg's health resorts. We visited the Canossa Column which stands at 19 metres tall. The...

Apr 29, 2012 - Hameln

Today is sadly my last day in Hameln, but tomorrow we will be moving on the a new town. Today we went on a bike tour along the Weser, canoed down it and explored its parks and cafes -and that pretty much sums up our day. Our bike ride along the Weser was beautiful. We were told that it is the most travelled bike tour in German and actually stretches for 450km! On the canoe ride my friend and I were the only ones who capsized! We were switching places so that I could have a rest from paddling and the boat tipped! All our stuff was absolutely...

Apr 28, 2012 - Hameln

Today the group are exploring Hameln! I’m not sure why I didn’t notice last night, maybe because of my extremely sleep deprived state, but as soon as we started explored it became very clear that Hameln is very proud of their legends, especially of the Pied Piper (their most famous fairy tales). There were statues and actual people dressed in their best piping attire all over the town, just piping their little hearts out. I wasn’t very familiar with the story, but the locals all too keen to tell me. It was written by the Brothers Grimm, and...

Apr 27, 2012 - Hameln

Today I arrived in Germany! Hoorah! I have arrived at my first German destination, the town of Hameln, located on the Weser river in Lower Saxony. I have been here for about 4 hours but to get here I had to take a train from Wolfsburg, the home of Volts Wagon, and then go on a thirty minute walk to get here. I met my backpacking group out the front of the youth hostel that we are staying at, creatively named: Youth Hostel Hameln. Seeing as it was 7 pm by the time we all arrived we decided to have dinner and the go to bed. It took us 20...

Jun 20, 2008 - Germany - Hameln

Friday 20th June You may have heard of the town of Hameln. It is the town where the Pied Piper (of Hamlin) led the rats from the town. When the town’s people did not pay him, all the children from the town disappeared. If you don’t remember the story – now would be good time to refresh your memory; go find a book! There’s not a lot here in Hameln, but we were greeted by the Pied Piper himself at breakfast…no really… We made a brief stop in Wolfsburg, affectionately known as ‘Golfsburg’. This is the town where the VW is made and the...