Adventures in Germany: Wernigerode

(Okay, maybe not an entry every day. No internet at home for another week or so.)Soon after Kelly arrived in Berlin we took a train (three trains, to be accurate) south-west to Wernigerode in the Harz mountains. It's a lovely little town full of half-timbered houses built at odd angles, and there was an terrifically festive street fair our first night at which we caught our first glimpse of a half-meter bratwurst. I told Kelly she should get one, you know, for the experience, but I think it would have taken her a week to finish the whole thing.

We wanted to try the coffee at Café Wien (Café Vienna), but we never did get there. Below: Krummelsches Haus, built in 1674, which features allegorical reliefs of various nations on its facade.

Here's a close-up of one panel. Lonely Planet thinks this naked lady (representing America, "reasonably enough") is riding an armadillo, though it looks more like a crocodile.

But Wernigerode's primary attraction is its castle on a hill wreathed in evergreens. I tried taking several shots at a distance, but I'll show you this one instead.

I don't want to tell you too much about this place, marvelous as it is, because I'm actually going to set a small part of my novel here. I'll just say there seemed to be gargoyles, demons, and other creepy things nearly everywhere we looked: