My friend Anne and I were admiring a monument in Quedlinburg in the Harz Mountains of Germany. “The Coronation of Henry the First” is incorporated into a fountain at the site where Henry was crowned king of East Francia in 919 AD. It seems Henry had a little ADHD, as legend has it. During his coronation, he was distracted by birds and got caught up in the idea of hunting them at the moment he was being crowned. Anne and I, of course, spoke English as we discussed the statue. A gentleman across a narrow street looked at us and then walked over to us. “You are speaking English,” he said with a friendly smile that also seemed to belie a bit of amazement. He asked where we were from. “I spent some time in Canada long ago,” he said. He talked with us for a bit in English and offered to take photos of us with the monument. He granted our request for a selfie of all three of us. As we neared the end of our interaction, he wrote down his name (Michael) and address, and said, “Perhaps you can send me a post card from where you live.” Interestingly, he ended the encounter with “God bless you,” which still strikes me as a rather unusual greeting, especially in a former East German town. He hopped in his car and drove away as Anne and I discussed what to do next.
The Travelers
Anne and I worked together several years ago. She has accompanied me on a number of trips to Europe, but this was our first one since somewhere around 2018. Previous travels included a trip to Salzburg and Innsbruck, a 3-week trip to Italy, a couple of 2-week trips to Germany, and three Christmas market trips! On this journey, we also met up for a few days with good ol’ Rob from Cal, an esteemed forum member who had already been in Europe for close to 2 months.
The Itinerary
The Harz Mountains had been on my radar since one of my online German tutors talked it up several years ago. We chose Quedlinburg for our base due to it being in a decent location for day trips and due to its charming half-timbered houses. The Uncommon Travel Germany website contains a wealth of information about the area and provided much guidance in planning the trip. After the Harz Mountains (and without Rob), Anne and I spent 3 nights in Berlin so that we could stay with our favorite B&B hostess, Sabine, at mittendrin. These were nights number 58 through 60 for me at her establishment since 2016.
Transportation
We took advantage of Delta’s seasonal JFK-Berlin flights for both transatlantic legs of our trip. The Deutschland Ticket was great for regional train travel and for local transportation in Berlin. We both purchased the ticket on the MVV app with a credit card. We had to show our passport only twice while taking around two dozen train rides.