Ikea, mining and a medieval revival.

As promised, this is the blog post for last week. At least it was delayed for a good reason: I was in Goslar with my parents! Back to the beginning...

Goslar market square

The school week was really short (only Monday and Tuesday) because there was a teacher training day on Wednesday, a bank holiday on Thursday and no point in having school on the Friday right before the Herbstferien (Autumn holidays). Yes, when you start school in the middle of August you're ready for a holiday by early October. The small section of school that occurred was wonderfully uneventful.  That's about it!

1 October. A brilliant day. I moved flat! Although I was fond of my other flat, it had some quirks and my new one is amazing. It is still close to the school, but wins by being able to provide fully operational heating and internet. I think I can cope with eight months here. The new internet situation was even good enough to Skype in to Hazel's birthday evening back at university. It might not have been the clearest call ever and the time delay was interesting but it was so lovely to see everyone. I definintely gave some weird answers to questions that had never been asked and couldn't tell who was who but I officially love Skype. This makes it sound like I miss university (which I do) but given the choice of Bad Salzdetfurth or Canley it's an easy decision. BAD SALZDETFURTH!

To celebrate the new flat and start of school holidays I headed into Hannover to get myself a few decorations. As usual, I woke up obscenely early so had plenty of time to shop before I met Katy and Meadbh for the afternoon (which included helping Meadbh move flat). Meadbh and I headed back to Badse to a wonderful dinner of spaghetti bolognese with pombears, followed by watching the Great British Bakeoff.

Ready to move flat // Pombears and spagbol // Ikea Hannover

Now to the aforementioned parents. As you can imagine I was pretty excited to see them (which definitely had nothing to do with the quantities of Yorkshire Tea they were transporting to me). We spent the first day sorting out my new flat, including a trip to Ikea. Doing my first ever visit to Ikea in Germany might not have been the best plan ever. I was completely confused, but remembered something about picking up loads of pencils and set off. It took us two loops of the store to work out what we needed and where we were going, but after about four hours and a portion of meatballs each everything was fine. Although I did end up running through the store in the opposite direction to the arrows on my quest for some drawers. Don't worry, I received plenty of glares. The trauma/fun was worth it though, as you will see if I get round to doing another flat tour.

For the weekend we headed to Goslar, a town on the edge of the Harz Mountains and featured in Heinrich Heine's Die Harzreise. Rather than drive directly to Goslar, we stopped in various places en-route.

- Zellerfeld. A pretty mining town with a mining museum. Obviously we were unable to leave without a rock or two... something to add to my salt collection!

- Clausthal. The next town along. Home of excellent coffee and cake and the largest wooden church in Germany called Marktkirche zum Heiligen Geist (which was beautiful).

- Altenau.

Goslar certainly made an impression. The cloud was right down over the town, swirling round the sqaures and narrow streets of slate-clad houses. It was an eerie place, with people disappearing into the mist and the infrequent street lamps completely failing to illuminate the town. The sound of church bells from invisible churches filled the streets, producing a atmosphere and presence unlike anywhere I've ever been. Walking into the main square, a collection of tents and people in medieval dress was visible thanks to flaming torches. All of a sudden the connection between Goslar and witchcraft seemed more logical...

To explain the medieval-ness, we visited Goslar during the Kaisermarkt weekend, which google informs me is one of the cultural highlights of the town. I have no idea why this celebration featured camping medieval-style in the main square... only in Germany?!

Goslar building style // Town fountain // Clausthal church // Goslar // Rammelsberg // The mine

During our weekend in Goslar, the parents and I wanted to see as much of the area as possible (especially bits difficult to access by train).

- Hahnenklee. A very unusual church called the Stabkirche.

- Lautenthal. Another mining town.

- Bad Grund.

- Bad Harzberg. A more 'normal' town without the timber and slate building found everywhere else we visited.

- Brocken (attempted). I had no idea that there was no car access to anywhere near the Brocken mountain and the weather wasn't good enough to walk... a trip for another day.

- Schierke.

- Braunlage.

Goslar itself was the biggest and nicest of the places we visited. The historic centre is extensive, with countless stunning buildings. They are made of a combination of timber (usually painted and carved) and slate tiles. Some of the tiles are shaped to form intricate patterns such as eagles, or to curve round windows. A visit to the Kaiserpfalz [imperial palace] confirmed that Goslar could do grand and imposing too. The compulsory tower climb was found at the Marktkirche [Market Church] with the added entertainment of a bell that struck every 15 minutes. Safe to say it was a swift ascent and descent! The architecture of the town as a whole was incredible.

Goslar from the Marktkirche North Tower.

It would have been a travesty to go to the Harz and not visit a mine, so we decided to visit Rammelsberg, a mine just outside of Goslar, which primarily produces copper, lead and zinc. The first section of tour was to recent mining (1950s and 1960s), showing how increasing mechanisation changed mining. The second section was to an older area of mine, which used an enormous water wheel to generate enough power to transport ore to the surface. The bits of tour which I understood were interesting, but I enjoyed walking through the mine (the journey in a transportation wagon less so). My mining-related vocabulary is definitely improving!

I also left Niedersachsen for the first time since arriving... so it was for about an hour into neighbouring Sachsen-Anhalt. This did however involve crossing from former-West to former-East Germany, the border of which was marked by a monument and road sign.

All in all, it's been a hectic week (and two days). I could easily write so much more about my time in the Harz but I think that's getting a bit excessive...