Goslar!!!

Goslar is a small town in the southeast of the state (Niedersachsen or Lower Saxony) that I live in. It's about three and a half hours away by train, and the closest large city is Hannover. I went to Goslar early last saturday morning (my train left Oldenburg at 6:35am) because I wanted to go hiking. Goslar lies at the edge of Nationalpark Harz, the Harz being the closest mountain range to where I live. Take the words "mountain range" with a grain of salt. The highest point is 3,743ft above sea level. Nonetheless, I really wanted to go hiking, and Oldenburg and the surrounding cities all being completely flat, I went to Goslar.

I knew nothing about Goslar when I embarked. Map? No.... Idea of where some trailheads would be? Nah... I got off the train, asked the person at the train station where to go hiking, and she sent me to the city center where the tourist information is. So I set off for the city center (I picked a random direction from the train station. The scary part being I was right), and found that Goslar has an adorable Christmas market, as well as an adorable city center!

Booths line the city center for the Christmas market.

My favorite part, mostly because the donkey let me pet it. There were also goats and an alpaca.

One of the large, pretty churches near the city center.

A snowball, a sort of cookie with filling. This a chocolate covered vanilla one, thus it doesn't actually look like a snowball. They're really quite good!

Having found the tourist information, I took a bus to Hahnenklee, which is a little village that exists, in all likelihood, solely as a place for tourists to start their outdoor adventures. I hiked until I got rained and frozen back out of the woods, at which point I returned to Goslar, and then to Oldenburg.

The woods as seen from my trailhead...

Through the deep dark woods. Believe it or not, this picture was taken around 1pm. It looks like dusk, I know.

Me looking COLD and wet and rained on, but happy.

For those of you wondering if I was mad to go hiking alone in November in northern Germany, the answer is probably. But I will say this: Germany has no bears or mountain lions, and I had perfect cell reception the whole time, so I feel the insanity lies more in the weather than the actual hiking alone part.

As for Goslar? I need to go back. I loved it, with its little shops, adorably cute little houses, and... I really can't explain my love. I just love it there. If the temperature hadn't finally dropped this week, I would have gone back yesterday. Hopefully I will be able to return soon, hike some more (weather permitting), and get to know the area better.