Thursday morning, 06.12.2018
I tapped my way through a couple of Instagram stories and I came across an interesting enquiry by a photographer I’ve been following. “Who’s up for a road trip to Thuringia and the Harz mountains over the weekend?”.
I’m not sure what I was thinking – most likely nothing at all – but I randomly signed up for it. We texted around a little bit and the photographer told me that he had planned a trip with two other friends, but one of them backed out last minute so that a space freed up. And with no further ado, I packed my backpack.
They’re going to pick me up after work tomorrow and I might have just made a huge mistake. The crux of the matter is, that I have met Tobi only once for a 60 minute shooting in Leipzig and I don’t even know the other guy at all and now I’m going on road trip with them. We haven’t even talked out the details of how and where we’re going to be staying, so I am completely in the dark.
Obviously, I haven’t told my mom, because that’s not a conversation I want to have. (“Hey Ma, I’m going on a roadtrip over the weekend with two guys I know over the internet and haven’t actually met before”).
Anyone who knows me would never in a million years characterize me as spontaneous or trusting, especially when it concerns traveling. In a way this massive breach of character surprises me as well, but this might be the last chance I have at doing reckless things like this before taking on a job next month. Personally, I award this to be one of the pinnacle acts of randomly trusting strangers over the internet. I’m super excited and will update here and on my Instagram along the way! In case I don’t, maybe these guys have turned out to be psychopaths and I’m dead in a ditch.
Check out their profiles on Instagram: @tobi.voe & @cold_harbour_ !
Friday, 07.12.2018
We’re on the road! Tobi made an endorsement deal with Mini Germany and got to take a Mini Countryman for a spin, and the car is awesome! Made a short stop at a gas station to get some snacks. The weather sucks, though, it’s raining cats and dogs but at least the temperature is above 10°C.
Our first photo stop was the Teufelsmauer (Devil’s Wall) in Timmenrode. Luckily it stopped raining and the low hanging clouds had promising picture potential. The rock formation was a little bit underwhelming, to be honest, but we shot some pictures anyway. The guys were super excited about my red jacket contrasting with the scenery.
Photo by @cold_harbour_
Moving on to another part of the Teufelsmauer in Weddersleben, we finally found what we were looking for! Incredibly beautiful view over fields and the overcast sky let through the perfect amount of sunlight. It was extremely windy and we had to hike quite a bit which is why afterwards we were all craving Döner 😅
Photo by @cold_harbour_
We found a Turkish place close by and got some food and had to hurry to the hotel because its reception closed at 6pm. If you’re wondering what kind of hotel serves you only until 6pm, the answer is: German village guesthouses. Because of a slowly crawling truck on the one-lane road, we made it there 6.07 pm – AND NOBODY WAS THERE! When we rang the bell some man buzzed us in through the intercom and we waited for a while. Nothing happened. We contacted the guy again and asked when he’d arrive to hand us our room and his answer was: “Oh, it’s off hours already, I’m not coming in. But if you go to the kitchen there’s a key with the number 12, that’s your room.” I suppose that’s another of level trusting random strangers. We had connecting rooms and for whatever reason ended up watching Ace Ventura before calling a night at 11.
Photo by @cold_harbour_
Thursday, 08.12.2018
We started the day with a really good breakfast buffet and headed towards the Bärenbrucher Teich. The weather did not improve and as we ascended the mountains, snow covered the roadsides already. Without really knowing what would expect us at the “lake”, we hiked around 2,5km in the rain to get there. While the body of water itself wasn’t photogenic in the slightest, the forest around it gave good motives to capture.
At some point we were too soaked and cold and the car provided the warmth we desperately needed. We stopped at the Gustav-Adolf-Stabkirche in Hahnenklee, a church built after the typical Scandinavian architecture. This stop was kind of a fail, since we didn’t get any nice pictures at all. We decided to go to Wernigerode, a town in Saxony-Anhalt, because anything that required hiking would have been too unpleasant. We checked out the game park and later went to get a snack at a fast food joint. The city center is super beautiful and cozy, albeit a bit too crowded due to the Christmas market.
What’s depressing about winter is that it gets dark way too early and with the light eluding us, the reasonable thing to do was to get to our next accomodation, almost 300km south of Wernigerode. I didn’t have to drive, but I can imagine that it did get quite exhausting, winding through the serpentine roads. Since this was such a spontaneous trip, I didn’t even know where were heading, but we stopped in Rudolstadt to buy some groceries that only meant one thing: Our next stop was a very tiny village that didn’t have decent shopping possibilities. And indeed, the holiday apartment was located in Brennersgrün, a place with a population of 150! I don’t think I’ve stayed at a village this small.
We were joined by three other people, all of them photographers / Instagrammers and it was thanks to them that we could stay at one of the marvelous apartments of “FEWO Rennsteig 48”, because they were friends with the owners. After cooking dinner, playing card games and taking a shower we called it a night. My bed stood directly under the roof and I fell asleep hearing the rain splatting on the skylights and the wind howling.
Sunday, 09.12.2018
The ongoing rain threw off our original plans to leave early. To make matters worse, the German weather bureau released severe weather advisory for the day. After another fabulous breakfast, we visited and fed the alpacas that the owners kept as pets. The real adventure began as we ventured into the depths of the Thuringian forest. We hiked to the Ziemestalbrücke, an abandoned railway bridge. We had a lot of fun taking pictures on and around the bridge, the train tracks and the tunnel. I’m really looking forward to the pictures by @tobi.voe, @cold_harbour_, @ronnyfri & @martin.hagenbring .
Now comes a rather annoying experience when you travel in Germany. While other European countries have smoothly transitioned into digitalising and modernising their businesses, apparently some German restaurants in smaller villages have not. We wanted to eat the famous Thüringer Klöße but none of the eateries accepted debit cards! It was simply inexplicable to us, why older people are so averse against electronic cash, when in, for example, the most secluded places of Iceland, cards are the norm. We ended up driving north to Rudolstadt again and found a hotel to eat the Klöße. Talk about priorities!
The drive back to Leipzig was uneventful. I am in awe how this super random trip turned out to be such a great experience especially in terms of getting acquainted to the thus far completely unfamiliar world of Instagram roamers. I do hope I keep in contact with at least some of the people I met over the weekend, although I doubt any deep friendships will ensue, but that is totally fine by me.
Pictures to be uploaded soon! Thanks for stopping by!
so nad amused 