This gooseherd has taken a book to read during his lunch hour. But he has no spectacles and had to put his face close to the page to read; meanwhile his geese were happy to stay close to him.
We spent a few days in the lovely town of Wernigerode, in the Harz Mountains and formerly in East Germany. We stayed in the excellent Hotel am Anger, on Breit Strasse, and toured the area, including the lovely railway (below). Here are a couple of shots of the Brunnen in the centre of the town.
I normally take realistic photos, but I rather like the effect of this one. I was on the footplate of the steam train running through a dark forest in the Harz Mountains, on the way up to Brocken, when I snapped this shot of the trees going past.
Travelled up to Brocken, an old Warsaw Pact observation post, on a steam train from Drei Annen Hohne. The experience was quite thrilling! It's a 1m gauge with what looks like a scale-model locomotive. The journey is all uphill and looks like a hard job for the engine, puffing quite hard all the way. We were able to stand on the footplate, as it were, of a carriage, so the view was excellent.
The trains are part of the Harzer Schmalspurbahn and our train came from Wernigerode, where we're staying for a few days.
Beer is a very important ingredient in a holiday in Germany (or Belgium or the Netherlands, come to that). Here the first one I enjoyed in Bad Karlshafen, in a restaurant overlooking the River Weser:
And here's an efficient waiter in Wernigerode (the Brauhaus on Breit Strasse) bringing one for me from across the street: