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Day 10, Wernigerode 2nd day:After we booked one extra day we now can stress down and just walking around in the old town. That was what we thought. Here is a map of Wernigerode: We were not very far from the old city of Wernigerode today. Wernigerode:
When we wake up in the morning, we hear a familiar sound, a rooster crowing. But where did it come from ? Looking out of the window, I can see a garden on the other side, and there is a rooster. We have a big room with a extrabeds, but we have the room for ourselfe. The room has two big windows and a private bathroom. We go down to the breakfast room and get our breakfast, not as big a the buffets we have bought earlier. But it didn't cost us much and we took some more to eat at a cafe in the town later. 
After finished the breakfast and getting ready, we leave the hotel and go down to the old railway station with steam locomotives. 
The railway station is open now and we enter. There is a small exhibition with old machines that were used in the past. It's a device to disconnect the electric power for the trains I've been told. It probably breaks the current so that two trains cannot be on the same track at the same time. After all, many railways are single track and there is a risk of them colliding. This device can probably only handle electric locomotives. 
A big reason for us to visit this railway station again is that the sun is in the right direction. Last time we had the sunlight against us, which doesn't turn out well in photos. Today there are two steam locomotives they are preparing for today's excursions, maybe it was a mistake that we didn't go with them. But we would have needed an extra day to make it. The little train:
Now, however, we were not completely without a train ride today, because we are going up to the castle and this little train goes there. 
We wait 20 minutes for the train. We ask the train driver where we buy tickets. She replies that we can go with her to the main station and buy them there. We are very surprised at how quiet it goes, it turns out to be electric. 
I wondered, how would the batteries last for the train to take us all the way up the hill to the castle. They didn't even put it on charge at the main station. But it worked and we didn't have to push the train. The tickets we had seen would cost 5 Euro, but that applied to the regular trains with a petrol engine, this train cost us 7 Euro each. But what can you not do for the environment. We also got to see some of the outer parts of the city. 
Now we are at the castle. We find a gate through the defense wall where we can get inside. Going up further stairs and finally we have reached the courtyard in front of the castle. |
It's a grand castle but it's not that big. We read that it was completed at the end of the 19th century. But there are much older remains from early buildings. 
We enter one of the small defense towers. In the porthole we have a beautiful view of the surrounding mountains and valleys. |
Here we stand along one edge of the castle courtyard and look out over it. A beautiful fountain is in the middle and on the opposite side a larger watch tower. |
Here we look down on the old city, that is its western side. We went there yesterday up to the west tower. 
While we're standing here, we're thinking about how we're going to get back to the old town down there. We have already paid the train ticket, but it would probably be more exciting to walk down the mountain. In addition, our friend Lennart has told us that below the mountain to the castle there are preserved remains of the old city wall. We really want to see that. 
We have no plans to enter the castle on this beautiful day. But on the other hand, we go into the castle shop to see what they sell there. We find the usual things that are usually offered to tourists, nothing for us. 
Now we leave the castle, follow the outer wall on the south side. We see many cracks in the wall that they repaired. We can later read that they have problems with subsidence in the rock, which causes the wall to crack like this. It must be a long and expensive project to save this castle from collapsing. 
Last passage before we get out of the castle. We decided earlier not to take the train back, but now we go to the lower wall where we saw a staircase leading down to the old town. Here is more information about the Wernigerode Castle:
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Here we have started to go down the mountain. It is quite steep but it is not far. We might as well have walked up here from the city instead of taking the train. 
When the footpath levels out and we reach Burgberg street, we see a tower that belongs to the city wall. It is very well preserved, we enter the park below it and sit on a bench and enjoy the view. Our friend has told us he did the same, but he sat down at a bar and had a beer too. We never found any such nearby bar. 
We examine the surroundings of the city wall, go up the stairs that lead through the wall to the back. Follows the wall a bit to the west. 
We don't go very far along the wall on the west side, turns and goes back. On the ground we see a marking where the wall has gone where it is missing today. 
Now we instead follow the wall to the east. A long stretch of the city wall is preserved here. On the back, the outer side, several houses have been built next to the wall. In the background we can see another tower. 
When we get to the tower, we see that it is of the same construction as the old defense towers we have at home in Sweden. We visited the Swedish island of Gotland just before setting off on this trip to Germany. The city of Visby on Gotland has a very impressive city wall. There, just like here, you can see that many of the towers are open at the back. Luftfahrt Museum:After we leave the city wall and enter the more central parts of the city again, we start thinking about what to do now. We feel that we have been around inside the old city in all the places that we wanted to see. Gunilla remembers that we read about an aviation museum, it would be interesting to go to. It is located northwest of the old city. It's not that far away, but with a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius, even a short distance in the sun is hard to walk. We study both train and bus maps and timetables, we fail to understand how the buses run and what time. Then we decide to go all the way. 
We finally arrive at the museum. There are several large buildings you can walk around in and on the roof sits a large old propeller plane. I see an interesting engine, an inverted V12. So it has the cylinders downwards. The advantage of that is that the engine's crankshaft comes up higher and is then in a better position to connect to the propeller. I thought only Mercedes had this type of engine. But the sign says it's a Jumo 213, I've never heard of that engine. This engine had been buried deep in the ground for 45 years before they dug it up. The device on the far right is where the propeller shaft is fixed, with it you can adjust the angle of the propeller. 
You are probably aware that on some car engines you have to change the timing belt at regular intervals. Here they have solved it with angled gears instead. |
What a surprise, a Swedish military vehicle. It's a Volvo radio off-road vehicle, it also had the nickname Sugga. 
A cut-out wing shows how its sandwish construction is built. You do this to get extra strength in the wing without having to use too much material, it is important that it is light at the same time. 
They don't only have western world planes here, there are Russian ones too. Here is the front of a MIG. 
Already forgotten, but I think this also was a MIG jet fighter. 
A ticket cost 10 Euro each. Here are more information about the Luftfahrt museum:
Wernigerode old town:When we were done with the museum, we again studied how the buses went. We found that bus number 204 could take us back to the old town. 
The bus stopped at the street Ilsenburger Strasse, not far from the west gate of the old town. 
A footbridge leads us over a stream to the old town. 
After we cross the river, we have the railway in front of us, it is the museum railway. We hear a train arrive and stay to watch it. It turns out not to be a steam locomotive, but an older electric locomotive. |
A few more steps and we are back in the old town. We arrive at a small square with a well. 
We walk around the old quarters looking for the nice restaurant where they didn't have a table available for us the evening before. When we find the restaurant, we see to our delight that more than half of the tables are free. We ask if it is okay for us to sit down at a table at the outdoor dining area. We get the answer that it is full and they have no place for us ! They obviously don't want any tourists eating here. 
After this boring reception, we go back to the Italian restaurant where we ate last night. We ordered soup, tapas and a pasta dish. Very good and friendly staff. Here are more information about Wernigerode:
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