Although it was raining steadily when we went to sleep, when we got up it was dry and the clouds were only a high overcast, with what an optimistic eye would call a streak of blue in the distance.
We had two objectives today: to visit a special feature of a National Park, and to transit to Goslar, our next base of operations.
Nationalpark Hainich and the Baumkronenpfad
David isn't sure how he found the Baumkronenpfad, the Tree Canopy Walk (baum:tree, kronen:crowns, pfad:path). It must have been while clicking around German park websites, looking for some way to get in contact with them without devoting a day or more to hiking. This one filled the bill perfectly.
The pride of Nationalpark Hainich (one of 14 German national parks), the Tree Canopy walk is a tower that anchors several hundred meters of walking platforms in the tops of the forest.
"Cordial welcome to the tree-canopy-walk in Hainich National Park"
That much we knew From the park website. There was no way to tell in advance that it was a popular attraction, but it was, with several tour coaches in the parking lot and a busy beer-garden style restaurant for after your walk.
The stroll from the parking lot was pretty. Along the way was a sign explaining that the tallest tree in the world was in Redwood National Park in California, at 115m, while the tallest in Germany was a Douglas fir at 63m. These trees were 20-30m tall.
You climb a lot of stairs to the top of the 44m-high tower for views.
Looking over the forest, fall color is showing everywhere.
There are optional climbing and swinging routes for kids.
It appears they have found the ivory-billed woodpecker.
Goslar
We had a good, and economical, lunch in the beergarten cafe: huge bowls of pea soup with bread for €2.50 each. Then it was time to hit the road for the 150km to Goslar.
This hotel was booked through Expedia, and at a special rate (a 4-star hotel for US$80/night) and pre-paid. Thus when we found its internet was only the use of a T-Mobile hotspot at something an hour, with a signal so weak we can't connect in the room, David was ready to cancel the reservation and find a different hotel. Except for the pre-paid thing. No refunds. OooKayyyyyy then, we'll work with it.
Tomorrow poke around Goslar (we've an Earl daytrip writeup to help) and get the laundry done somehow. Just two weeks to go now.
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