On the Fichtelberg
Erzgebirge region, eastern Germany
July 22, 2003
They did us a favor, turning us back at the Czech borders -- two favors, actually. National Car Rental would have taken my butt to the cleaners if anything had happened to the little Ford Fiesta wagon they rented me in Amsterdam were I driving it around in Prague. But more important, we got to explore the Erzgebirge -- who ever heard of it? -- a cute little mountain region in eastern Germany. They opened the chalet for us, their only customers that night, and after checking in we wandered -- on foot, National Car Rental -- across the Czech border, into a little Tijuana-style village where Vietnamese folks were selling bootlegged CDs and cartons of cigarettes. Dinner & beer were, predictably cheap, even at the only cafe open in town.
In the morning, meat with a side of meat, and then up to the Fichtelberg, the tallest peak in the region, where we rode the chairlift to the peak and took a few rides on a summer toboggan. Click on the small picture of the steel tube track to see a short Quicktime movie of that ride.
