Hikin' up the Brocken, Germany's Fußball spielen mit Poland

I woke up REALLY late today (at about 8:00) and went downstairs. We ate out on the porch, and they made me eat so much I though I was going to bust a gut, they joked with me that I couldn't leave Germany until I gained about 5 more kilograms. We put our packs on and drove up the Brocken to our starting point. We started off on a pretty steep trail, I didn't think it was so bad, but I guess not everyone went to Philmont, did they? Alot of people were getting tired pretty fast. Sam, Gator, Lorenz, Duc, Millie, Lauren, Marcus, Chris, and Me took a different path. This one was shorter, but more steep. We raced up the rocky trails, we had to jump from boulder to boulder, (not like buzzard's roost, no 100 foot falls) We walke don for another hour, and cmape back on the main trail, barely missing the other group. We walked up another huge road, and after another 45 minutes, we reached the top. The top has a hotel and a radio and television signal station, and a small museum about the national park. Duc and I bought some french fries with some fruity ketchup, and had a pretty good lunch. I fell asleep at the table, and I think I might have gotten messed with while I was asleep. We then went up to the museum, it was a little like a nature center at our national parks, but alot nicer. We left there, took a few pictures, and walked back down. Some of the people who were too tired took the train back down, and the people in Ilsenburg needed a headstart to get back. We took the easy trail down, and got down alot faster than I thought I would. We then left for home, Lorenz drives like an F1 racer, dodging cyclists and whatever else is in the road, apparantly everybody drives like this, so I guess they think we drive like old ladies in America.

We went home, and I worked on my presentation for tomorrow. We ate some pizza (I'm starting to miss Iron Gate) and played some ERS and speed. We walked into the living room and watched the soccer game. Its kind of like a huge tournament with every country going against each other. Germany played against Poland. It started off without scoring, Germany took the lead. Lorenz and I drank another one of those really great Czech beers during halftime. Germany scored again, and kept Poland from scoring the rest of the game. Lorenz asked me about our Cherokee heritage, so I told him all I knew about Clementine (thats her name, right?) and he asked me if she was painted up and threw tomahawks. I love these stereotypes they have, its just something you have to hear to understand. After the game, I went upstairs. Tomorrow we are going to walk around the older parts of Wernigerode, this town is so pretty, all of the houses are timberframe and have red roofs, it kind of brings you back to the old days and makes me forget just how ridiculously big Wernigerode is, even though everything is so close together.

Tchüss