To Quedlinburg and Wernigerode

On a tip from John and Tania Lyon, who came here with their two daughters last year, we decided to drive down to Quedlinburg on Saturday. This is a little town in between Leipzig and Magdeburg whose old downtown district was all put on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1994 because it is all halftimbered and crooked and darling. My dad would get "quainted out" pretty quickly here. We started out at a market outside the city wall where we bought pumpkins for the kids, some vintage postcards for Rob, and a Playmobil castle for only 10 euro (these are pricey toys, and MA had been thinking of spending too much money for a castle, so it was a great financial boon to have found one for so little). Once everyone was happy with their chattelizing, we wandered through town.
Part of the charm of this place is just that it isn't yet all prettified. As we were driving up, most of the signs had little additions stuck onto them saying "and Quedlinburg!" as if the new tourist office had been hard at work to keep up with the visitors. I would characterize plenty of the residents as stunned at the number of people who now want to walk around and spend money and take pictures of everything. We had brought a lunch, but decided to eat at a pub on this square just because it was so inexpensive. Turned out to be good too!

This is just a random street in the old town but off the beaten tourist track. The town owes a lot of its existence to a Frauenstift built by the Kaiser for widows and noble daughters. Quedlinburg actually ruled the Reich of Saxony for a brief period through two women who were caring for the child-King Otto III. Their names were Theophano and Adelheid (and you'd have to have a really substantial-sounding name like that if you're going to be taken seriously as a ruler). It was also where Germany's first woman doctor was born and worked. Dorothea Erxleben lived from 1715-1762 and was granted a special dispensation to receive her diploma and practice. I will here make a prediction that because there are good female roots, that it will become a big feminist and lesbian tourist site. This is the town hall and it was beautiful. If I were living in Germany now (permanently -- I mean I know I'm here) I would like to become a restorer, and more specifically I would like to do gold leafing. There is so much being done everywhere we visit that I would have no shortage of work and with gold leafing, I'd get to go to all the most fun places. But I would love to know how in the world they're restoring these daub and wattle places -- I just wouldn't have the nerve and wouldn't even know where to begin when there are no right angles remaining! The real estate is currently very reasonable for anyone looking for a European home. I'm still trying to talk Rob into it.
The kids are all pointing here to a small dog on the shield which is called Quedel. He is the city's mascot and is said to protect all under him. One last thing, I'd recommend wearing really really good shoes -- the cobblestone streets haven't been smoothed out in many years. In fact, skip shoe leather all together -- wear all-season tires instead.
We decided to Wernigerode which is only about 15 miles down the road and has obviously been overshadowing Quedlinburg for years. It is well-polished and has plenty of tourists and well-kept half-timbered houses, and a much grander castle on the mountain. Maddie and I walked up to the castle, but by time I got there, I so desperately needed a restroom and the nefarious castellans had put them inside the courtyard where we needed tickets and didn't have money or time for them, that I could only hop around taking pictures before we had to run down the hill again so I could relieve myself! It will give us a reason to come back and visit again.

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