In Oberhof, Thuringia

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Hi Family and Friends,

I went to bed pretty late at about 01:30 and at 04:00, I was up again! Bleary eyed, I went through the motions of taking a bath, stuffing the last few things into our suitcases and making sandwiches for our train journey.

I figured that if we left the house at 06:00, we would have more than enough time to get the 06:40 train at Hbf or the Main Central Train Station. I didn't reckon on the fact that we would miss the bus as we saw it merrily driving away....!

"The Small Young Gentleman" found it all pretty amusing as after all, he had his own suitcase to roll around so all was well with the world. I, on the other hand, knew that it might be a problem as the bus we needed leaves every 20 minutes and taxis where we were, were already occupied because we live quite near the Hbf. Ah well, here goes! We began to walk. As some of you may know, walking along with children is a lot of fun but not when you’re in a hurry ‘cos that’s the time that everything else apart from walking seems to be that so much more interesting! Oh yes!!
I sweated along, with “Oh yes, lovely” while inside I was grinding my teeth! Luckily, along the way the bus came along, and we jumped in. Good thing too as the train was already on the platform (German efficiency of course) and was ready to leave in 4 minutes! Luckily, I had bought a magazine to read the evening before ‘cos we didn’t have any time to do so now.

What did I buy? I bought the very first German edition of “OK!” magazine. Can you believe it? I know. I’m so crass!!

Anyway, I had bought our train ticket online from Deutsche Bahn for a really cool price of €66,00 return which included the reservation cost. Children, if travelling with their parents, are free. Yipee!

It was pretty dark when we left and the first part of our journey from Berlin to Erfurt was uneventful although "The Small Young Gentleman" was given a special Childrens Train Travel Passport which made him feel very important.

We looked out of the window and as we left the German capital, picture book houses and garden allotments appeared on the scene. "The Small Young Gentleman" played his Game Boy whilst I read the gossip pages of OK! And later we played cards ( Black Jack! ), snakes and ladders and ludo. I have a magnetic box of games which is pretty mobile and a reasonable size. Invaluable. It also has Rummy and Backgammon but I don’t know how to play it. I have tried but it just seemed silly!

We got to Erfurt 2.5 hours later and had 20 minutes to get the next connecting train. Ample time you would think but not when Erfurt station is under construction work and therefore has no elevators which mean a lot of dragging suitcases up long flight of steps. Suddenly, 20 minutes doesn’t seem like such a lot of time any more!

The train from Berlin to Efurt was a fast ICE (inter-city) train and we had reserved a compartment which we had to ourselves. The train from Erfurt to Oberhof was a RE (Regional Train). It’s comfortable but only free-seating so help yourself. We did. The journey took only 25 minutes but as the train began to climb up the cliff, the landscape and the weather began to change. I was concerned that we hadn’t yet seen any snow and then suddenly snow began to come in sight. Not a lot, but enough to get us both excited as we went through the mountain tunnel and further up the cliffside.

At last we were here. Oberhof station was pretty small and quiet. A typical train station in the country. There were no taxis but a bus was stationed outside so we took it and it dropped us right outside the Hotel Panorama! According to a friend of mine, apparently the hotel was THE hotel for the glamour set in the old GDR ( Thanks Andre ) but now it struggles to fill up as it’s the largest hotel in Oberhof with a long history and lots and lots of rooms and so it sells itself as a family unit, a conference centre and a comfortable place for retirees!

The hotel does have the element of Eastern Germany in its look but everywhere else looks just quaint. No where did I have the feeling that we were living in the past although I did see a large number of Russian tourists in the town…!

We got to the hotel at 10:30 and since check-in was at 15:30 ( You’ve got to be kidding! ), we dropped our stuff in the Luggage Room and ran out into the sunshine. I needed to make enquiries about ski schools, equipment, etc.

My goodness, it was good to see snow again. Real. White. Snow. I mean, it wasn’t Norway or Switzerland but by God, it would do!

The town “centre” was about 10 minutes away so we dawdled along and "The Small Young Gentleman" spent a lot of time jumping from one snow lump to another. The sun was shining and the air felt good n’ fresh. We went to the tourist office to pick up some leaflets and a map. Oberhof is very compact and everywhere is walkable. You could of course drive or take the bus, but walking is pretty acceptable. We love walking and hiking and lots of people were doing the same. The centre consisted of a mini ice-skating rink, sausage stalls, cake shops and restaurants, the “Exotarium” a sort of zoo/ aquarium for exotic creatures and at every angle, a ski shop or direction to the ski lift.

Once we got to the crossroads that would lead us away from the town centre, we decided to turn right and take the road and hike to the alpine skiing slopes and bobsleigh and skeleton track.

It took us quite a while but the hike was great and we took it among ourselves to drink the mountain water from a stream that we found. I must say that it was the most refreshing and sweetest water that I have ever drunk. I’m not for drinking water that has “tastes” or flavours. I don’t even like carbonated water and don’t even get me started on tap water. This stream water however, was just heaven!

We got to the “Bobbahn” or Bob train and saw this huge chute. It was the bobsleigh track and lots of children were training on it. They were all fully equipped with their bob helmets and bob suits and their parents running around like crazy. You couldn’t really see much at that time so we decided to continue our hike and return later because we could see the ski chairs lifts but we couldn’t find the ski lift. Ah yes, there they were.

We were finally here. I could make enquiries. We could finally put on some skis and be off! It wasn’t that easy though. The ski schools had to be booked by telephone. Appointments had to be made. It wasn’t just a walk- in-and-lets-do-it thing! So different from the Czech Republic. Ah well!

Meanwhile, we watched the skiers and decided to take a well-deserved rest. When you’re in Thuringia you have just got to have the traditional snack of BRATWÜRST (grilled sausage) with mustard stuffed in a bun of bread called a “brötchen”. I also had a small Pilsner and "The Small Young Gentleman" had hot chocolate. Yummy!

During this time, I made a couple of calls to various ski schools. Zilch. Not available ‘till after 18:00. Leave a message.

OK. It was now about 14:00 and time to make a return trip back to the hotel in order to “Check - In” officially.

We went back to the bobsleigh track and we were just in time to see the training competitions take place. Finding a reasonable spot wasn’t as easy as friends and family of the children had been there earlier so we decided to go to the very top of the chute where the “Junior” Section started. It was good to see these kids whizz down the hill at top speeds. They were very accommodating and didn’t mind us being there, cramping their style!

We got back to our hotel, retrieved our stuff and went to our room. We were on the 4th floor. Room 411. It was a nice ensuite double room with full facilities. We had had a long day so we decided to have a long around the hotel and check-out the Childrens’ Programme. I didn’t want "The Small Young Gentleman" to be in the Kids Club all day as we were here to have some quality time but I didn’t mind him having his “freetime” with other children doing whatever he wanted to do in a creative way!

The hotel had a huge indoor sports hall, bowling section, a pool table, an arcade, a museum, a sauna, a massage and wellness centre, a swimming pool, an arcade and other stuff that I can’t remember. They were all pretty much child-friendly. It even had a dance club!

At 18:00, it was time for dinner. We had booked a half board weekend so breakfast and dinner was included. It was in buffet form and each guest had an allocated table which was difficult to find ‘cos they had mis-written our surname with only half of it being there. Genschow is not a common name but still!

We shared the table with a young German couple.

The buffet was pretty good with lots of healthy alternatives for vegetarians or anyone who just likes to have healthy food. Hot meal choices of Fish and meat with cooked vegetables were available as well as salads, cold cuts and cheese. There were lots of German breads, and the dessert table was full of children piling their plates up. After I had made sure that the "The Small Young Gentleman" had eaten a respectable amount of “good food”, I let him run free around the dessert table. We were on holiday after all so I closed my eyes to the amount of jelly he stuffed into himself with a lone bowl of a disgusting swirl of clotted cream!

"The Small Young Gentleman" although still under 6 years of age is an independent soul just like me, so at 19:00 he gave me a quick kiss and darted off to find the other children in the “Kinder Club”. I have to say that the hotel was full of children running around by themselves and taking the elevator alone and for once, I wasn’t in the least concerned.

Not a lot I mean!


Just a little bit!!


At 20:00, I went to look for him and we spent the rest of the evening watching German TV on the cable Childrens’ Channel.

Horror of Horrors I fell asleep only to wake up in the middle of the night to find the "The Small Young Gentleman" slumped over my knee!


Well then. Good Night!

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Photos

In the Snow
Yummy mountain water. The water was one of the sweetest I have ever tasted and that's saying a lot as I don't like water with "taste"!