Mountain Majesty and Ping-Pong Matches | Adam Bobbs

We rolled into the Brannenburg train station in the late afternoon, all of us hungry and exhausted from the long travel day. I was excited to begin the final leg of our E3 journey, but I had no clue how amazing our accommodations would turn out to be. But before enjoying the amazing view we had to complete the trek to the hotel. A yellow taxi was awaiting us at the train station, so we promptly loaded our suitcases into the trunk and backseat. Most of us were a little confused – we’ve walked so much on this trip with our bags, why stop now? Little did we know, it was truly a hike to get up to our hotel.

The gravel path up was narrow, constantly twisting and winding next to a little flowing stream. The walk up ended up being a mile and a half, but the mountain air was cool and the surrounding trees provided sufficient shade. When the path finally intersected with a road I was immediately struck with an absolutely stunning view of the mountains. At this point, I knew our week long stay in Brannenburg would be a good one. But once I walked into our hotel, I decided it would be great one. Our hotel rooms are two persons, with a spacious bathroom and no bunk-beds, and the most comfortable we’ve had so far. Still more importantly, all our rooms open to a balcony with the gorgeous mountain view of Brannenburg. The hotel itself has many amenities, including a fabulous game room, with Myer’s favorite foosball table and my long-awaited ping pong table. We even had a 12-person ping pong tournament, with the championship coming down to a showdown between myself and Daniel. The match was back and forth, with long rallies and greatly

placed shots. However, my powerful serves proved to be too much for Daniel, and I earned a 21-16 victory. In addition to their great game room, the dinner they served was excellent and included meat patties, Caprese salad, and spinach tortellini in a cream sauce. What more could I ask for?

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed all of the places we’ve spent time in so far, both Berlin and Hamburg have been incredible, but the mountains in Brannenburg just have something majestic about them, and I’d venture to guess that in a year’s time, some of my fondest memories of E3 will come from this place.