Though no White Christmas down in the valley, we took the dog for a frolic through the snow up on the highlands near of the Schwarzes Moor along the Lange Rhรถn (previously), an extensive basalt plateau about eight hundred metres in elevation.
We saw the former border crossing Grabenberg with preserved East German watchtower, a relic in this nature preserve not far from the Dreilandereck, the tri-point where Bavaria, Hessen and Thรผringen meet.
Due to the constrains of the landscape and connecting roads, the partition extended DDR territory five hundred metres into West Germany in a horseshoe-shaped strip nicknamed die Badehose (the bathing trunks), which provided border guards considerable challenges in keeping Bavarian tourist from wandering into this invisible no man’s land.
