Lovely Lübeck

We know each other pretty well, we six, and we see each other with some regularity, but spending more than an evening together is something special and something we like to do.

This is perhaps the 5th or 6th or 7th - I don't know! - little trip that we've made with Ulli+Ilsemarie and Klaus+Johanna.  Sometimes it's two nights, sometimes it's only one.  But we enjoy the travel time (always on the train) as well as the time at our destination.

This time - Lübeck!  We only have one night, so we don't want to go too far away.  Lübeck is only a couple of hours by train.  But there is always something to do on the train.

History?  Lübeck has it in spades.  Beginning with the train station- since that's where we landed.  It is a little jewel of the Art Nouveau period, though as we learned, they tore down two town gates from the 14th c. to build the station!

Across the River Trave which made the old city a protected island. 

 First stop, the tourist center, not immune from political posters.  Here they're looking for demonstrators against the trade agreements folks in the US are demonstrating against too.  Global solidarity.

And the salt warehouses.  Lübeck was a major salt trade center, "white gold" it was it those heady times.  Great old buildings.  And you can still get lots of interesting salts here from specialty shops.

Then our little hotel.  On the It was built in 1304, and had several lives as a site for crafts, for instance a wheelwright, since the lower floor was built so horses and their carts could drive through. Much later it was a restaurant, but now a charming and exclusive hotel. Three rooms.  We took over the whole place!

It's on the bell foundry street.  A mouthful: Glockengießerstraße.  !!

Cool. Ground floor - the breakfast hall and such, first floor two rooms, second floor two room - one front and one back. One was reserved for the owner.

 The garden and the flying buttresses that keep the building from collapsing!

 Narrow stairs, even more than in our house!

And the Alice in Wonderland door.  No idea where it led, but I wondered if there was a shaft back there leading down, down, down.

And then, find a place to eat.  Honestly, didn't we eat on the train?  Yes, but now it's lunch time so we have to eat again! Great lunch in another historical building and there's always great beer to be had here in Germany.

 A little walk around.  As in Bremen, there are brass markers to memorialize Jews who were killed by the Nazis.

Lots of little alleyways, many with these sorts of buttresses to help hold up the walls.

There are of course lots of churches.  Some have been de-consecrated and are now used for civic events, concerts and Christmas markets.

This particular church, heavily bombed in WWII, is one such.  There are remnants of painted decorations on the walls and arches, and, newly installed, an elevator to the spire.  Yea!

Great views of Lübeck from above, and no need to use a drone.

Then it was time to eat again. Why I don't weigh 300 pounds, I don't know. This time, afternoon coffee and cake at Niederegger, one of the premier marzipan producers in the world.  I know, because I have eaten my share.  These figures, representing the traders, are made of marzipan.  Yuck. They must really be dried out.

The traditional hazelnut cake with marzipan topping, was however moist and y u m m y. And not sweet!  Really, you can eat all of this and feel good (though of course Werner and shared).

Then off to another church, this time St. Mary's (the Marienkirche).

 The interior of course looks even higher than the exterior.  Soaring piers and wonderful light.

Over in a corner, there was a clock - and what a clock!  An astronomical clock that will tell you all the name days, holy days, days of the week, astrological signs, time of day and season of the year and a few others - until 2080. At least.

 And would you believe it - the next day was Werner day!  (But for Werner, every day is Werner day.)

There are many treasures here, among them an altar piece that you simply cannot get close enough to to appreciate fully.  But other treasures are more approachable.  Here, a relief of the Last Supper and a corner, lower left, that is blackened from so many hands touching the little mouse for luck.

And outside, the devil himself.  Not Werner, the other guy.  And I guess people rub him for some reason too since his horns are so shiny.

A walk around, a meander back to the hotel, a little rest.  Then dinner.  Goodness, it's already been three hours since we ate!!

This time the Schiffergesellschaft (another mouthful - the Shipping Society).  Waaay too dark for pictures worth reproducing, but full of tradition.  Carved benches, model ships hanging from the ceiling, candelabra with candles, for heaven's sake!  Who sees that anymore??  The food was good, the service passable.  So it is.

One of the great things about our little hotel was that two of the rooms had a real living rooms for lounging around and talking.  The owner formerly had a wine bar so each room is furnished with multiple wine choices and plenty of glasses.  So we opened a bottle or two and had a discussion or four.  Lovely, lovely day.

Then it was sleep and when we awoke - wouldn't you know - time to eat again!  My goodness, what a spread!!  Two kinds of Leberwurst, four kinds of sliced cold cuts, cheeses, herring salad, home-made jams, tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh flowers, candles.  It was simply lovely to look at and so good to eat.

So, pack up and put the suitcases in the hallway and see more stuff.   Here is the Hostel of the Holy Spirits (Heligen Geist Hospital).  This town is along a pilgrimage route - the Way of St. James - and this place was designed to house the pilgrims for a night or two.  Later, little cubbies were built and old retired residents of Lübeck lived there.  Now, it is a museum and a place where vendors sell their wares at Christmas time.

 There's a wealth of paintings.

 We hung around a bit because it was raining, and how!

Finally out, and to the Hanse Museum, newly opened, near the old town gate.

It traces the history of Lübeck and other cities of the Hanseatic League   (you don't want to read all this - it goes on for hundreds of years).  We were there almost three hours.  I thought my back and knees would die, but it was really interesting and designed with so many bells and whistles you could go back many times and see it many different ways.  Cool.

But then we had to eat again.  I kid you not. And since the weather was not nice, we picked a place close by which was unfortunately not so nice.  Aaarrrg.  So it goes.  But we ate and eating is what we do.  Besides talking.

And the rain kinda rained on our parade this last afternoon, but still OK. Werner found a clock shop, sadly already shut for the weekend.  But you can always peer through the windows and imagine...

So to the train station only to discover the train home was delayed, at least 15 minutes.  So many people complain about delayed trains here.  I seldom do.  No saint or forgiving person am I (and my Yoda-speak you can forgive) but really, there are lots of trains and they do come and I am OK with that.  There are trains!!!

And we talked and read the paper again and looked at the landscape and chatted with the other folks who sat nearby. And we decided that we are really lucky folks to have the time and means and desire to travel a bit and hang around. At least I decided that.  Looking forward to the next little trip.