Vacation - Timmendorfer Strand

When we tell folks here "We're going to the USofA"  they always say "Have a nice vacation!"  I kindly tell them that that is not a vacation (please don't be insulted, my dear US family and friends!) because, as I say, "Vacation is sitting in a chair reading a book, going to the beach and doing nothing, heading to a place where you just do w h a t e v e r."  And that is exactly what we did for four days in Timmendorfer Strand.  Vacation.

Strand in German means beach and it is a lovely beach, perhaps even by Florida standards. Or close. Like the Gulf, waves are optional here.    

Here we have Strandkörbe -"beach baskets", if you translate it literally.  Traditionally, it's a woven  frame - hence the "basket" - with a comfy place to sit AND be sheltered from the sometimes too cool wind but be able to face the sun.  The "drawers" below the seats pull out and are used as foot rests.  Nevertheless you have to rent them and if you haven't rented one, you are locked out.  Really, there is a LOCK on that fence.  No free sitting in the Strandkorb.

Also, no free walking on the beach.  You pay a "tax" to be there, either by the day or week or month or year.  It's not much, but ..... Germans will find a way to tax you. And you think Americans tax too much???

Our apartment was great!  Modern, light, more than plenty of room for us two, a nice deck, though the cool wind kept us from enjoying it as much as we'd have liked.  Regardless, the deck was nice to look at.  And frankly, apartments are often less expensive than hotel rooms, with more space along with eating and relaxing options.

We settled in, walked about the place and had dinner at a local Chinese restaurant (!), and talked leisurely about what to do the following days. No pressure.

Since the weather was so wonderful, Day One we decided to rent bikes, take the train to a neighboring village, and then bike home.  We did it that way because then we'd have the wind at our backs. We are not stupid. :-))

Lunch in a local dive:  fried fish, french fries and beer.  All yummy, of course.

There's lots of beach and restaurants and shops and playgrounds and so on all along the Baltic Sea.  After months - MONTHS! - of not riding a bike, the 15 kilometers getting back was enough.  Don't want to push it.

Next it was a walking day.  In the sand.  On the beach.  That was challenging, too, to my lazy legs and I felt it soon enough.

There's  a pier.  Walk out, take a look, walk back.  But there was a small area between the posts where young lovers found a place to hang their love locks.  It's becoming ubiquitous.

We checked out the local shops later on and I have to say, in general, this is not my kind of town.  When the shop window displays glittered-up high tops for €850.00 (!!!!!!) I think I am in the wrong neighborhood.  And the cars!  Porsches galore, Mercedes SLs by the score, plus the occasional Ferrari, Bentley, Tesla, Wiesmann, Triumph, MG or other classic roadster.  Werner did crane his neck a bit at the cars! And this is the off-season.  I can't imagine the summer.

There was time to read and time to stitch, too.  I had (re)discovered a hand towel bought who-knows-when and found a pattern that would work.  It looked easy enough, and it was, but sometimes I simply cannot count and I took out a lot of stitches before getting it right!  But now it's done.  If you're interested in it, let me know.  It's yours.

Next day was check-out-the-area day, so we drove to Eutin, a small town that is home to a lovely Schloss and a charming old town center. 

I haven't done anything to this photo. You walk through a short tunnel-like entrance and you're IMPRESSED - it hits you - with this view of the town square and its church and town hall.  You could think for just a moment that it was 1750. 

The local Manor House/Castle is impressive too. First established in the 12th c. and added to and renovated for centuries afterwards, it is now a museum and cultural center.  The gardens are being renovated and reworked getting ready for a European Garden Show next year.  That may be worth a return trip.

 

 Later there was time for coffee and cake at the "Kunst Café" next door.  Home made cake and classy surroundings and service. 

We never lacked for cake, café or not.  Another day we bought a slice - ONE SLICE - of carrot cake at the local bakery that was enough for a giant.  But we managed to devour it. We have giant appetites for cake.

That evening we Skyped with Hunter on his 18th birthday.  Oh the magic of the internet!

And then next morning it was check out time!  Pack up!  That was too quick.  We had to get up early but that also meant there was enough time to stop in Lübeck and take a walk around.  We've been there several times, but at least twice was in deep winter for the Christmas Market (very nice) but it was so DARK you couldn't see anything, so we had some discoveries to make.

The place is full of churches, big churches, and lots of towers and though the town is less than half the size of Bremen, it seemed to us they had many more older buildings than Bremen, some built right on top of each other.

And here we are at Lübeck's town symbol, the Holsten Gate from 1464. If we've ever brought marzipan to you, this was on the wrapper because that's the best marzipan you can get and that's what we buy.

Ah. So that was it.  It was a nice long four days away.

When's the next vacation?