2007-06-28

For the fifth or sixth time since 2001, Louise and I held part of our summer vacation in Germany. Sophia was also with us, naturally, and so was her Grandmother Bente and Grandfather Erik. We were away for eight days, between June 16 and June 23, with single sleepovers in Braunschweigh and Minden and, in-between, five nights in Cochem at River Mosel.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

We rose at 7 AM, did the last packing, closed up the apartment and were picked up by Bente and Erik at twenty past eight. And then we went south directly towards Rødby. A queue at Guldborgsund resulted in us missing our reservation at the ferry at 10:45, but luckily the ferries sail one every half hour, so at 11:15 we were on board and headed for Puttgarden on Fehmarn.

From Puttgarden we drove on south, and, after stopping in for a cup of coffee on the way, soon entered A1, the south going highway. Near Hamburg we drove off the highway near Harburg, in order to avoid a queue - which only resulted in even more delay. First of all, Louise and Bente discovered a baby-thing-superstore (Baby Store) which they just HAD to look through. And secondly - there was no easy way to go further south from that place.

Anyway, a bit south of Seevetal we finally caught the highway again, and followed it for a bit, until we reached the B3 road, which took us directly, via Bergen, to Celle, the old residence of the regents of Brunswick-Lüneberg. In Denmark the city is best known as the final home and resting place of exiled queen Caroline Mathilde, who died in Celle in 1775. The town's castle belonged to the Queen's brother, King George III of England.

The town centre is, with it's more than 450 half-timbered houses, incredibly pleasant to walk through, and it more than made up for delaying our arrival in Brunswick. We found a restaurant, Argentinisches Steakhouse on Runde Strasse, which served for us the most gigantic dishes. My mother-in-law had a 500g Burger, Louise had some prok medallions, and Erik and I had the house specialty - a Maxi Schnitzel for the Men Only menu. It turned out to be about three times the size of a normal Schnitzel, dressed with a mountain of fried mushrooms, and rather delicious too. We both recommend it :-)

At 18.45 after a good dinner and a small walk further on through the city, we continued our drive towards Brunswick and the Hotel Ritter St. Georg on Alte Knochenhauerstrasse, which we reached about 19:40, quite tired in a pleasant way. The hotel is situated in a renovated 16th century building, part half-timbered and very cozy. Louise, Sophia and I had a "suite" on the Second floor, Bente and Erik had a slightly smaller room on the first. The hotel lies on the outskirts of the old town, and is thus free of the worst inner city noises, but it is still within walking distance of all the attractions of the city.

When we had made ourselves comfortable, I tucked in Sophia, while Bente and Louise went out in search of icecream. Meanwhile I read a bit about James Boswell's stay in the city in 1764. When Louise returned we ate our icecream, and were sound asleep soon after, the end of a long but interesting day.