2006-09-26

At 08:30, on Thursday, July 13, we were up and about, and enjoying breakfast in the hotel room designed for that specific purpose

The buffet wasn't overwhelming - there was what could be expected, but absolutely nothing more. I suppose I've just gotten used to four star hotels on our previous trips to Berlin and Potsdam. Unfortunately the selection of hotels in Lübeck, Schwerin and Stralsund doesn't equal that of the capital, so in these cities we pay the same for 3-starred living as we've done for 4-star hotels in the previous years.

The morning was reserved for visiting the few sights which we hadn't manged on the day before. We began by (again) walking down An Der Obertrave along the river, and then turned up along Hartengrube towards the city's cathedral Dom zü Lübeck. Hartengrube and the last part of An Der Obertrave were both quiet and peaceful, and features a number of old and charming residential houses, despite their location right on the outskirts of Lübecks pulsating city life.

We now entreed Lübeck's impressive cathedral which, as most of the other major gothic churces in Northern Germany, was entirely or partly dstroyed during World War 2, but which has since then been rebuilt. The foundation stone was layed in 1173 by Saxon Duke Henry the Lion (d. 1195), and in 1477 the church received it's monumental 17m high cross, created by the local artist Bernt Notke, who has, by the way, also made an altar piece for Aarhus Cathedral. Luckily the church wasn't too badly damaged during the war, and so the cross as well as a large part of the inside ornamentations has survived until this day.

We continued on along Pferdemarkt Parade, Dankwartsgrube and Mühlenstrasse, and then found the old monastery St. Annen and the appurtenant museum on St. Annen Strasse. The museum is home to an impressive collection of church art dating from the early middle age until the rennaissance. Most impressive are the various altar pieces which has been commissioned by the leading citizens of the city throughout the times, but the collection of sculptures in the garden are worth a visit as well. The museum also has a wing dedicated to modern art, but we didn't have time to see that on this visit.

We went further down Sankt Annen Strasse, passed along the Ägidienkirche and Ägidienstrasse until Sandstrasse, and then continued up the centralt pedestrian street Breite Strasse behind the town hall. Here, on the corner of Hüxstrasse, we finally had an opportunity to visit the Niederegger Marcipan company, who celebrated their 200th century this very year. This was reflected in a range of special marcipan variants, but the selection is very impressive even without these jubilee productions - mobiles, books (among them Mann's Buddenbrooks), etc. all of it made of marcipan. We didn't visit their café, although it should be quite nice, but then there's something for us to do on our next visit to the city :) - we ended up buying for about €30-35 worth of marcipan, but I could have spent thrice as much if I hadn't controlled myself.

Last stop in Lübeck was the Marienkirche, just opposite Buddenbrook Haus. This is the third largest church in Germany, and houses, among other things, the famous badly damaged church bells which dropped from the 125m tall tower during the bombardments in 1942. We arrived at the church a few minutes to twelve, not quite by coincidence - we wanted to see the astronomical clock in the church, which each day at noon performs a mechanical play. Following this we were "caught" by a short 10m service complete with organ music, probably intended to coincide with the time of day when they know there are tourists to hear it. It created a good atmosphere, though.

After this we went back to the hotel, where Louise and I had a drink, while my mother picked up the car, so that we could continue our journey along the north coast of Germany.