Day 9--Lubeck, Germany

I guess not many English speaking tourists go to Lubeck in northern Germany, but they should. We stuck to the one mile square old city, which sits on an island and used to be encased in medieval walls. It was the capital of the Hansiatic League, a group of city states run by merchant interests that clubbed together to defeat the pesky pirates and make money in trade, especially in salt. 






There are seven lovely spires on the skyline of the tiny old city.  We walked around enjoying them and the narrow old streets with their roses and other flowers. The Germans love blooms, and the pack flowers in wherever they can.


All the main churches here were destroyed in the bombing raid that happened on Palm Sunday Night in 1943.  It must have been a horrible night. The Lubeckers eventually rebuilt the churches along their original lines, but much of the old decorations were lost.






Some, like the one here, were repainted in the old fashioned way.  I enjoyed the fact that these are all brick, and they are known as brick neoGothic buildings.

Here you can see that the bells of the old St. Mary's fell on that night, and they left them where they lay, on the broken stones.

Another memorial of that time are these stumble markers. I had read about them before, and I found them here in front of the synagogue.  They are placed in front of buildings that once housed people removed by the Nazis. All of these peopled died. They are slightly raised so that you have to think about them as you walk over them.

Here is one of the medieval towers with a house built right into it. It made me think of Rahab's house in Joshua. 

We took a boat tour around the old city too. 





Then we eventually made our way to the train station for a 4pm train to Copenhagen.  Our train went right onto a ferry for a 45 minute crossing over the Baltic Sea to mainland Denmark.  It was a nice chance to relax after a busy few days. Cheryl is very good at figuring out metro systems, so we got to our hotel speedily and were pleased to find it right on the historic old harbor with many historic ships and colorful houses right outside our window.