Lubeck

The name might not sound pretty but this charming little city oozes sweetness and charm, literally. Besides its well-preserved ancient city, Lubeck's claim to fame is marzipan, that gooey, sickly sweet almond paste that people the world over either love or loathe. There's, in fact, a museum dedicated to this delicacy, chock full of marzipan versions of fruit, vegetables, meat and other banquet-style dishes. I'm not sure how it's possible that I didn't take pictures but it might have been the month-long veganism speaking.

All this aside, the weather played nice and the city showed us its charm. At the centre of the city lies a St Mary's Church, still being restored from World War II. It's impressive from both the outside and inside:

 

 

 The church is next to the Rathaus, the town hall, also equally impressive.

 

Further through the town, lies a charming series of houses, cafes and museums. We took a casual amble around, a feat that took no more than an hour or so.

It turns out that Lubeck is also home to the Willy Brandt House. For those of you not up on your contemporary German history, Mr. Brandt was the Nobel Peace Prize winning, left-wing journalist turned chancellor of Germany. The museum was surprisingly interesting and at the whopping price of free, a good way to spend a couple of hours.

For those of you up on your German surrealist literature, Gunter Grass's House is also a short walk away. Having never read The Tin Drum nor really enjoying German Surrealist literature, I gave this one a pass. But because Nobel Prize winners are something like London buses, wait and wait and wait and three will show up, you can also go to the Thomas and Heinrich Mann House, also a short walk away. I'm sure this will appeal to a certain set of tourists. But for us, we opted for coffee and (vegan) cake at the Cafe Niederegger at the city's most central branch.

Thus ended our day trip to the north of Germany. We hopped back on a cheap, efficient train and made our way back to Hamburg and 45-minutes later, were transported back to Germany's second city. Onward!