201 years old and still tastes great!

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I am so lucky to be able to travel off the beaten path. Today, though the usual mix of a little bit of sun, lots of heavy clouds and intermittent downpours my hosts, Horst and Waltraud Junglaus from Hamburg offered to drive us( my friend Val and I) to Travemunde and Lübeck. First, we stopped to see some of the ships ( mostly ferries) from Sweden and Finland unload their cargo of trucks. It was like watching Lucy and Ethel by the conveyor belt except these weren't chocolates rolling steadily downhill but truck after truck after truck. These trucks brings good into Germany and then they are transported all over Europe. It was fascinating to watch.
We continued on the seaside resort town of Travemunde. There are great walking and biking trails that go on for miles and miles through many little villages. Across the Trave river we could see huge mounds of sand. It looked like the theme for this exhibit was China as many of the structures were multi -tiered in pagoda shapes. The beautiful 'tall' ship 'Passat' is docked here. It is the sister shipped to the one in Groton, CT at the Coast Guard Academy( a spoil of war). The Passat is now used as a youth hostel.
Our walk was cut short as the rains came tumbling down. We ducked into the Niederegger shop for coffee and hot chocolate. This is where Marzipan has been made since 1806. The story goes that during a time when flour was hard to find some enterprising people thought of grinding up almonds for flour (don't ask me where they got all those almonds in North Germany- that is another story). Eureka! A new taste sensation was born and since that day the Niederegger company is the KING of marzipan.
Lübeck has to be the most beautiful town in Germany.... keep in mind I am very fickle but it has a very special charm with a spectacular Rathaus (town hall), massive brick turrets where the old town gate formerly was, original salt and grain storage buildings, timbered house, little lanes with each corner more inviting than the other. And, of course, flowers everywhere. Trust me, if a place can be this enticing in the pouring rain, then it is even more beautiful on a warm sunny day.
The queen of the buildings has to be St. Marien church right in the center of town. It was started in 1200 A.D. That is not a misprint. It is a Roman basilica that was turned into a Gothic cathedral around 1251. The twin spires are around 400 feet high. Trust me, it is a lot of bricks.
In 1942, the British bombed the church and the bells crashed down. They were left just as they crashed in a corner of the church to bear witness to the event.
In many cities and towns you can see( often a church) a building left just as it was when it was bombed. Most Germans will tell you that it is a reminder that war never achieves anything positive and only people and buildings suffer.
Do we need to look any further than our newspapers and TV News to see that it is still the same today? As the 1960's song went ," when will they ever learn"?
Caolyn( Gunga)

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