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Published: July 18th 2008
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Lübeck... Lübeck is a very cool town that just screams medieval times. The old town where we were is situated on an island. There are incredible oxidized church towers rising above you wherever you turn and look. There is a great central square where the street market takes place daily with vendors selling all sorts of wares and fresh food. Seemingly every street off the one main road is paved in old cobble stone with a maze of tiny cobbled alleys running from it.
We arrived by train at about 10:30 and proceeded to Holsten Gate, a mini castle like structure that once regulated travel into the town. From here it was off on another scavenger hunt. Heidi and I took advantage of this two hour window to get out of the rain (the only time it rained on us there), and grab some marzipan cafe latte (Lübeck is famous for marzipan, more on that later). In all honesty, this may have been the best cup of coffee I have EVER had ANYWHERE!
As the groups finished up with their scavenger hunt, we directed them over to the marzipan museum. Marzipan is basically a paste made out of ground
almonds and sugar. The main floor has just about any kind of treat that you could ever want with marzipan. Upstairs there is a sort of wax museum where all the figures are made from marzipan. There is even a life sized recreation of the Last Supper made entirely out of marzipan! Kind of reminds you of the Griswold's pulling off the freeway to see the worlds largest ball of lint on their way to Walley World or something. Actually, it was pretty darn impressive.
After they finished taking in all that is marzipan, they were granted a very popular couple of hours to shop. Lübeck is made for shopping. Aside from the main market square, there are miles of pedestrian only streets filled with interesting little shops catering to every conceivable shoppers demand.
At 3pm we all met at the Medieval museum for a tour. The kids made bricks the old fashioned way. They all had to mix the clay, put it in the mold, and then try and get it out of the mold and properly shaped. It was a challenge, and a real eye opener to every day life for people in Lübeck and around
the world until well into the 20th century. It took our kids about 40 minutes to make their one brick a piece. Workers used to make up to 600 bricks a day per person. Then, you can consider the fact that there is a church in Lübeck that required upwards of 40 Million bricks to build. Simply mind boggling!
Also at this particular museum, we got to see and hold medieval items such as a short sword and a bow. After that we baked our own bread and bratwurst for dinner on a stick over a fire. This really sounds a lot easier than it actually is! The fire pit quickly became a graveyard for bratwurst and bread that didn't quite behave and stay on the stick.
A real hit during dinner was watching the kids sword fight one another with padded swords and try thier hand a shooting a replica bow and padded arrows. They were given expert instruction on the proper techniques for both from our archeologist guides.
After saying our thank you's and goodbye's to the museum staff, it was back to the hostel to prepare for the disco! The girls spent a solid
two hours preparing and were of course fashionably late to the dance floor. Lukas was the DJ and Drew was the first to hit the dance floor, breaking the ice with the worm. The kids seemed to have a blast and they danced and chatted for the whole two hours, much to the chagrin of some of the other guests. The hostel owners were great though, and provided us with pretzels and chips.
We shut down the tunes at about 10 and gathered all the kids, still well awake and a bit hyperactive, for a walk back to Holstens Gate. Holstens gate is brilliantly lit up at night, and the grass park that leads up to it proved to be a great place for the kids to expend some more energy, or in some cases, to catch a second wind that would last all night.
Back to the hostel and lights out! Ha, funny, I know! Heidi, Monika and I stood watch until about 1:30. Nothing more than the expected noise and ceaseless activity. Nobody was going to sleep on this night!
Waking at 8, I was suprised that we were still allowed to reside at the
hostle and granted breakfast privlages as well. We hadn't been kicked out! These folks sure are understanding!
Off to the train station on this cloudy Friday morning for a jaunt to the Baltic Sea. It was decided that this was not in fact beach weather, and thus, we headed for the pool. The pools here in Germany are awesome! This one had an indoor/ outdoor main pool with fountains and a little grotto like passageway. Several hot tubs inside and out, a couple of waterslides, a heated saltwater pool and saunas were also found to reside therein. There was also a path from the pool right to the beach which was not more than 100 meters away. Nobody from our group ventured that way however, for fear of hypothermia.
After three hours at the pool (which is no doubt longer than any of the kids slept the night before), we were off to catch the train home. A 30 minute walk through the little spa/ beach town (quite an affluent place as attested to by the sightings of multiple Porsche's, new model Audi's (including one new
R8!), and one Ferrari) led us to the station. We made the
train with a whole 2 minutes (literally) to spare.
One would think that at least some of these kids would be nearing the end of consciousness by now. If you do think so, then you would be sadly mistaken! Animated conversations interspersed with laughter was prevalent for the entire journey. They are all no doubt still up and enjoying themselves at this hour.
I've heard of plans to stay up the entire night before our flight home so that those who do so will be able to sleep on the plane. If this past day is any indication... that plan is destined to fail!
All in all it was a very fun overnight trip! There was a little something for everyone, shopping, exploring, staying up all night, dancing, swimming etc., and I think that everyone made the most of it.
The farewell dinner is upon us tomorrow already! The kids are talking about beginning to pack and charging iPods for the plane trip. Some are already beginning to express feelings of sadness as we prepare to head home.
Check back over the weekend for some pics from the farewell dinner!
Enjoy!
-Ben
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