Queen of the Hanseatic League

---

Geo: 53.8689, 10.6873

We had a full day to explore all of Luebeck. Most of the medieval sights are withing walking distance of the hotel so we made a nice day seeing lots of them. We first went to St. Jacobs Church, but it was closed for a "divine service" so we only saw the outside. Looked like they were having a Saturday morning wedding from the way the people going inside were dressed. Walking farther north then west, we came across the Hospital of the Holy Spirit, Das Heiligen-Geist-Hospital. Construction on it started in the 1260s and is has been used as a hospital, church and old folks home during the last seven centuries. It is still used as a retirement home. Going farther northwest we found the Castle Gate, Burgtor. The gate continues to be an access point for the town with a major road entering through it.

Walking back toward the hotel, we saw a local grocery store, the Penny Markt, and went it to look around. It's always interesting to see what foreign stores have and how things are sold. We needed some conditioner, and I wanted to find hohes-C. Not one of the hotel rooms we have had on this trip have provided conditioner. It is common for European hotels to have no conditioner, but I expected at least some of them to have it so I only brought one small bottle from home. We saw some, but didn't find a travel size. Kay told me to be sure to look for hohes C when we were there. Hohes means high in German. We found the hohes C as boxed fruit juice sold in several flavors. We bought the orange juice and tried it when we returned to the hotel. Pretty good. Not like our Hi-C though. The hohes C is all juice.

We had lunch at Cafe Niederegger, famous for their marzipan treats and right beside the Rathaus markt. Lunch was good, but the best part was the dessert. I had marzipan ice cream with chocolate. Funny how we remember the food better than some of the places we visit. This was so good. On the way out, we browsed through the showroom and bought some marzipan to take home.

After lunch we walked back through the square. There was a common assortment of shops and street performers and lots of people. A couple of the attractions that I have never seen before were a bicycle-like vehicle that had seats and pedals for five or six people in a circle and a helicopter-looking thing that was not much bigger than a motorcycle. The owners were offering rides for a price. We stopped at an Ecco shoe store and each bought a pair--good prices compared to what we usually pay for Ecco.

We went on down to the Cathedral, Der Dom, for a visit. Construction on it started in 1173 when Henry the Lion laid the foundation stone. Next, on to have a look at another city gate, the Holsten Gate, Holstentor, which is the best known sight in the town. The afternoon is beautiful and warm and there are many tourists milling around. Here most of the tourists seem to be European. We have heard very few people speaking American English.

After a stop by the parking lot to buy another 24-hour ticket and put it in the car, we return to the hotel by a pedestrian footbridge across the Trave River. The old town area lies on an island in the middle of the river.

Our hotel host made reservations for us for dinner tonight at another one in a historic building. This time it is rustic with decorations of seamanship all over. The customers eat at long tables as the seamen did in the past. It is the Schiffergesellschaft, the House of the Seamen's Guild built in 1535, but with a new entrance from 1768. Philip ordered the filet of zander with sugarpeas and potatoes. That was another new one for us, but just fish again, of course. And very good. The hotel did a good job recommending restaurants for us.

We walked back to the hotel after dinner, but tonight it wasn't completely dark on the way back, and we took the more main streets going by other restaurants and bars that were fairly busy. The route was a bit longer than if we had gone down the little lanes, but it was nice to see another view, too.

We will open the windows tonight to cool the room off before we go to bed. It was a little too warm sleeping last night. We need to shut them before we go to bed though, because there is another building with windows right across the courtyard from us.

---

Photos

Luebeck, Germany
Dead end street near the hotel

House of the Seamen's Guild
Currently a restaurant, but once the guild house for seamen and skippers.

Vending Beer
The vending machine in the basement of the Hotel Anno 1216 sold beer, but not still water.

Hospital of the Holy Spirit
Still accommodating elderly people.

Hospital of the Holy Spirit.
It used to be a church.

Cafe Niederegger
Cakes on display

Cathedral Grounds