Lubeck

Off I set for Lubeck this morning. It was a very bleak morning. Cold+dark+drizzle=bleak! I got on a train going to Lubeck (I checked) after puzzling through how to get a ticket and what system I was using. However when the ticket checker got on she was very perturbed…You are on the wrong train!! Going to Lubeck…yes but not the regional train, the IC train. ‘Vere are you living’ , ‘Australia”, ‘AAHH How would you know it?’ So she went on her way. The result was that the train sped along at 140Km/he and I was in Lubeck in half an hour. Not such a bad mistake but a bit humiliating!!

Lubeck is a lovely city. It has that iconic entrance ‘gate’ that Andy Warhol made famous, the Holstentor. And the sweetest German houses…click, click, click. How many photos can a person take of cute houses, lovely little laneways and tiny houses built in courtyards behind existing houses. This is how the middle ages coped with a housing crisis. Just lovely. I found my way around the town taking in these lovely areas and the odd lovely church but no time for Museums. I took in the houses of Thomas Mann (Buddenbrookhaus – I’ve read the book), Gunter Grass and Willy Brandt. Altogether a very busy and interesting day. Then back to Hamburg (exhausted but on the right train, the regional). Feet hurt etc etc. I’m feeling more and more like I’m tired and 2.5 weeks in Berlin must see a lay day I think.

Have to go now and pack the bags to be ready to go tomorrow…I’m excited to be seeing Berlin finally. But first have to negotiate the subway system with 2 suitcases. I’ll let you know how that goes!! Rose, have been thinking of you as I walked Lubeck, thinking you’d be on the boat going across Bass Strait. That’s exciting. Ham and Az…happy house hunting. Talk to me over the w/end. Ang and Kirst, the photos of Louis were heavenly and made me homesick. In other words missing you all ++++. Calamia, are you out there somewhere??