Another Day Another Grey Sky

 

Live Roof on a She Shed Betsy

Christmas Tree Sales at Langenhorn Markt

Cows at the park

Lucky Day Trip

HARD LOCKDOWN

  Tomorrow, on Wednesday will begin the Hard Lockdown. 

Our last day trip for a while will be visiting Gluckstadt. We have not been able to go anywhere overnight but there are many wonderful towns to visit within a couple of hour's drive time. Translation of Gluckstadt = Luck City. It will be our last day lucky city.

Stadtkirche

The rain did not stop us but the never-ending cloudy weather has dulled my photos for weeks. now.

Between 1618 and 1623 the Stadtkiche was the first protestant church built after the reformation in Holstein, it surely is one of Glückstadt’s most significant buildings. The steeple features the Danish crown and the monogram C4 of King Christian IV. A rather unusual feature for a Christian church is the lightly veiled pagan goddess Fortuna.

Think pink, the house, and matching roses.

Roses are still blooming everywhere. Never have enough time to stop and smell them.

Orders for take-away only

This where we could NOT eat.

No dining inside but they did offer take-away. Inside the hotel is more of the Art Nouveau of the Wilhelminia style. Over 100 years of serving northern German cuisine. Zeitgeist movement was referred to which I will need to learn more about.

Today's offering at the ANNO Hotel restaurant was mustard eggs with spinach. Hmm, a new dish for me but a favorite for Peter. 

Another "bus picnic".

Maybe when we return they will have something else on the menu.

In non-Covid times there would be a festive Christmas Market right here. The good King Christian in the year 1624 granted privilege to Gluckstadt for a twice-weekly butter market. Yet today this tradition is upheld every Tuesday and Friday. You can be assured in today's world much more than butter will be sold there.

Many of the towns and villages have a fantastic Stadtbäckerei (city bakery). Gluckstadt has a bakery with a long history of baking dating back to 1632. They must know what they are doing. Bakeries are allowed to remain open even under the Hard Lockdown mandate. 

Everywhere we go there are Christmas trees for sale.

Through the city tunnel gate.

Another street to walk down.

Glückstadt is the only town in Schleswig-Holstein founded by a king. The town’s layout was designed on the drawing board which bears no resemblance to other cities in Germany. Inspired by Italian Renaissance cities it is polygonal with radial streets projecting outward.

In 1617 Christian IV, King of Denmark, and Duke of Schleswig and Holstein had the town built in an attempt to draw Elbe commerce away from Hamburg. His clever move to populate his new town was to invite wealthy business-minded folks to create a swift and strong economic growth. Incentives were offered to Portuguese Jews and Dutch Protestants. Glückstadt strongly benefitted from their capital, ships, and their global trade connections. This also explains the prominent gables of Dutch architecture.

Christmas trees line the streets. Also too many construction workers today. 

Today's vending machine sighting - cigarettes sold right on a city street.

Cousin's Walleye World Winnterfest

 

Snow much fun has begun for the Cousin's Walley World Winterfest.

Fresh air and they're all there.

Jackson and Oliver build a fort.

Experienced Mr. Kyle helps Allison and Katherine build their fort.

Tee Pee time for Oliver and Jackson.

Lake Betty's Specialized Zamboni.

Skate away.

Cozy cousins - sleep tight - tomorrow there's more fun insight.

Six Miles & Sore Feet

 

Another sunshine-less day here in Hamburg. It surely has been a very long stretch of cloudy skies.

Beauty remains in the woods without sunshine. Perfect day for a walkabout through the forest.

If it is had been a race I would be the winner. I outpaced those horseback riders in no time.

As the Travel World Shrinks

Lubeck City of Seven Spires - Revisited

As the travel world shrinks, it appears the last travel door open to us will be closing on Monday due to a looming Hard Lockdown. Currently, we are not welcome in most countries of the world so in early November our plan was to explore Germany. Then bam, the Light Lockdown happened restricting our opportunities of exploring Germany only to Hamburg and the neighboring state of Schleswig-Holstein. Being smitten with the medieval town of Lubeck, we decided to return for a last chance visit while it's still legal.  Hopefully, we will be able to return another day. Never enough time.

First e-Truck Sighting

Driving through the countryside and small villages is our preference but with today's fog and continued cloudy skies we traveled mainly on the autobahn. After spending hours traveling along the new Electric Highway, this was the first time witnessing its intended use. Last year Germany opened up a new stretch of electrified autobahn for diesel burning hybrid trucks with the hope of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The new e-Highway system has cables suspended overhead the existing highway for specially-equipped trucks. It is similar to how trolleys and electric trains operate pulling power for their electric motors. As an experiment, it appears that so far, quite possibly there are not yet many hybrid trucks. Unlike America, the German highways are filled with a disproportionate number of large long haul cargo trucks. At least the trucks only use the 2 right lanes and speeds must no exceed 80 km/h (50 mph). Well, that low speed is only for trucks folks. If you want to push the pedal to the metal with your Lamborghini, go right ahead. There is NO speed limit for cars. To me, as the fast cars flash by it feels like they are hoping to reach a speed necessary to take flight. Europe has a super rail system but for people not freight resulting in the miles and miles of trucks on the highways. Sundays however are an ideal day to travel as trucks are restricted on the autobahn.

The majority of the big trucks that we passed were from Poland - PL.

Recall road trips playing the license plate game? There is a better challenge here with the little letters on the left of all license plates. Each country has a code so for an old foreigner there's a new fun travel game. LV, LT, E, CZ, HR are a some that we passed and were a few of them stumped me. Would you know all of these? LV = Latvia   LT=Lithuania.  E = Spain.  CZ = Czech Republic HR = Croatia  and D = Germany. 

Most likely my road trip game will be coming to an end for a while. Fun challenge while it lasted.

Kiel Has Little Appeal

As we travel, reading what is featured on Tours by Locals websites has been helpful. There are highlights of each city with a list of the "must-sees", which always offers some direction. After reading reviews of sites to see in Kiel, it seems to have little appeal. One review said, "The first thing to do when you get to Kiel is going directly to the train station and take a train to Hamburg". Well, Kiel is in Schleswig-Holstein so let's check it out for ourselves. The Kiel Canal is close by, and Kiel is a port on the Baltic, there must at least be ships to watch.

St. Nikolai Church

There was a surprise at St. Nikolai Church which reputedly is the oldest building in Kiel. Originally built around 1242,  then in 1877-1884 the church was refaced with a neo-Gothic facade popular of the times. The RAF destroyed much of the church in 1943 and 1944 during the massive bombings. The big surpise for me was the Minneapolis connection. Outside of the church stands a bronze monument The Spirit Fighter which became to be known as the Ghostfighter.

The Spirit Fighter

Under the Nazi-regime in 1935, this statue by Ernst Barlach was declared Degenerate Art which normally meant destruction by melting.  In the wake of World War I the Nazis attempted to destroy the statue.  The statue's pacifist message, with its call to peace was not good PR for the Nazi Party as they were issuing a call to arms. Therefore, in 1937, on Hitler’s birthday, they managed to remove it and cut the angel into four pieces. Fortunately, a close friend of the sculpture Ernst Barlach was able to hide the statue's pieces on a farm in Schnega until the end of the Second World War. The statue was later repaired and placed in front of the Church of St. Nicholi where it stands today. Two full-size copies were made sometime around 1946. And this now brings me to my surprise. In 1959 The Minneapolis Institute of Arts acquired one of the statues. In 1924 Ernst Barlach ranked among the most important artists in Germany. His statement of this sculpture: The figure symbolizes the victory of the spirit over evil and the sublimity of the people over the dark. When will our modern world wake up and see the light?

So there was a strong message waiting in Kiel.

The Spirit Fighter

Standing outside at Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

No Christmas Markets this year but a few traditional stalls.

Zuckerwarren is open selling sweet treats.

Surprisingly, a traditional vehicle go-round ride for little ones appeared to be ready for riders. Operators must wear Covid Blinders with their masks I guess.

Like most other German cities that we have visited, the streets are all festively lined with decorated Christmas trees.

That was Kiel.

War monuments or actually anything war-related never piqued my interest. Since there was so little to see in Kiel a German U-Boat museum was minutes away in Laboe - might as well take a look. Of course, the museum is closed but as far as I know German U-boats are rather rare. 

There It Is - A Beached U-Boat. 

Silly me, I have to admit not knowing a U-Boat was a submarine. Travel and learn!

 

O Tanenbaum

 O Tannenbaum! 

Now we have the very first indoor Christmas tree for the Sugar Shack.

Successful tree hunt. There surely was no lack of tree choices at Walleye World. The tree hunters unanimously agreed "this is the one"!

Location: The search began. Oliver led the way knowing exactly where to go. The team trekked through the snow past the teepee and Betsy's She Shed, up and over Sacrifice Hill, and a short way back on Mr. Kyle's Bike Trail. And there it stood in all its glory. O Tannenbaum!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

How lovely are thy branches!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

How lovely are thy branches!

Your boughs so green in summertime,

Stay bravely green in wintertime.

O tannenbaum, O Christmas Tree

How lovely are thy branches!

She saw and saws.

The first-ever indoor Christmas tree stands tall and proud at the Sugar Shack.

Well done Family Griggs.