Summer Backpacking, 1999
What a summer this was!! To begin seems impossible, but start I will and hopefully I can eventually fill all the details in.
Well, my summer adventure began with me taking the night ferry from Sweden over to Travemünde, Germany. A delightful sleep on the dining room floor which ended with the sun rising as we rode into the German harbour. Travemünde is a quaint little city which resides on the Baltic city, at the mouth of a river. luxuriant beaches reach to both the east and west, potted by resorts and small harbours. So, I stepped off the boat into the German resort world. I walked through the city and explored its main street,and purchased my German roadmap and began the real planning of my trip.
So, I spent the morning in Travemünde and the then I went to the Hanse city of Lübeck which was a mere twenty minutes away by train. Lübeck is a wonderful old city that still retains its walls, old buildings, churches, and main gate towers despite being lightly bombed during World War II. I walked amongst its streets and visited the old churches, that still had remnants of the long ago war, shrapnet holes and histories recounting the bombing. I visited the Tower Museum and in here the history of the Hanse city from the 1200´s and forward was recounted, to it being a major powerhouse in the 1500´s to its decline in the next century as the Hansea league was erased by the rise of the Swedish monarachy.
My first evening I returned to Travemünde where I joined in the festivities along the beach and made the aquaintance of a delightful young Irish maid by the name of Catharine, from Northland Ireland. I then retired to my sleeping bag upon the beach, and slept like a baby.
I awoke the next day to the sounds of tractors, racing back and forth across the beach, removing the sea weed that the tide had brought in. I made haste to awake and begone lest I be run over by a sleepy operator. So, I made my way back up the beach to the train station, and from there I travelled to the city of Hamburg.
Hamburg is one of Germany´s largest cities, with a strong and growing economy. It too was once a Hanse, but unlike Lübeck it continued to grow and become the economic powerhouse of the northern region due to its strategic location upon the river ......
On my first day in Hamburg and I toured the town and then visited the Rauthaus(City Hall) and took a guided tour of this beautiful building.
The beautiful architectual work had survived the war intact because it was wanted by the english generals as an office and symbol for there opposition to the German army.
Inside one finds many luxurious rooms where the goverment of Hamburg meet. Hamburg is its own city state and joined the German Confederation through economic alliance. It still retains a large amount of control over its own laws and regulations(many laws follow the others found throughout Germany). However, as being its own city state, only one being stands above the mayor of Hamburg, and that is God himself. Additionally, the major of Hamburg may not move forward to greet anyone, they must come to him.
This led to some consternation when the Queen of England made a visitation several years ago, upon which the mayor sent the vice mayor to lead the Queen before him, the first time ever that this change in protocol has occurred in their history. Other interesting artifacts are things such as the various rooms with their motives, and the City Guest book, which has had several pages removed. The pages missing are those being signed by Hitler and various generals during visits to Hamburg during WWII.
After the Rauthaus, I took in the remains of FruensKirche, a huge cathedral that was bombed and nearly obliterated during WWII. Only the belfries remains standing of the once enormous church, a site which brings sadness and understanding of the vicousness of war to ones heart. Hamburg was fire bombed during the final ally invasion, and over 30,000 thousand people died within four days. AFter this sobering war memorial, I visited St. Thomas's Kirche, which has a lovely, newly renovated Baroque(?) interior.
In the evening I went back to Travemünde and slept on the beach again. However, my sleep was interuppted for a short period by rain, during which I slept in strandcorb(Beach/Sun hut). In the morning I left Travemünde for the last time and returned to Hamburg. Once in Hamburg I visited the City Historical Museum, which covered all aspects of Hamburgs life and the life of its citizens, Hamburgians. The museum contained exhibits on the Vikings, the Middle Ages, the Hanse League, and even modern shipping and train demonstrations. Lastly, I made the exciting tour of the pub life located around Handelstrasse. At the same time I took in one of Hamburg´s most reputed streets, for In this same pub district can be found Germany´s most famous XXX street, Reeperbahn, which like Amsterdam, has prostitutes on display in the windows.
In the late afternoon I left Hamburg by train to Bielefeld, to meet my friend from swedish class, Katharina Kirchner. Bielefeld is a lovely little town that was also once a member of the Hanse League. It had a productive textile industry until the coming of industrialization and burgeoning of the various weaving machines. However, the city managed to survive and is now home to a major university.
I stayed at Katharina´s place for only one day, so it was unfortunately quite a short visit. I visited the castle that lies on the west side of the town, and was quite impressed by its sturdy construction. I also managed to find an open door and sneak into its interior, which was quite a cool experience. Looking out the guard and turret windows really made the castle experience. I also climbed up to the top of the power and enjoyed the view out over the town. I then paid a visit to the Bielefeld musuem which documented the cities history from the time of the first textiles to current.
Then I had to leave Bielefeld. Before leaving katharina managed to teach me a few more German words to enhance my vocabulary while taking a coffee. My next stop was Padeborn, where I paid a visit to Dorothea Woltersdorf.
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