It is still cold and rainy. Did I mention it was cold? Me? I am cold, but have layered up. The hope for many of us was that we would buy some warmer clothes, but all stores are closed on Sundays.
We started our morning at 9:30 with a walking tour of Stralsund.
It is a medieval city and was an important Hanseatic trading hub in the 14th and 15th centuries (again, I'm writing this with the help of the Goethe writers and some of the info I gained by listening...which I did do...as it seems I am the one who is always videoing something...the rest of them make fun of me for it.) As our guide was taking us through a cute and quaint part of town, three of these little cars whipped around, turned and left. She told us that these are cars from the GDR(East German) time and that people had to wait up to 15 years to get one. 
Anyway, Stralsund retains its medieval layout with the structure of its city. We walked to the harbor and looked at the ships and talked about the locals way of life. Our guide enjoyed living in the city. She showed us a very popular museum at the harbor, but we didn't go in it. There was a very long line to get into it and she said that at one time there was a three and one half hour wait to get into the museum. 
Lunch was a really yummy slice of cake. 
The bakeries here in Germany are everywhere and everything looks delicious. It is a cheap way to eat. Pam and I also go cheese rolls to take with us (super yummy.) 
I noticed this graffitti and asked about it. You can't see all of it, but it basically said "Nazis Be Gone."So off we go on a bus to Lubeck. This is a beautiful city with a great story.
I learned that hooks were put on some of the brick structures to hold sandbags in hope that if the city were to be bombed, the bags would somewhat cushion the blow. This is/was a very wealthy city and most of the buildings were brick...a sign of wealth. Not only that, the bricks had some darker bricks among the rest (more expensive.) Lubeck is the setting for Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks and the city where Gunter Grass chose to live. 
Notice the curved streets. The wealthy merchants wanted to show off their store fronts. Lubeck is famous for the marzipan that it makes. We went into the famous Niederegger Marzipan Shop. For those of you that don't know what marzipan is, Niederegger makes it with a 10% sugar and 90 % ground almond paste mixture. It is shaped into anything...from fruit shapes to replicas of buildings. Our group leader, Klaus, showed me the "must haves" for his children. He said the "logs" must be under the Christmas tree...they just must. 
His children knew he was coming to Niedereggers and asked for some early Christmas presents. I bought a log and that is all. I tasted some of someone elses...and you know what it tastes like? Sugar and almond paste.On the bus again, we were off to Hamburg. Once we were settled, we had dinner together (always wonderful) and Nicole shared her story of our adventure in Poland...with a little help from our waiter.
We settled into our mod Motel One rooms. The Motel One is NOT a Motel Six. It is really mod, hip and groovy. The theme colors are teal and black and there is leather and teal contemporary chairs. One whole wall has a TV fish tank on it...when you arrive in your mod room and open the door, the fake TV fish tank turns on. However, you must insert your key into the light switch to turn on any lights. I am still surprised that the hotels do not have clocks. This one did not have a room phone...so no wake-up calls!!!!!!!!!! I left my curtains open (I was on the 16th floor) just so the sun light would wake me up. I am juggling my electrical things, charging the computer and camera...with one European converter. In order to do that, I can't plug in my clock. Will I wake up in time? I did.
Douglas...I miss you:)
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