Back in April the cherry tree at our apartment block was blooming. I promised then to post some pictures about the ocean of fallen blossoms however I kind of missed the peak time so there wasn’t much left when I actually took few pictures. Now its just three months after I promised this post so it is not that bad I think. Here the promised pictures including my Chinese mother-in-law and of course Nathan.
First of all here is Nathan enjoying is favorite carrying position back then. As you can guess it is not really the most comfortable position for the person holding this little demon. What’s more is that Nathan himself would get exhausted after a short time and be pretty unhappy about it as he would prefer to stand the entire time. The photo has been taken just outside the building and is one of the few occasions that my wife tried her luck with my camera.
The next picture is something I call “OMG Granny is holding me!”. From Nathan’s facial expression you can see that he is pretty surprised about in whose arms he has ended up. MIL is of course very happy about it and in the following few seconds Nathan’s mood would swing from surprised, to scared to panicking, trying his best to get away from her. No matter what he tried to get out she didn’t let him go…sadly I was not allowed to post those pictures.
Have you ever walked through an ocean of cherry blossoms?
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And the “sightseeing” tour continues! Our past travels had brought us to Kiel and to Lübeck however this time we didn’t go to any city as I was in no shape to drive too much and the weather was rather poor as well. So I came up with the idea to visit some nice spots in the surroundings villages of my hometown. Needless to say my wife and my crazy Chinese mother-in-law were not really that interested as one main aspect would be missing in that tour: Shopping…
Just moments before her feet are getting soaked…
Indeed it took me a while to convince them that it might be nice to get out on that day even though the weather wasn’t that great. Furthermore MIL barely saw anything of this town except the city center and some grocery stores around our apartment. After a while I succeeded and hence our tour started by going to the north to visit Lake Einfeld (Einfelder See). It is a small lake in the northernmost part of my hometown and the district itself was 1970 a small village but got integrated into Neumünster due to changes in the county border/ district management. During warm summer days the lake is full of people trying to escape from the heat but on this particular day it was just too windy and rather cold resulting that only few people were windsurfing without anyone bothering them. Our little Nathan tried to hunt down the geese but they were tough opponents and in the end he had to escape himself. MIL wouldn’t be MIL without anything happening and she actually managed to get her feet soaked in the water and Nathan’s as well while posing once again for some pictures.
View over the lake
After the lake we drove to the town Bordesholm to visit the old abbey and the old lime tree which is called just “Bordesholmer Linde”. What is so special about a lime tree you might wonder, well it is a pretty old tree as it is around 700 years old. It is located in the historical center of the town and the diameter of the trunk is 2,30m. Even though the tree is taken care of by professionals it is still slowly dying due to the environmental changes. Behind the tree is the abbey dating back to 1332 so the tree pretty much was there from the beginning on. The original monastery to which the abbey belongs was torn down somewhen in the early 1700s as due to the reformation nearly everyone became Lutheran and thus the monastery lost all its members over the decades. In the abbey are several tombs of old dukes and other high-ranking people of their time. Right next to the abbey is these days a retirement home in which is also a museum about the history of the area and there is also an entrance to the old vaults of the monastery which had been found during the construction of the retirement home. Furthermore there are some small parts left of the old monastery wall including a tunnel leading into the vaults and other secret places.
Our last destination for that day was the Boxberg, a “mountain” here with a height of 76,8m over the sea level. It is located in the Aukrug Nature Park and the Boxberg is part of the moraine landscape. At the base of this huge mountain is a restaurant in which we strengthened ourselves with coffee and cake before attempting the dangerous climb. It was so steep that even Nathan had troubles getting all the way up himself but in the end he managed and was faster than his mother and grandmother! From the top we had a wonderful view of the surrounding area and it really felt peaceful there and secluded even with a herd of goats in the background. Seriously, why on earth was there a herd of goats? Because of them I could not even read several information boards regarding the history of this area as they were inside the goat enclosure which was protected by an electric fence!
Moraine landscape
Even though all these places are located in the surrounding area of my hometown it took us the better part of the afternoon until we were again back home. Remember that MIL and my wife were in the beginning not really interested due to the lack of shopping possibilities? This changed and in the end they were rather happy that I convinced them to do this little sightseeing tour as it was a nice day and a new experience for them. I must also admit that I had never visited those places before in my life (except the lake) and was truly amazed what wonderful secret spots are so nearby my home.
Geese are getting ready to strike back
THE TUNNEL!
Pretty old tree
Crests of former eastern territories of Germany located the the abbey
Obelisk
Old tomb stones
The abbey
View from the restaurant at the Boxberg
Damn you goats, I wanted to read those signs!
Nathan climbing his first mountain
Stonemarker on the top of the mountain
Stunning nature all around
Did you ever find some “hidden” places near your home?
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My Chinese mother-in-law is gone now, she just left a few hours ago from Hamburg Airport and life goes on its normal path once again. This week was pretty busy as we had some little sightseeing tours in different cities around here which started with Kiel last week. The next stop on our sightseeing list was Lübeck, another port city in this state and roughly 45 min driving distance away from my hometown. I have been there before only for swimming competitions and once long time ago during a school trip and thus I had to check myself what to visit before going there.
Nice cafes are all over the place
Lübeck or the Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second largest city in the state of Schleswig-Holstein and has around 200.000 inhabitants. It got its Hanseatic title back in the day and was known as the “Queen of the Hanseatic League” during the 14th century. Even though the city suffered also a lot during the air raids during the second World War there is still very much of the historic center left. Lübeck is also home to Niederegger. I know, many people outside of Europe are not the biggest fans of Marzipan and especially Asians have a dislike for it however for most people here it is just wonderful.
Lübeck recreated with Marzipan!
Enough of all the background info and lets start with our little trip around the city. We had luck with the weather as it wasn’t so hot anymore as the previous days and a little breeze from the ocean kept the air nicely fresh. After some confusing ride through the city (thanks to the GPS device slowly failing me…) we arrived at a parking garage and we could start our sightseeing tour. Okay, we actually headed straight to the restaurant I had picked out as it was already past noon and our stomachs were growling. Our destination was the restaurant “Kartoffer Keller” (Potato Celler) which had a variety of different dishes made out of, guess what, potatoes! The restaurant itself is located in the historic vault of the old Heiligen-Geist-Hospital (somehting like Holy-Spirit-Hospital). It looked pretty impressive in my opinion especially as I havent been before in a restaurant located in a vault. I have only read about them such as Leipzig’s Auerbachs Keller featured on Henry Lee’s blog Fotoeins. I surely enjoyed my meal which was of course with potatoes (grilled potatoes) with egg, some unknown vegetables (all vegetables are unknown to me, I just call them the green stuff) and a steak, more than enough for me. The women however are not really fond of German food so they did not enjoy it so much. Nathan was a real hero and after he finished his own baby food he helped to empty his mother’s plate, he surely does love German food!
Part of the Kartoffel Keller
After this was survived we started our sightseeing tour/ shopping tour. Sightseeing in a way that we went through the historic city center and took some nice pictures and shopping as the entire city center is filled with stores those two women just had to visit. This gave me the chance to go around on my own with the camera. Lübeck certainly offers a lot of opportunities to take pictures however I faced the dilemma of being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of photo opportunities that I gave up after a while and headed back in search of my family. Somehow this short shopping time was enough for them and they were ready to head back home but I decided to have a stop at St. Mary’s Church. This I did as MIL is a very religious person so I thought it might be interesting to take a look inside. However once we were inside and MIL realized that the entry fee was 2 Euros she didn’t want to go inside anymore. The entrance fee is basically there to finance the restauration work as this church got some years on its back and needs constant fixing as any other old building does but MIL did not really comprehend this and was asking my wife non-stop why there would be an entrance fee for a church…
Another part of the town hall
Though the day seemed pretty short in Lübeck we did in fact spent nearly half day there and the only reason to head back home was because Nathan’s dinner time was approaching. I certainly hope to go to Lübeck with my wife again in the near future as there is still so much I want to discover in the historical city center. One thing became clear during this trip: No more German food for the two women!
Town Hall
under the townhall!
Shopping street
Sign leading to the Kartoffel Keller
Entrance to the restaurant
My lunch 🙂
The “Holy-Spirit-Hospital” being restaurated
This pictures shows just how massive some of the churches are
MIL, Nathan and the little Devil
What do you think about entrance fees in historical buildings such as churches and what is your opinion about German food?
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First of all here is Nathan enjoying is favorite carrying position back then. As you can guess it is not really the most comfortable position for the person holding this little demon. What’s more is that Nathan himself would get exhausted after a short time and be pretty unhappy about it as he would prefer to stand the entire time. The photo has been taken just outside the building and is one of the few occasions that my wife tried her luck with my camera.
The next picture is something I call “OMG Granny is holding me!”. From Nathan’s facial expression you can see that he is pretty surprised about in whose arms he has ended up. MIL is of course very happy about it and in the following few seconds Nathan’s mood would swing from surprised, to scared to panicking, trying his best to get away from her. No matter what he tried to get out she didn’t let him go…sadly I was not allowed to post those pictures.
Crazy Chinese Family 