The next day, on the 13th, we took the train an hour to Lubeck. We traveled up to the Baltic Sea, which I never imagined I would ever go there, and it was absolutely beautiful. For some reason I always thought the Baltic Sea was dirty, but the water was crystal clear and so beautiful. There were many sailboats out, and we even saw a huge cruise ship. We walked around for a while then took a one hour boat ride along the harbor and had lunch. We thought we were ordering Bratwurst, but it definitely wasn't that, it looked like pork chop but tasted like chicken, it was still good though, whatever it was. There were so many shops and eis cafe's (ice cream), just like everywhere else in Germany. I am still surprised at the amount of sweets and bread consumed here and the lack of obese people, there are literally bakeries and cafe's on every single corner. I have no idea how Germans can eat so many sweets and breads but remain healthier than Americans. I think it is because the way they make their products. There are far less processed foods, chemicals, and not nearly as much sugar in foods as in America, so that has to contribute to their health.
After the boat ride we took the train to the city of Lubeck. As soon as you walk into town you see the original tower and gate from the Medieval times that served as a fortress to the city. The remainder of the walls that enclosed Lubeck are gone, but the gate remains. Because of the age and movement of Earth, one side of the tower is leaning, but it is still absolutely beautiful. Lubeck is so much different from Hamburg. It is much smaller and has more of the "German" architecture I was looking for. There are so many large churches as well. We visited St. Maria, a Gothic style church that was almost completely destroyed during the war, only the tower and some of the walls remained. They have since rebuilt the church to it's original design. The inside of the church was breathtaking, there were so many sculptures and paintings to look at. In the back of the church are a set of broken bells. When the church was bombed the bells fell from the top of the tower and have remained their sense as a reminder of what happened during that time. In one of the sculptures of the Last Supper, there is a small mouse in the corner that is said to bring good luck and travels if you touch it, so of course I did. We also went to the famous Lubeck Marzipan store. Marzipan is a type of cream distinctive to Lubeck, to me it tasted somewhat like a coconut cream, without the texture of coconut, it was very different but good, it's one of those things that you either love or hate, no in between. I bought several bars to take home and share.
This weekend was full of adventures and sights that I never thought I would see. We went on a harbor tour and I saw all the huge cargo ships and the huge cranes. I've saw them in movies before, but I never realized how big they were. It is such a blessing to have the opportunity to go on this trip. It is more than I could have ever imagined and I have seen and experienced some of the most amazing things that I never thought would happen! On to the last two weeks!