I just came back from a wonderful week in northern Germany on the Baltic Sea. As not to overwehlm everyone, I will be showing pictures in three parts. The first part is about Lübeck.

I pretty much know my way around southern Germany, but I haven't seen too much of the north. So when my mother and I decided to go to the island of Hiddensee, we thought a stop in Lübeck would be interesting. It was, mostly because they style of the buildings is so different from what we have in the south. It reminded me of the towns in the Netherlands I've been to. There was also the mandatory stop at Niederegger to stock up on marzipan and have a piece of cake. My mother had the classic marzipan nut cake (light cake made of hazelnuts, topped with a huge layer of hazelnut cream and covered with marzipan. Very rich!) while I went with the Herrentorte (dark chocolate cake with raspberry jam and a layer of marzipan).

I couldn't stop taking pictures of the buildngs and hollyhocks growing out of the cobbelstones.

And then I got started on the doors.

All the bricks used to build almost all the buildings was also very interesting for me. Many were destroyed during an attack in March 1942 and have since been rebuilt.

What I especially enjoyed were all the little gardens, tucked into courtyards, reached by small passages barely visible from the street. Dare to walk through a narrow, dark passage and enter a a quiet, green world at the other end.