What it takes to keep Lübeck clean

Not too long ago, Ana Botella, Madrid's new major, proposed to use volunteers to deal with work that should be done by public workers. Free work in a country with over five million unemployed. Not many people liked the idea.

I wonder if she got the idea from Lübeck. Every year, there is a "Clean Lübeck" activity. Good-willed citizens (kids are also welcomed) may take to the streets and clean up the mess. Of course, the city provides working gloves, bags and professional "supervisors".

Coming from a big city, it seems strange. What is the point of paying taxes, if you have to take care of one of the most basic services you expect from the city? It is obvious that it wouldn't harm anybody if they cleaned on a more regular basis. Firecracker left-over from New Year's could be seen on our street up to three weeks after New Year. You can imagine how long dog poop stays on the street. As long as it takes to step it away.

Freixenet

Freixenet is THE sparkling wine (similar to champagne) we use in Spain to celebrate Xmas, to toast for the new year, and so on. Freixenet Xmas spots have always been very much appreciated. Celebrities, famours directors, sparkling bubbles,... A classic for Xmas in Spain. They are currently trying to earn a place in the German market, saying it is sekt, and getting people to mix it with orange juice.

For some very strange reason, this year they have made a turn into Spanish folclore (real or fake). Which, seen from up here, it is really strange. They are a very succesful catalan brand.

We first saw the spot in Germany. An attempt to do a pseudo-hot latin spot, with dark haired people, a latino macho, and horses (suspiciously similar to the Italian festival). Whatever. The re-interpretation of "hot and latin" from some Northern mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGUkzj7fgkk

After seeing what they have planned for Spain this year... Flamenco. At least, they got on of the best flamenco dancers, Sara Baras.

Warm

It is strangely warm this year. We haven´t seen any snow yet. Don't know whether that is good or bad. The building's heating system is working as if it were really cold, so it is much warmer indoors than usually.

With this kind of weather, who feels like some Gluehwein? Nobody. If it's not freezing, who would want to drink mulled wine? Not us for sure.

A funny thing about the Ibis Hotel nearby. Low season was 55euros/night, until the first weekend when they opened the Xmas market. Now it is 79euros/night on the weekends (not bad, uh?) and 65euros/night during the week. I wonder how much money the businesses over here earn thanks to the Xmas market.

Get thee to Rügen!

Rügen has definitely been a major discovery this year. It is a German island in the Baltic Sea, where Germans have traditionally spent their holidays... until they discovered Mallorca.

We have been twice to the island, and have explored twice Jasmund National Park (Unesco Biosphere Reserve-thing), and nothing else. We are aware that there are other nice spots around, but it is soooo nice.

Train: From Lübeck it takes 4 hours (if DB does not collapse in the meantime) to get to Sassnitzt, the closes town to the National Park.
Car: From Lübeck it takes allegedly 2 hours to get to Sassnitz. The bottle neck is the bridge that connects the island with the mainland in Stralsund, and that puny little main road within the island, where everybody is on.

Within the island, they pride themselves to have a bus network. Well... if you are planning to take the bus after 17:00 on a weekend, you had better check there is a bus at all.

Accomodation: expensive. Lots of places charge you extra if you stay less than 3 nights. How many nights are there in a weekend? The place I come from, two at most.

Red hot chili peppers

Hot peppers coming up alright, despite an aphid infestation. Normal peppers... taking a little longer. For some strange reason, the pepper plants did not grow upwards, but sideways. I wonder whether I will get peppers larger than the hot peppers.

Not much hope for the tomatoes. It is rainy and cold, and they are just little green specks hanging from the plant.

Dragon boat race

Dragon Boat Racing is a Chinese tradition very popular in Southern China. For some reason has been adopted by the Germans up here, who probably thought it was fun to paddle like crazy dressed up in "colourful" costumes. It is not celebrated exactly on the 5th day of the 5th (lunar) month, as in China, but somewhere during summer, to make sure the weather will be good.

Lübeck's Dragon Boat Race is 11 years old. It is one of the biggest company-events of Northern Germany (or so they say). Crews are composed of whomever feels like paddling, and sponsored by the companies. Main thing seems to be to have a good time, and dressing up in weird ways. Like, there was a crew of sausages whose drummer was a ketchup bottle. This was the team for a brand called Prima.

Wattenmeer

The famous Wattenmeer Führung. Up to your knees in mud. And there are 3 types of mud:
1. Dry mud. You do not sink much
2. Medium mud. You sink more.
3. Wet mud. You sink.

In the pic, you can see an example of dry mud.

Get Thee to Copenhaguen

It is strange. We are nearer to Denmark than to Aachen. But then, Denmark is a very big country. Reaching Copenhaguen (256km) is awfully easy. Reaching the Southern part of Jutland (259km) with public transportation is Mision Imposible.

DRIVE
Not sure whether it is the best option, since I am not sure how much the ferry costs. You should drive to Puttgarden, and cross over there.

TRAIN
Easy, comfortable, efficient. There is a direct EC (Euro City) or ICE (InterCity Express) train from Lübeck (sometimes starting in Hamburg) to Copenhaguen every 2 hours. The high speeds work for Germany, but not on the Danish side. There aren't any high speed railtracks in Denmark.

If you get the EuropaSpezial offer, you may pay as little as 49 euros for a one way ticket. Otherwise, normal price is 69, 40, which is not that bad either. Specially, for Danish standards.

And there is a big plus: you get to see how they put a train into a ferry!

BUS

I know Eurolines has one bus from Copenhaguen to Hamburg. This bus stops in Lübeck. We have not tried it, though. It takes 5 hours. But considering the price of the train, and that it is not difficult to get the special price... Up to you.

Get Thee to Berlin!

Ah, Berlin! Probalby, the coolest city in Europe. Not the nicest, nor the prettiest. But the coolest :) Here is a guide on how to get to Berlin from Lübeck.

Berlin is just 298km away from Lübeck! How great is that? Of course, it also depends to which part of Berlin you are heading, but anyway. 300km is not that far away, is it? I can almost smell the "coolness" of Berlin from my terrace.

DRIVING

Just obey your GPS, and you will get there. According to Via Michelin, it is around 3 hours.

BUS

This is a VERY interesting option. Autokraft has a direct bus to Berlin from Lübeck twice a day:
http://www.berlinlinie.de/index.php?sp=de&id=545

The trip takes around 3,5 hours, and you reach the coach station near Berlin radio station (north-west of centre)

TRAIN

Well, we all know how expensive the Deutsche Bahn can be (www.db.de). There are two ways of getting to Berlin. The expensive one, and the cheap one.

1. The expensive (shorter) option : ICE through Hamburg
2,5 hours. You get the RE (regional bahn) to Hamburg from Lübeck, this takes around 45min. Then you change and get into a shiny ICE, and enjoy the ride to Berlin. If you are lucky, book in advance, and travel during the week, you may pay as little as 29 euros for this trip. Standart price in second class is 78 euros.

2. The cheaper (slighty longer) option: RE through Bad Kleinen
3,5 hours. You get the RE to Bad Kleinen, and there you change to the RE to Berlin. You only need to stand that stupid annoying music they play whenever the train approaches a station... If you travel on a weekend, a group of up to five can travel for 30 euros (schönes Wochende Ticket). On a weekday, it is 42 euros one person. Every additional person is 6 euros more (Quer-durchs-Land Ticket)

Catch

Have not been keeping up posting the catch of the day. Anyway, so far, there has not been a big amount of bugs getting in. We are being careful with the lights at night.