Today we will begin our travels north once again. But first we will be treated to a great brunch by Steffi and Olaf. Today we really take our time over this best of meals - over two hours. Once again, a great selection of food, including all types of fresh breads, sausages, spreads, cheeses, cold cuts, and so on. We have some great tea to wash it all down and interesting conversation to keep the brain busy along with our stomachs. But soon we must wrap it up and prepare for our departure from this fair city of Hamburg and our good friends that have put up with us so long.
At around 1 PM we go through the process of finishing packing our bags and loading all out stuff, including many bottles of wine and beer into the overloaded car. But we are able to squeeze it all in. Finally, around an hour and a half later, we are ready to head off. Steffi and Olaf are kind enough to lead us in their car along the short cut to highway that will take us north.
Soon we are on the highway, the E45, heading on our way to Denmark. But we will first find a place along the way to spend the night. We have been trying to decide where to stay, and in the end we select Schleswig for our overnight stop. It turns out to be OK, not as nice as Goslar, but a good stop for a night.
We arrive at around 4:30 PM and, of course, we have the headache of finding a place to stay. As usual, we keep up our track record of not being able to avail ourselves of the tourist information office. Closed as it is a Sunday - even though we would imagine that a Sunday is a big tourist day. We park our car and then begin to wander on foot. We combine some sightseeing with hotel searching.
We check out the Dom (or cathedral), which was built in stages between the 12th and 15th centuries. It's greatest treasure is the gigantic, 12 meter high Bordesholmer Altar, a masterpiece of Gothic carving. From here we carry on with the hotel-hunting. We have found one place of interest, but it is a bit pricy, so we go and check out some other places a bit further out of the town center. In the end, we return to our first choice and it turns out to be a good choice.
It has parking on the property, so we are able to park our car nearby. We have the selection of rooms and we choose the one that has a small terrace directly on the small garden. After dumping our bags, we decide to open a bottle of wine and take advantage of the terrace and it's pleasant surroundings. One of the dogs comes and keeps us company.
But soon it is time for dinner. We go and explore amongst the old, narrow cobble stoned lanes looking for a place to eat. We find, right near our B&B, a large open square which has a local restaurant with tables and chairs outside. We are able to find a table, it is very full, and order our beer and food.
After we have finished our very pleasant meal, we spend some time wandering the streets further, looking into and checking out a few shops along the way. But after a while, we decide it is time to head back to our hotel and take advantage of our nice room and terrace. We light some candles that are laying around and sit back in the cool air of the evening and enjoy what is left of our bottle of wine.