This is our last day of travel on this northern European tour - our objective is to get down to Frankfurt, or as close as possible, this evening. After having breakfast and packing up the car, we are ready to head off at around 10 AM. We check out, fill up with petrol and then are on our way south towards Rødby, where we will catch the ferry to Germany. We have checked out the ferry schedule and we should have enough time to catch the 11:45 departure.
The drive is pretty straightforward and we get there shortly before 11:30 AM - just in time. We hand in our ticket and then queue up before we are given the signal to drive onto the large car ferry. Five minutes after driving onto the ferry F/S Deutschland, the ship is heading off Very efficient.
The ride across takes about 45 minutes and is very smooth. Not too much to see and do. We walk through the obligatory shops, wander out on the deck and sit around. As the ship pulls into Puttgarden, we head down to the car deck and prepare to disembark. Once we are given the signal, we drive down onto German soil and carry on south.
We drive for a bit over an hour and then decide to exit the Autobahn at Lübeck. It is time for lunch and we want to see a few sights on our way down to Frankfurt. We make our way into the old part of the city and find a place to park the car. Wow, they have certainly set the price to discourage people from driving into town.
And then we go for a walk. First priority is lunch. We make our way to the Rathaus Platz and select one of the many restaurants and cafes that line the square. We have a very pleasant lunch, with beer, sitting at a small table outside n the edge of the open square. And then we go for a wander. What Lübeck is famous for is it's marzipan - they have been making it here since at least 1530. And we went to the Mother of all Marzipan Store - Niederegger on Breite Strasse. They perfected their recipe back in 1806 and have been operating from the same store since then.
We enter the patisserie and the place is certainly a shrine to marzipan - it is everywhere in every possible shape, flavor and color. We pick up a shopping basket and begin to explore and see what they have to offer. In the end, we get a selection of different things, many as gifts for people back home. Then it is back out onto the streets.
We just wander around the old streets and lanes that make their way through the center of this ancient and important town. The old city is famous for it's Backsteingotik, or Gothic brick architecture. The buildings have been well restored following the damage from the Second World War. Eventually we make our way across the river to the Holstentor, which was once the only entrance into the Lübeck.
Other buildings we visit include the Marienkirche, which is actually larger than the cathedral. And then it is back to the car. We need to carry on driving south towards Frankfurt. After paying the exorbitant parking charge (the only redeeming feature was the very helpful information we were given on how to make our way through the one way streets back to the Autobahn). And then, once we were back on the Autobahn, we stepped on it. Well, we did want to, but they must have some problem with cars speeding in this area, as we were caught behind a police van that was driving down the middle lane as a speed controller. He was setting the pace and all the cars were backing up behind us. But then, once he pulled of the highway, we were free to carry on.
Putting aside that one incident with the police (who were trying to control the speed around a very busy area), the big advantage of driving in Germany is that you cover a lot of ground on the Autobahns. While there are a few sections with speed limits, in general we could go very fast in our car. We even drove with our top down whenever possible. While Lars was driving on this stretch, we exceeded 200 km/h - with the top down. It barely felt like we were going fasted than 60-80 km/h. What a car and a highway. And what a lot of fun.
We passed through Hamburg, then on to Hannover and then at around 7:30 PM we decided to exit the highway at Göttingen to go and have dinner in this ancient university town. One interesting piece of history - the city was founded in 1737 by English King George II, who was also the ruler of Hannover. It is a lively town due to all the students that still dominate to this day. Even though it is a Wednesday, the restaurants are busy and lots of young people are walking the streets. After wandering the streets for a while (our favorite city so far in Germany is still Goslar), we find a restaurant with a nice courtyard where we can dinner outside in the warm evening air.
After we have finished dinner, we need to decide how far to drive and where we should spend the night. In the end, we decide that we might as well drive all the way to Frankfurt and just stay near the airport somewhere. After getting some more petrol, we make our way back to the Autobahn and carry on south. It takes us almost three more hours to drive to the airport. We are slowed down by the weather. There was an awful rain storm that just poured down buckets of water and reduced visibility, so we all had to slow down on the highway.
We finally make it to the airport at midnight. Why did we go to the airport, well, we thought would be the best place to arrange for accommodation this late at night close to the airport. We go to the airport hotel shuttle stop and use the phones there to call some hotels. In the end, we select the NH Frankfurt Airport Hotel in Klesterbach. It is actually very near to the airport, but finding our way there gets a bit confusing. In the end, however, we do find it without too much trouble.
We quickly park the car, check in and after bringing the bare necessities into the room, crash for the night. It has been a long day and we are tired.