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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
![](Germany_04-08-18_01_small.jpg) |
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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |