Unique points

Lubeck is a charming Hanseatic city, surrounded by a canal
and a river. It has plenty of parks trees and open spaces.
The best known symbol of the city is the Holtesten gate,
built in 1477. Unfortuntately the gate was covered in
scaffolding during my visit in June 2005, so I didn’t get any
photos! The town hall (Rathaus) was first constructed in
1230, it is regarded as one of the oldest and most
magnificent buildings in Germany. The whole of the old
town is now a UNESCO world heritage site. The old town
is quite compact and can easily be covered by foot. Lubeck
is known as the home of marizpan. The story goes that
during a siege the city ran out of flour and they ground down
nuts as a substitute! You can visit the neaby Baltic coastal
resort of Travemunde, nicknamed Lubeck’s “lovely
daughter”, walk along the prom, take a dip in the sea, visit a
fish restaurant. It is easy to reach Lubeck with Ryanair
flights to Blankensee airport from Prestwick, Standsted,
Shannon, Milan, Pisa and Skavsta.

History

Lubeck was the cornerstone of the Hanseatic League, a
trading alliance between cities in Northern Europe, to
protect trade. The League endured for three centries.
Lubeck was the most important town in the Baltc basin by
the end of the Middle Ages. However by the late 16th
century the League began to disintergrate. The city is
nickmaned the “City of Seven Spires”. The cathedral is
believed to be the oldest building in Lubeck, it was founded
in 1137. It was badly damged in air raids during the Second
World War, and was not fully renovated until 1982. The
bells which fell during the raid have been left untouched as
a reminder of the destruction of war. The salt warehouses,
now retail space, were crucial to the city’s ecomony. Salt
was known as “white gold” as it the only means of
preserving food. Lubeck was still a “free city” when it
refused to allow Hitler to speak there during his election
campaign. Hitler revoked this privilege once he came to
power.

What to see and do

The old town is very pleasant just for wandering around.
Every so often you will happen upon one of alleyways off a
road with terraces of pretty cottages. These were originally
built behind the merchants town houses as
accommodation for the workers. Most of them have now
been refurbished and converted into houses for the elderly.
You are welcome to go into the alleys during the day to look
around, as long as you are respectful of the residents.

There are lots of green spaces to walk around. I especially
liked the Muhlenteich, a tranquil piece of water with great
view over to the cathedral. There are paths round almost all
the peripherary of the old town.

The old town is surrounded by the Elbe-Lubeck canal and
the Trave River. You can take boat trips round the port from
the jetties at Obertrave, Wall Peninsula and the Untertrave.
You can also take a trip on the Wakenitz from Muhlerbrucke
to Rothebhausen.

Thomas Mann, the German author, was born and spent the
early part of his life in Lubeck. One of his best known
novels, “The Buddenbrooks”, helped him to win a Nobel
Prize for Literature in 1929. It is the story of the downfall of
a bourgeois family over several generations. It was Mann’s
first novel published when he was 25. The so called
“Buddenbrooks House” was the home of Mann’s
grandparents but it was portrayed as the home of the
Buddenbrooks in the novel. Some of the rooms in the
house have been decorated as described in the novel.

Lubeck hosts various markets during the year. The
Christmas market is held in Koberg Square from 21
November to 23 December. The Anno Dazumal Market is
held in the town hall square during May. Stall holders dress
in traditional custom and you can watch them practising
traditional crafts. It is like a journey back through time.

For marzipan lovers, a visit to the Cafe Neideregger is a
must. Neideregger have been making marzipan since
1806 using a secret recipe, with as little sugar as possible
added, to preserve the almond aroma and taste. They
serve all types of marzipan delicacies and you can choose
from 300 products in their shop. There is a museum on the
second floor, charting in the company’s history.

The Duckstein Festival is held from 5 – 14 August on the
banks of the River Travel. There are a variety of outdoor
street performances – music, comedy etc.

Lubeck has several interesting museums. The Museum of
Nature and the Environment, Muhlendamm 1 -3, tel 0451
1224121, has ten million year old whale fossils. The St
Anne Museum, St Annen Strasse 15, tel 0451 1224134, is a
former Augustian convent dating from the early 16th
century. It has a collection of ecclesiastical art and late
Medieval carved altar pieces. The Puppet Museum,
Petersgrube 4 – 5, tel 451 178626, houses one of the
largest collections in the world of 18th and 19th century
puppets and puppet theatre equipment. The Holsten Gate
houses the Museum of Local History. During September
the Museums have some late opening nights, until
midnight.

Travemunde, the coastal resort, can be reached by boat trip
up to Trave River from Lubeck, by train or by bus numbers
30 and 31. The Travemunde Sailing Week is held from 22 –
31 July. It is the second largest sailing event in the world
with around 3000 sailors from 16 countries taking part.
There are fireworks and a family party in Brugmann
Gardens. Sand World runs from 8 July – September 4. This
is a display of sand scupltures up to 15 metres high. There
is a prom which you can cycle or walk along. The beach is
dotted with the characteristic beach chairs, which offer
plenty of wind cover.

Day Trips

There are regular train/bus to nearby cities. I really liked
Wismar, east of Lubeck. It is also a Hanseatic town. It has
a large town square with a medieval water pumping station,
built in Dutch renaissence style. Along the port, fish is
freshly smoked on board boats. There are stalls selling
snacks, mainly fish sandwiches and several restaurants
and cafes.
Schwerin is also very beautiful, surrounded by lakes.

Where to eat

Wullenwever, Beckergrube 71, tel 0451 704333, is run by
the Peterman family. it is located in a 16th century house.
There are several set menus, starting at 35 euros per
person or you can dine a la carte.

Restaurant Toledo, Krahenstrasse 25, tel 451 7098111, is
a Spanish/Mediterranean restaurant. They serve a buffet on
Friday and Saturday evening with an extensive choice at only
11.5 euros per person. I liked this restaurant because I
could see what I was choosing at the buffet. I didn’t
understand most of tne menus in Germany beyond chicken
and pork. I do like some fish but never knew what all the
kinds of fish on the menu were and didn’t want to order
something I couldn’t eat.

You can read the full guide to Lubeck with photos and accommodation options at europealacarte.co.uk/Germany/lubeck.html europealacarte.co.uk/Germany/lubeck.html

Karen Bryan is a UK based independent travel consultant and writer. Her website, Europe a la Carte, europealacarte.co.uk europealacarte.co.uk, features less well known destinations in
Europe. Karen believes that you will get a lot more out of your trip if you venture even slightly off the beaten tourist track.

At the end of July I saw a brief feature on local TV about a Canadian couple who had mortgaged their home to create an international non-profit development organization in Peru, starting with shipping a container full of donated medical supplies to a small town on the Peruvian coast. I didn’t catch the person’s name, but I did catch the website: www.paraelmundo.org. Once on the site I sent an email, and Josh, the co-founder of this organization, got back to me in an email from Peru to arrange an interview with his wife, Danielle, who had came up with the idea for this project.

I had a chance to do an interview with Danielle who told me about how she and her husband Josh remortgaged their home to raise $30,000 to start a non-profit community development organization in a town called Mancora, a small fishing town of 15,000 people, located in northern Peru on the Pacific coast, just south of the Ecuadorian border. They already shipped a container full of medical supplies to Peru, at their own cost.

In August Danielle moved to Peru to join her husband Josh, to help this Peruvian community of Mancora. Danielle will be sharing with us regularly how she and her husband are doing in this little town in Peru and she’ll tell us stories (sometimes humorous ones) about cultural adjustment as well as give us progress reports of her non-profit community assistance organiation.

Here is her first update from Peru, sent today:

——————————————————————————–

Hi everyone,

This is a group email, but it’s not that I don’t love you each enough to send you individual updates. It’s just that we don’t have internet at our place yet, and I’ve been really busy, so for now, this is the best way to let you all know what’s been going on.

So getting a phone has been a challenge. There are two potential problems in getting a phone set up in Mancora. One is that there might not be enough phone lines on your block, the other is that there may be too many phone lines. We are in the ‘too much phone zone’. So we’re still trying to figure it out….

I’ve been busy working with 3 teen girls, talking, watching movies, teaching English, learning Spanish, and laughing a lot. Two of them are young women I worked with last year, and they are each unique with different struggles. The tough thing here is that besides us, there is no one to call for help, no services or infrastructure. Cecilia and I are working on getting information on what women’s legal rights are here, and we will go to the provincial centre next week to speak with the police there. What we’ve learned is they don’t have many rights, but we are working hard to make friends with the police here so that they will enforce the laws that do exist.

A couple weeks ago, one of the women we know was kicked by her ex-boyfriend in the street and Josh, Frank, Sean and Cecilia were there, backing her up, but it’s hard to do much more. At least for now, the bad guys know that there is now a posse in town willing to help women.

Our house is great. I feel really comfortable and at home here. The guys did a ton of work in the few days before I arrived, installing shelves, locks on all the individual doors, and we have a well-stocked kitchen, lots of space, and nice furniture. We each have our own room, and the spare room has been busy as well. Chris, another PaM director from Toronto, is here now, and a friend of Miguel’s from
university was here last week. Our first two paramedic volunteers arrive Sept.11th, with 3 or 4 more coming in October.

Our neighbours on each side have dogs, and I think we treat them much nicer than most people here, so they like us and protect us, which is great. When I’m on the phone downstairs or walking outside at night, they each do a good job guarding me, so I feel pretty safe. The dogs here are very territorial, and I’ve seen them show their teeth to strange men, but never to any of us. They’re both big – one is a black lab and one is a golden colored mix. We’ve also endeared ourselves to many of
the kids in the neighbourhood. We have different running jokes with different kids, and they’re lots of fun.

Last night we were watching a movie on our projector, which is like 6′ by 7′ on the wall, and three kids and a dog, and our Peruvian friend Christian all stopped by. The kids were facinated by the huge tv thing, touching the wall as if they thought it was hot.

Josh and Sean visited the centre for special needs kids yesterday, and the kids there were literally hanging off them, jumping into their arms and hugging them. Very cute. The centre also hosts a number of volunteers, mostly from the UK, so it’s been nice to meet other volunteer travelers and talk about our experiences. Sean and I and another friend also went to see one of our students play volleyball at the local stadium Tuesday night. It was a full house, and the kids were really good,
despite having no kneepads and playing on a hard cement surface.

So, I’ll end this update with a funny story….there are many, but this one is choice. I still laugh when I think about it. The other day, Maria, who works with Frank and Cecilia, comes to the door with a friend and asks if we’d like to buy some Pina (pinapple) shampoo. In a glass. Hmmm. So we said that that wasn’t really ideal, because it was just going to fill with water in the shower. They started laughing, because they knew what we were thinking, but I guess with the language barrier, they couldn’t explain. So they came back a few minutes later with two glasses of thick, chunky pinnaplely looking stuff, and we took it. We figured ‘when in Rome….’, so Sean decided to try it out in the shower. He was laughing and yelling from the shower because it was getting stuck in his chest hair, and he needed regular shampoo to wash it out. As it turned out, it was a dessert served here, similar to a pudding, but it is in fact called ’shampoo’. We learned the hard way again to always expect the unexpected here, and never to assume things are as they appear! : )

So that’s all for now. In general, we’re all feeling very at home and very much part of a community. Our house is more often than not full of visitors passing through (kids from the neighbourhood, friends, dogs….with no phones, people can’t call ahead), and we’re all getting along well and working out the cooking and cleaning chores together.

I hope you’re all well, I miss you all, and will write again soon,
much love,

danielle : )

Susanne Pacher is the publisher of a website called Travel and Transitions ( travelandtransitions.com travelandtransitions.com). Travel and Transitions deals with unconventional travel and is chock full of advice, tips, real life travel experiences, interviews with travellers and travel experts, insights and reflections, cross-cultural issues, contests and many other features. You will also find stories about life and the transitions that we face as we go through our own personal life-long journeys.

Submit your own travel stories in our first travel story contest ( travelandtransitions.com/contests.htm travelandtransitions.com/contests.htm) and have a chance to win an amazing adventure cruise on the Amazon River.

“Life is a Journey ­ Explore New Horizons”.

The article with photos is published at travelandtransitions.com/stories_photos/update_mancora_1.htm Travel and Transitions – Interviews

Now in bankruptcy, Delta will be cutting 9000 jobs. The move is an attempt to save an average of 3 billion dollars. There are many drastic cuts from the top executives down to the rank and file. No one will survive these cuts and in the end it maybe the airline itself which does not make the cut. Twenty-five percent of executives will get pink slips in their Atlanta Office.

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Meanwhile Delta continues to have a strong following of travelers and is still viewed by customers as one of the best airlines to fly. Delta has maintained for years one of the best satisfaction ratings of any airlines and proimises to keep it that way even with the addtional cost cuts.

Delta is changing its strategy to become a point-to-point type operation like their successful and smaller rivals rather than a giant Spoke-and-Hub type airline? Will it work? Hard to say, everything is still up in the air. Delta although deluged in debt is determined to delete costs and decisively compete as a cost efficient and dominating airline that it has been for decades. Will this dedication to develop a new direction prove decisive for Delta’s destiny?

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In our fast paced world, romance can get edged out by the daily rush of life. Romantic destinations in Georgia offer a chance to recapture that spark that started long ago.

Romantic Spots In Georgia

Georgia is known as the “Peach State”, but another good nickname for it might be the “Romance State”. While Georgia may not be what you think of when you are planning that honeymoon or special anniversary trip, romantic spots in Georgia can be wonderful and special. Georgia has a romance and charm that is uniquely Southern, and staying here with someone you love will be an experience you won’t soon forget.

The charm and beauty of a Southern plantation cannot be underestimated. A stay at the Ritz-Carlton Lodge, Reynolds Plantation will make all your dreams of romance come true. This resort, located 60 minutes from Atlanta in Greensboro, Georgia, is both a spa and golf resort (81 holes available for play) with service and style to make any couple fall more in love. Weddings are frequently held here because of the exquisite grounds, and the restaurants and other eateries are known to be delicious. Honeymoon and romance packages are available for those in the mood to be alone. Private verandahs and other amenities like a private beach draw many couples to this spot.

Of course, there are other places for romantic spots in Georgia. If you would prefer to feel like you are on an old French estate instead of a plantation, the Chateau Elan can definitely suit your needs. Located in Atlanta, Georgia, this winery and resort combination feels more like you are in the south of France than in the South. A spa is also on the premises for those who want to truly relax, and there are romantic packages planned out just for you. The two night Chateau Romantic Retreat, for instance, offers amenities such as a rose petal covered bed, breakfasts, dinners, and a bottle of the wineries own vintage delivered to your room. Also available are other bed and breakfast packages and spa treatments that can bring you and your loved one even closer together.

Georgia’s many resorts and romantic retreats are as diverse as the people and terrain in the state. If you enjoy great food, great atmosphere and Southern hospitality, romantic spots in Georgia provide you with a stay that fits the bill. Whether in a city or small town, on the beach or in the mountains, a trip to Georgia will bring out the romance in any couple. Try a Georgia destination for your next vacation for two!

Richard Rspad is with