Wednesday, October 12th:
We had another much needed rest day at sea. We spent time playing trivia games, taking naps, and eating delicious foods!
That night Josh and I had a date night at the Pinnacle Grill. We had lobster bisque, hanging candied bacon, steaks, and lobster Mac-n-cheese! It was all delicious!
Theo fell asleep on the floor while Papa and Grandma were babysitting. Thanks for watching him!
Thursday, October 13th:
The next morning the MS Rotterdam docked in Kiel, Germany. We went on a tour out to Medieval Lübeck, which is another UNSECO World Heritage Site.
The entire Old Town area is located on a small island on the Trave river. This river extends northeast to the Baltic Sea. The people of Lübeck utilized this strategic location and became wealthy merchants. The city is beautiful and the skyline is dominated by the seven towers of its five main (anciently competing) churches.
Our first stop was the Holstentor (Holsten Gate). As we were approaching the gate I noticed that they were a little off. Our tour guide then said, "Pisa has nothing on us!" Yes, these ancient towers are leaning, but they have been reinforced and are safe.
The Holsten Gate was built in 1464 and was part of a larger gate system around the city.
[Josh and Theo]
We then drove to the Northside of Old Town and entered the UNESCO World Heritage Site on foot.
We walked up to a square where we saw the Hospital of the Holy Spirit and St Jacobs. St Jacob's had been the church of the seafarers since it was built in 1334. Luckily, the church did not suffer any damage during the WWII bombing raids. Right next to St Jacobs is the Hospital of the Holy Spirit. Rich merchants financed the construction of this hospital in the 13th century as a place for the old and sick (medieval welfare?!).
[Hospital of the Holy Spirit]
[St Jacobs]
We then walked down Breite Street towards the main shopping area.
[I love this old step-roof building with flying buttresses]
[Now these are nice cobblestones!]
[Main shopping area]
We then headed to Niederegger to get some marzipan and chocolates!
[So many delicious looking cakes!]
[Marzipan - cake made with honey and ground almonds]
After we enjoyed our marzipan, we headed downstairs to shop for German chocolates. The marzipan was so good that we bought another slice along with two pieces of chocolate cakes and a lot of truffles. This chocolate is just as good (if not better than) as Brussels 😋😋
After buying our sweets, we headed across the street to the Market Square.
This large square is where the city holds it's famous Christmas market. Today there is a farmers market and people are selling brats, cheese, mini pancakes with Nutella, nuts, and more!
Of course we got a brat! You gotta have a brat in Germany!
Surrounding the market square is surrounded by the iconic black brick of the City Hall. It was started in 1230 and expanded over the centuries. Each new add on represents the architecture of that time.
We then walked next door to the ginormous St Mary's Church. This basilica was built between 1265 and 1352 and has the tallest brick vault in the world, with the height of the central nave being 126 ft. The church was heavily damaged during the RAF bombing in 1942. One of the large bells fell from the tower and hit the stone floor so hard that they dented the floor. The bells were left on the floor and you can see them in situ today.
[Devil sitting outside the church with a gleeful look on his face]
Now you may be wondering why there is a statue of the devil right outside the church. And you would be correct to wonder. According to our tour guide when the church was being built in the 13th century Satan stopped by to see what was going on. The workers didn't want to tell Satan what they were really building so they lied and said they were building a wine bar. The devil was excited to have more souls sent his way, so he started to help with the construction.
He flew all the way to Sweden to get stone for the church and continued to help the workers construct the church. When the church was almost done being built the devil realized he had been tricked! He grabbed a huge stone slab and was able to destroy the church when the workers promised to build him a wine bar in the same neighborhood. He devil accepted this and dropped the stone slab next to the church where it remains to this day.
The workers kept their word and the doors at the bottom of the Town Hall lead to a wine bar. HOWEVER, that is the entrance, not the exit. So the devil sits on the stone all day waiting for drunk people to come out of the bar. He has yet to realize that the exit is on the other side of the building 🙂
After exploring Lübeck, we headed back to the MS Rotterdam. As we were heading out of the port we passed by the Naval Memorial and German Submarine.
Later that night we passed under the Storebaeltsbroen Great Belt Bridge. It was foggy and all we could see were the lights. So it looked like the cars were flying through the air!
Friday, October 14th:
Last Day at Sea
The next morning we got up and headed to the Lido deck for some breakfast. We noticed that the entire deck was COVERED in towel animals. They were so cute! The Captain then came on the horn and told us that there was an infestation that got on board in Kiel, but that they were able to contain them on the Lido deck. It was pretty adorable!
Since it was our last day on the ship we spent a lot of time packing and getting ready to disembark in the morning.
[Theo is now a Two Star Mariner]
Okay, remember way back in Amsterdam when I told you about Delft pottery?! Well, we were given a Delft tile by the ship. Isn't it beautiful?!
We talked to Diane at the Neptune Lounge and she said that she we escort us off the ship the next morning, but we should still put our bags out tonight. It can be a pain, but it's easier than trying to get all these bags down to the lower levels on disembarkment day.
[Bags all ready to go!]
We played a few more trivia games and had a nice final dinner in the dining room.
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