Culture exploration. Western Europe

After the first successful trip in Central Europe, I decided to make the second one longer, and ride all over Western Europe at once. The new route included Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France, Monaco, Belgium and the Netherlands. This trip took almost 1.5 months, but it was worth it: along with Scandinavia, this is definitely the most delicious piece of this continent.

My route this time:

Memmingen

And shouldn’t we name airport, located 120 km from Munich, which is twice as much as to the border with Austria and Switzerland, the cool name “Munich-West”? – thought low-cost airlines. Hmm, really, why not? No sooner said than done. But since I was going to Zurich, their deceit played into my hands.

Since their cunning I was going to wrap up in my favor to the fullest, bought for 9 € a bus ticket to Zurich from the airport for the evening (200 km! Switzerland! 9 euros!) And went to see the airport town.

In general, nothing special. An ordinary provincial German town.

The usual nice center for Germany, with a market square and a bunch of cafes. A day to get used to the fact that in this part of the world it is just cozy everywhere.

I thought that we really lack such bicycle parking lots, we have to drag the bike into the apartment. Idea for a startup, guy.

Zurich

Got hosted by a guy from Belgium who is designing a sound environment. For me, this is the same futuristic profession as a light designer or an augmented reality architect, and here they teach this in universities.

While thinking about it, I saw through the window that on the opposite side of the street there was not a deli or a bar, but a 3D printing studio.

Moreover, this is a street where at night guys openly sell drugs, girls sell themselves, and in the morning janitors collect used condoms on the sidewalks. And on the other side of the front door is a lovely patio.

The streets of Zurich look gray and nondescript.

And people are very busy and are always in a hurry somewhere.

In the mornings, a lot of people train and go to work on the cycling tracks, but during the day it is surprisingly deserted.

Lake Zurich in winter also looks gray and nondescript. Moreover, judging by the pictures, in the summer it, on the contrary, creates a contrast with the city.

City center. For some reason I was very surprised by these trams. Later I realized that this is such a manifestation of Swiss utilitarianism: they are already performing their functions perfectly.

From the old center, you can see that before the Swiss were not so utilitarian and were much more soared about their appearance.

The city art museum impressed me. Next to the masterpieces of Edouard Monet and Edvard Munch, there are Giacometti’s dried walking men, or even giant strange sculptures made of dice.

In the evening, we were going to eat an incredibly delicious-you-have-not-yet-tried cheese fondue, so I decided to finally climb up the observation hill in the center called Lindenhof and see the city from there. And there was something to see here.

The road through the Swiss Alps is an awesome attraction. Although the prices on train tickets bite, but this is the case when it’s worth it.

Milan

The city met with sunny weather and incredibly beautiful streets. There are not many tourists, a strong contrast to Zurich.

Flaming Gothic is incredible! I have already seen it once, in Vilnius there is a church of St. Anne in the same style, but it is small, and Milan Cathedral is just gigantic. And insanely beautiful.

The locals simply laugh openly at the stoned Chinese, Koreans, Japanese and Russians who are stocked up in similar places.

If they themselves go there, then to look, and then, dividing the prices seen by 100, find the same in normal places.

A funny feature: greenery grows here everywhere, not just on the ground.

Well, really, just imagine how fun it is to walk on such a roof-garden.

Or eat freshly picked fruits on the balcony.

However, the Milanese decided not to dwell on this and … Damn it, I’ve only seen this in films and futuristic blogs before. They built the most real vertical gardens!

By the way, the entire project cost only 5% more than an ordinary residential building. So, I would like to believe that the technology will be rolled around and launched as a new trend around the world, following electric cars. I would buy.

Naturally, with such a love for the flora, the parks here also do not spare territory.

And the residents appreciate it very much. Highly.

However, not a single green.

It’s not so bad to be a clerk in a bank office like that, I think.

Another triumphal arch.

Italy without fountains is not Italy.

On my last day in Milan, I decided to go downtown and take the opportunity to climb onto the roof of the Duomo. Looking ahead (or rather, upward), I will say that this is the most awesome spent 7 € in this city.

Intervals in the “ridges” are prudently closed with a net so that the Chinese with selfie sticks do not wake up downstairs.

The view from here is, of course, amazing.

Genova

A shower instead of the sun. Take me back to Milan. 🙁

Uh, am I in Odessa?

Hmm, no, in Odessa at least there are sidewalks everywhere. How do people move around here, ahhhh.

No, I’m definitely not in Odessa.

All along the old port, under the arcade, there are a bunch of different murky dudes hanging out. Strong fish smell. Dozens of under-restaurants, fast food, even McDuck.

And only turning into a narrow street leading to the center, I understand what the salt of this city is. Here all the streets are like that!

Some are similar to Chinese khutons. Asians feel in their environment and behave accordingly.

In contrast to the width of the streets, the houses here are simply huge, the ceilings are on average 4-5 meters high, inside you feel as if you are in a ceremony hall.

But the main streets here are “wide”.

And the carriage streets leading to the center of the former capital of the Genoese Empire were even converted into small roads for cars. Mimimi.

City labyrinth. It’s really hard without satellite Ariadne. Damn, but all this should strongly influence the psyche of the inhabitants …

In general, it’s fun to drop in to see all this, but the very next day I want to find a way out.

Grass

Initially, I planned to just drive the entire Cote d’Azur, but my public trip on a couchsurf was noticed by one man living in the Alpes-Maritimes and invited me to visit him.

He made an appointment here in such a nice place. Next to the Fragonard factory. I expected that the scent of perfume would carry me into space, but here it smelled of freshness and the sea.

You probably thought that perfume must be liquid in a spray bottle? They like to break stereotypes here.)

All perfumes fundamentally only from natural ingredients. For 90 years, the flight is stable.

Needless to say, what impression did my first evening in France make on me? 🙂

I had to drive to his house for about another hour along winding serpentines. But a cozy house in the mountains is something. Sitting by the fireplace, drinking great wine, looking at the snow outside the window and chatting with some left-wing guys, class.)

View from the window in the morning.

Cannes

We drove down to the coast in just an hour. And all because the car was driven not by my friend, but by his nephew. On the way, having squeezed into the seat, I found out that he is a drag racer and driving along such a serpentine at a speed of 80 km / h is generally the norm for him. Okay, but I still made bricks for a whole notre dame.

Cannes is a city from GTA. Only in reality.

+1 to my box of weird vending machines.

Humans mostly chill here. In winter they have a well-deserved rest, the work hard season starts only in April.

Together with you-know-what film festival.

Nice

Here people are seriously afraid that their city may become the next federal city after the Crimean Sevastopol. Because at least every tenth here speaks through confident Russian mat. And Russian-speaking guys also reacted to my public trip. And Russian-speaking people lived on the floor above. And on the bus the neighbors spoke Russian. And I also saw graffiti on the road in Russian. And the Orthodox Church. My host jokes: “Nice is a Russian city.”

In general, it is unrealistically beautiful here. Another city from the GTA universe.

Tangerines grow on the trees, around the palm trees, the gentle sun. If we ignore people, it would be nice to rest here.

But when you are shouting out of the car window “Moron, where are you going ?!”, although you seem to be standing peacefully with a camera on the side of the road, it becomes hard to abstract from people. 🙁

Monaco

A full-fledged country that fits into 2 km². Mind-blowing.

The station is located in a rock. Atmospheric.

It was pouring rain outside. Cool thing – waste water is filtered and a fountain is made from it in the middle of the sidewalk. Creativity and rushing.

Saint Martin’s Gardens. The variety of flora is a little off scale here.

Oceanographic Museum. You can pet the shark. : 3

Monaco-Ville. The old city on the rock, here is also the residence of the prince and other official things.

Panoramic view of Fontvieille. Previously, there was sea and rocks. A whole area built with drainage works 40 years ago. Cool, isn’t it?

Monte Carlo. The most prestigious area of ​​the country, a battery of big money. By the way, in the fog behind the high-rise buildings – this is no longer Monaco, but the French commune, Beausoleil. The border here is known up to a stone.

People here have long learned to tame the rocky terrain. There was simply no other way out.

Interestingly, individual telecommunications is a matter of prestige, independence, or is it just that way?

There are whole alleys of tangerine and orange trees in Monte Carlo. Nice and tasty. : 3

I really want to come back here and walk at least a couple of days in sunny weather. I’m sure it will be even cooler.

Marseille

I didn’t get it at first. And then I realized. Trees grow in the middle of the station!

In general, the station here is a whole architectural complex.

Everything is very nice in the center. But nice in Marseille is somehow strange. Not by stereotypes at all.

Africans call Marseille “the gateway to Europe.” I stomp towards the ghetto.

At some point, I notice that a couple of Arab teenagers are already looking at my soap dish. Following me for the last 5 minutes. I leave the ghetto for later, change course and go to the old town.

The same ghetto, only with a special atmosphere.

Very special. It is the oldest city in France.

From time to time, you see something cool, such as an unusual gallery or outdoor installation. Okay, it’s far from the ghetto, where it’s just destroy. Me gusta.

At Starbucks they made me spell my name. Cool guys.

The old port is something unearthly at night. There are a lot of small boats, all sorts of boats, even old schooners are standing. At dawn they go to sea and in the morning they return with the freshest catch.

Added to the checklist, on this sightseeing wheel in the morning you must definitely ride.

Arab children play football in front of the facade of the Marseille Opera House. The inevitable clash of cultures on premiere days.)

Marseille Prefecture. The right backlight decides. During the day, the most ordinary building.

I was hosted by an old man from Tunisia, who at the age of 20 moved to Marseille with the hope of later settling in Paris. But even this city was enough for him. It’s also cool at his house.

The same morning catch.

The parking lot seems to be full. 🙂

Notre-Dame de la Garde stands on the hill, there are just crowds of tourists. I was going to another place.

Namely – to the Kalanki National Park.

Although I was told it was an easy walking park, it actually turned out to be a little different.)

In general, calanques are like such miniature fjords. Fills in the rocks.

It’s amazing that such a place is only half an hour away by public transport, and with so few people.

In February, mistrals happen here – such harsh stormy winds from the sea. The weather is changing before our eyes, the waves are just under 2 meters high.

I saw a strange abandoned place at the top of the hill. I can’t walk past a strange abandoned place, can I?

So I didn’t get through. 🙂

And it didn’t go in vain, because the view from here is just amazing!

Lyon

Initially, I was going to stay with a girl who is learning Russian and is going to come to the language practice in the summer, but something did not work out for her and she had to leave on the day of my arrival. However, her train left a couple of hours later than mine, so we even managed to meet, sit in a cool pub, chat and say goodbye before we meet again.

And although I found another host, in the evening I walked alone. They say Lyon is a little Paris. This is not true. There is no crazy movement here, heaps of tourists, it is beautiful and cozy, and the city itself is quite small.

Towards nightfall I was met by a girl from Taiwan, who is studying here on an exchange and decided to host a strange backpacker. We decided to take a walk around the city before going home. And we went. And when I asked where we were going at all, she pointed up. I love this route. : D The top view is really impressive.

The next day I had a day off, so I just walked around the city, admired the architecture, nature and got high.

Sylvia also said that I must definitely go to the Museum of Miniatures and Film Sets. And just like that, be sure. Well okei, let’s see …

Light.

Medium.

Hard.

Beyond my imagination.

Yes, the dimensions of these rooms are only 20×30 cm! And the size of vegetables there in boxes – fractions of millimeters. Overall, I was amazed at the level of detail. If all museums were like this, I would not get out of them.

Such serenity. And there, in the distance, the city goes up.

Ducks have taken over the park Tête d’Or. “Hey kid, do you have a baguette? And if I find it? “

Aww. : 3

Paris

Default dream destination.

It’s a cool subway here. A bit fabulous.

In the early morning hours, many stations look apocalyptic empty.

Immigrants from Africa contribute to the general atmosphere, talking as loudly as possible, in the role of a pedestrian they hammer on any signs and especially the color of a traffic light, and in the role of a driver they deftly and ominously maneuver strangely.

A priest at Notre Dame Cathedral is holding morning Mass.

Interestingly, in the city center, where all tourists usually hang out, the ethnic composition is still on the side of the native French.

And this is evident not only by the color of the skin.

While moving in the direction of any immigrant area you will see at its best this.

Pont Neuf. It’s so funny when you add the word “new” to your own name. This “New Bridge” is more than 400 years old.

Palace of Justice. Freedom, equality, brotherhood … Tell about it in the ghetto.

Still, this is the city where you can walk without any purpose and find dozens of interesting and beautiful places.

From below, the Eiffel Tower looks as huge as the line at it. And then I realized that today is fucking February 14! Epic fail, in short. I decided to climb on it another day, and better in the evening.

I also regretted that I had allocated only 4 hours for the Louvre. As a result, I spent almost 5 there, before closing, and during this time I only managed to glance through all the halls. You have to come here for the whole day, there are no options.

🙂

Napoleon’s apartment. There is something like that in this all the luxury around, it directly emanates compensation for the feeling of inferiority.

And there are also alien ceilings in the Louvre.

So don’t forget to look up too.

Then, by inertia, all day, wherever I was, I looked. : D

Especially in the Galleries of Lafayette, watching as the Japanese with their bulging eyes poured thousands of euros here on ordinary clothes.

Still climbed on it. Big Paris shines in all directions, leaving night lights far beyond the horizon.

And once more in an hour the tower starts to sparkle. Adults rejoice like children.

I again found myself in a situation where I did not want to leave the city. But my train was already waiting for me at Gare du Nord.

Lille

Such is the Grand Place. Than rich, as they say.

Lille was once the center of a large textile agglomeration, second in size after Paris.

Now it is more profitable to produce textiles in China, and Lille has become just a provincial city in the north of France.

The city citadel was supposed to be an interesting place. But it turned out to be an active military base and I was only allowed to take a picture of the entrance.

But these scaly streets are still a mystery to me. They are all over Belgium. What does it mean? Why scales? There are some fish trails.

Gent

The contrast shower is the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium after France.

A thousand devils, how big are there!

Wait, what is that around the corner?

Oh, it’s just a fucking beautiful medieval center!

This was the first time I saw Brabant Gothic in reality.

Naturally, it was love at first sight.

And the outskirts of the city are reminiscent of small Dutch cities. It seems to me that this is a great place where you can settle in old age.) But it is still far from old age, and my train in Bruges is not very good.

Bruges

At first it seemed to me that there would be something like a continuation of Ghent.

However, as it turned out later, I was very wrong.

Unlike Ghent, this is a purely tourist city.

They do nothing else here, except to make money from tourists.

And this slightly negates its magnificence, numerous castles, medieval facades, canals laid with stone, dozens of lovely bridges, its museums and cathedrals.

Because here wherever you go, you are just a bag of money.

And if you want to see the life of the city, then you will be greatly disappointed.

She’s not here. You are immersed in real “autumn Medieval”.

But at the same time, you will not see the real, modern Bruges.

In fact, there is a textile industry here, and in the port of Zerbrugge – real Flemish shipyards. But you will not recognize all this.

You will see stunningly beautiful, even picturesque cityscapes. Reality from the photo on the postcard.

Still, Bruges is a dead city.

And I, even being a connoisseur of urban space, am far from necrophilia.

Therefore, I leave this place the same evening.

Liege

Damn it, if there is such a station, what kind of city is it ?!

DVD movies in a street stall? In 2016? Really? With everything is clear, guys.

Some wildest hybrid of old European cities and soviet bad taste.

Where did you get all these gray concrete boxes?

The ascent to the observation deck of 300 steps made me freeze in anticipation of a miracle. But the miracle did not happen. Upstairs is the same.

And here’s the thing that pinned me: the world-famous Liege waffles, which are served with such pathos as a dessert of high Belgian cuisine, are sold here as the cheapest fast food, instead of a shawarma on the streets. Moreover, in taste they really are not inferior to what is usually served in restaurants, the same excellently caramelized, with fresh Belgian chocolate.

Master class on the theft of bikes without breaking locks.

On the way to the train station, I found the Museum of Deviant Arts (MAD – acronym for Musée d’Art Différencié). And it turned out to be a really cool place.

It turns out that the futuristic railway station Guillemins, street kitchens with waffles and Madmusée are all that I could find interesting here. Not much. Very strange somehow.

Brussels

I arrived in the city late in the evening and thought that I would not be able to see anything. But I had 40 minutes, and I was near the central station, so I decided to take a look around.

The Brussels Grand Place is, without exaggeration, the most beautiful central square that I have seen in my life. This half an hour in the old center, I then recalled the whole evening.

I was lucky, another guest of my host was from the Netherlands, and the great is included with the Dutch. Well, he was very generous, inviting me to ride for a day so that I could see more of this huge city.

Brussels is not monolithic at all, it is 19 completely different districts, independent from each other. Brussels-city is only one central area.

Most of the time in the city, to my shame, I spent in the center. Of the districts, three are most memorable: the hipster Ixelles, the art-trash Saint-Gilles and the Arab ghetto of Molenbeck.

It should be noted that even in the central region, the authorities cannot cope with maintaining a presentable urban space. But this is, de facto, the capital of the European Union.

In the rest – a complete raskolbas. Not only do the Belgians completely lack a sense of a unified style, they also do nasty things without any agreement with at least the regional authorities. Just like we have in Kiev. And it so happens that in general: one house is a magnificent baroque, the neighboring one is already severe functionalism, and the next one can be generally sheathed with glass panels.

Beautiful green parks are an outlet in this whole mess.

And although I was told that the Atomium is steep only from the side, and the entrance is not worth the money, I decided to climb into it. After 40 minutes I came out enlightened. I found out why everything is so here. In short, they were going to make Brussels the European Manhattan. The steep historical buildings were demolished, intending to soon be replaced by modern buildings. But there was not enough enthusiasm and money, and some shit came out. I also found out where in Belgium instead of houses there are stupid gray boxes: stoned Belgian functionalists went to the USSR to “get inspired.” Now everything is sorted out on the shelves.

I got on the bus and tried to digest the whole city myself. Until now, it has not worked out to the end. He’s too weird.

Antwerp

When I saw this gorgeous train station, I was already on my guard: wouldn’t it be the same as in Liege?

There are quite a few military patrols in the city. After the Paris terrorist attacks in Brussels and Antwerp, most of all they fear the continuation of the banquet. UPD: And they waited.

But in general, life in the city goes on as usual.

Strange actions take place, people exchange paper for textiles and leather in boutiques, walk and enjoy life.

The central square of Antwerp is trying to compete with Brussels. Worthy.

But many other buildings of this city are really unique.

Someone parks like an asshole. No, seriously, what is Mr. M 477 doing in the car park?

There are also many different museums, galleries and workshops here.

Rotterdam

I left the station and am trying to understand where I got to and what is happening here in general.

Because in front of me was far away not what I associated with Holland. I thought it would be old streets, low-rise buildings, canals and so on …

Instead, I found myself in a cool modern city, with high-rise and business centers. The city where life is in full swing. And then I realized how much I missed exactly this after Paris. Life. And here she is in full swing.

Seriously, Rotterdam after the sluggish cities of Belgium was just an oxygen mask for me in a depressurized reality. I thought I was starting to tire of my trip, but two days in this city completely refreshed my travel experience. Aee!

Got hosted by a dude who organized a free hostel at home and also gave everyone his own bikes so that they could ride around the city. Altruism at full capacity, in short. As usual, I was carried into strange places.

Unfortunately, my camera sat down at the wrong time, so you have to fantasize or just take my word for it – this is really a city where you want to live.)

And do something cool, of course.

The Hague

A small town where the country’s royal party has settled.

Well, in general, I somehow imagined Holland like that.

Compared to Rotterdam, there are too many tourists.

In addition to the old districts, there are also cool new buildings.

In the gallery Mauritshuis found an amazing and completely atypical painting by Rubens, something in the style of Caravaggio. Sticky for a few minutes.

I stood in the gallery and photographed the gallery, I photographed a picture about the pictures in the picture.

Residence of the Prime Minister, States General, etc. It was impossible to work without Gothic.)

There are also hipster supermarkets in the Netherlands.

Amsterdam

Perhaps I got excited when I said that there are many bikes in Ghent.

That’s what really is a lot. They everywhere.

The sidewalk + bike path on the roads takes up as much space as the carriageway for cars.

In some places, it is not allowed to park large cars. Rather, it is possible (and, as you can see, people do it), but from time to time they are thrown into the channel so as not to interfere. O_o And then, months later, yes, they do.

Amsterdam is especially beautiful at night.

Tourists are sprawling, the streets are empty and even steeper than usual.

And there are also cool streetlights here. I want one for myself. : D

Day of tourists overdofig even on cold days of the first month of spring.

They are everywhere, the center is simply teeming with them any day of the week.

To find pleasant places and walk without the crowd of Asians under your ear, you need to try very hard.

There are many public chargers for electric cars in the city.

Tulips, a symbol of the Netherlands, and not only tulips, another symbol of the Netherlands, are sold in the morning at any stage of development.)

As for the “other symbols”, everything is very interesting here. For example, hallucinogenic mushrooms are clearly described in the characteristics of each of the species. How strong are the physical sensations, hallucinations, etc.

Since these are only truffles, I take a medium-power bomb, put it in myself and go to the center of contemporary art. It’s just wow. Now I understand in what condition one should go to such places. : D

In the Vincent Van Gogh Museum, next to some of the paintings, there is a whole debriefing. That is psychoanalysis, then some material proofs of the conspiracy theory. Not boring.

The Rijksmuseum has a huge number of masterpieces by old masters. Vermeer, Rembrandt, Hals, Steen, de Hooch, thousands of them! If you love Renaissance art, then this is a place that would be just criminal to miss in Amster.

By the way, there is an easy way to save money on museums: the Netherlands has a so-called. museum card, for 60 € it opens access to 400 best galleries and museums country. And considering the prices for the entrance to each of them, after 3 galleries on the museum square, you will start to save the wildest. I saved about 140 € because I went everywhere with a friend’s card. Although officially prohibited, no one checks the passport. They say that in 2017 they will start sculpting pictures there.

The Dutch are very sensitive to the balance between industrial and nature. I wish I could do that.

Fire station. I saw how one group went to the call.

The museum and seat of the City Film Institute, EYE, is located on the other side of the lake. Free ferries are new.

What a pity that I was only on this side of the lake on my last laziness. It turns out that now Noord, formerly a region of social housing, which usually leads to the emergence of ghetto – this is a modern area of ​​the city, where there are no tourists, but there are just a hurricane-scale various parties of creatively stubborn people. Don’t repeat my mistakes, be sure to hang out there.

Bremen

The City Hall is the most attractive building in the city.

The rest is residual.

The first association when talking to people about Bremen.)

Every time I started to giggle when I looked at these trams and began to see a face instead of a bumper and headlights.

Such a dangerous embankment.

* soundtrack from The X-Files *

The central street of the new center is littered with anything, in each house something is for sale. A kind of veiled Turkish bazaar.

Most of the graffiti are custom painted.

Normal street art has never been found. Not cool.

Hamburg

The richest and second largest and most populous city in Germany.

As usual in this country, the town hall is something epic. Two Mercedes Sprinters at the entrance for an understanding of the dimensions.

Hamburg is a very modern city. And although, unlike Berlin, historical buildings have been preserved here, they are clearly betting on modernity. And this is good news.

The old port and the adjoining multi-storey warehouses standing on stilts (of which there are so many that the area is called Speicherstadt, which means “city of warehouses”) decided to transform into a huge art-district Hafencity. Today it is the largest urban development project in Europe and the object of a fierce fap of urbanists all over the planet. He is almost ready and looks like he was teleported from from the future.

The disadvantages of HafenCity include the fact that it turned out to be so expensive that independent artists simply do not survive there, only very rich people can buy an apartment, so the area turned out to be very unpopular among residents. Usually tourists are mainly walking and taking pictures here. Nevertheless, the city authorities are doing everything to drag at least someone there. For example, the second campus of the University of Hamburg was made here, several large-scale museums were opened.

I was very impressed by the Miniatur Wunderland Museum and Exhibition. Later I found out that this is one of the most visited museums in Northern Europe. And I understand why.

Stunning detail on absolutely everything.

Different seasons, climatic zones, ecosystems. Reminds biomes from Minecraft.

And all this – the area on average is no more than a meter per meter.

You are guaranteed to stop at a red light here. Because even if there are no cars and you want to run across, two red men will make you stop in confusion.

Stairway to heaven. Just kidding, just to the embankment. Why the embankment is higher than the street is another question.

One of the many berths of the port.

Unfortunately, my camera sat down at night, so I couldn’t take most of the city. Hope to fix it next time. 🙁

The station is very busy, although it looks so ordinary from the outside. Paradoxes.

Since there are too many directions, a very tricky system operates here: different parts of the train can go to different destinations.

For example, a segment of my train split off and stayed in Bad Oldesloe, a small town along the way, while the rest continued on to Lubeck.

Lubeck

At the entrance to the city there is a medieval gate, the Holstentor, one of the earliest buildings in the style that then covered the whole of Northern Germany.

It seems that they remember here whose actually Alsace and Lorraine. 🙂

Something special: all the old buildings are made of red brick.

It is also the city where marzipan was invented. There are whole marzipan boutiques here, everyone can find something for their own perverted … sophisticated taste.

Small brick arcades seem to exist throughout the former Hanseatic League. No, really, they are here like fountains in Italy.

There is a suspiciously high concentration of large churches.

From which in all directions go long streets to the very outskirts of the old city. A kind of city-forming factor.

It is very convenient, by the way, to restore all this: red bricks are sold in any hardware store. 🙂

I also thought that this city looks bloody. In such an atmosphere, you can’t calm down.

But when the time came for the terrifyingly majestic Gothic, Lubeck had something to add from himself. Yes, this is the city where brick gothic originated. Something incredible, right?