Lüneburg!

With half of the group still recovering from a small cold we all seem to have come down with in Berlin, some decided to stay in and abstain from the Lüneburg adventure...but those of us that went couldn't have been more happy with the decision. As I already mentioned, travel by some trains (not the IC or ICE) within Lower Saxony is free with our Student ID cards so the fact that this day trip was going to be "free", that sweetened the pot even more.

The decision to go to Lüneburg had come a day earlier, and after being recommended by some friends who had been to Germany before me to go there, I jumped on it immediately, but didn't do too much research ahead of time. I wanted to see and experience the town in a somewhat spontaneous manner. Yes, we looked up the train schedule to get there in good time, but that was about it. We got there, and first had to ask how to get to the city... The first place we saw was a bike shop, so I went in and asked the desk clerk "sprechen sie englisch?"...to be responded with "Nein"...that was when we knew we were in a somewhat remote place. Not everyone in Hannover speaks english, but this was different. Luckily, his coworker knew a little and was able to point us in the direction of the town square, we thanked them and proceeded in the direction he pointed. After not much time, we made it to the town part of Lüneburg, and our jaws dropped. When you picture old time Germany, this is exactly what comes to mind...it was perfect!

The guy at the bike store had given us a tourist map, and so we proceeded to walk around Lüneburg and see the sights from Churches and a Tower to the Rathaus (Town Hall) with sights of traditional german architecture along the way, Lüneburg was an extremely nice town. After a little while exploring, we sat down to eat at a German restaurant and I was curtly reminded that I was in Deutschland after politely asking if they had an english menu. The funny thing was that the guy proceeded to speak to me in German throughout the meal, probably thinking I was German... maybe? But may have had some American or British tourists with me?? I'm not sure, but its always strange when Germans continue talking after they know you dont speak the language, this has happened before. Many people since my arrival in Germany have been surprised to find out that I'm American, despite my obvious lack of European clothing style, they think I'm from Scandinavia or somewhere which is of course true of my ancestry but not of my birth. Anyways, the food was good, but took quite some time...and what was most upsetting was how long it took for the beer to arrive. The Lüneburg Pilsner, once brewed in one of Lüneburg's 80 original breweries (keep in mind that today it only has 75,000 people) but now produced in Hamburg, was certainly a nice authentic Lüneburg experience.

After lunch, we continued to explore the town. Even finding a dock to rest at along a nearby river, it really felt like we were back in time. Yes, Lüneburg had the modern conveniences of any German town (multiple H&M stores, a Starbucks, McDonald's, etc..), but it was the first time that I really felt like we could have been sitting in 19th century Germany. Despite only spending about 6 hours in the nice town of Lüneburg, it was by far my favorite experience thus far in Germany. Sometimes spontaneity can be superb!

The Lüneburg gang from LtoR: Nick Segner (Pennsylvania), Eli Karttunen (Michigan), Danny Liera (California)