This day was the most anticipated of my trip. I was going to see an old friend, Ute, who I used to work with longggggggg ago. We worked together at Borders, so you know it was a few years.
Got a direct train from Lubeck, which was only a little late. I was going to walk to my hotel and meet Ute later, but when I was almost at the station, she messaged me that she would be picking me up. YAY!
We met, hugged, I loaded my stuff into her VW minivan and she took me on a tour of Kiel. There is a sea port, a military base, and, most importantly, a lock on the canal that connects the Baltic and North seas. She took me on a walk on the waterfront, and we stopped for lunch. I had an absolutely delicious potato soup with salmon...and a hot cup of tea. It hit the spot!
We then took a bit of a driving tour and ended up at the lock. I got to see some ships come through and the lock closing. Did I mention Ute leads tour groups from cruise ships that come through in the summer? So I got the professional tour guide experience. I learned some cool Kiel things...and forgot to take pictures! Oh well, I have to go back.
When it was time for my hotel check-in she dropped me off and she went to work for a bit. We made plans to meet up later and go to the markets.
After meeting up, we decided we needed to commemorate this with a selfie
Kiel is very decorated for the holidays. As a maritime city, you will see lots of nautical influence on the decor.
This extends to the reindeer pulling a ship through the sky over the market (instead of a sleigh) it was very fun!
The carousel was a prety one.
I really liked the market too. it was not too big or crowded and was very festive.
Somewhere along the line, Ute bought me a delicious gluwein. While enjoying it, I got pooped on by a bird. Lucky me!
There is also a gingerbread house decorating contest where you can vote for your favorite. There were some very cute ones.
After we'd seen the whole market, Ute put her tour guide hat on and offered to take me to the local Kiel brewery. Of course! They offered an option to try all of their beers (of which there are three). This is the German version of a flight...LOL
The light one was very refreshing. I did like the middle one the best, but the dark one was pretty good too. I did finish them all and Ute escorted me back to the hotel. No, I was not drunk...just a bit tipsy.
We planned the next day...for that, read on!
No comments:
Post a Comment