Coffee break pictures - N.Germany

Tekn on a recent nightmare drive from Hannover to Kiel in Northern Germany - pitch dark, force 10 side winds and driving snow accompanied by maniac fellow drivers who thought they could get home quicker by driving at ridiculous speeds - a couple of them didn't, we saw what was left of them when the police waved us past the accident (no photos of that). The light was rather difficult, to say the least, patches of sun, thick cloud, showers of snow, hail and rain so most shots have been converted to BW because I didn't like the colours.
The weather was lousy the morning after we arrived - this is down near the harbour on the northern side of the Kieler Förde (like a fjord but flat) 
http://gallery.leica-users.org/d/117459-1/_MG_7428-Edit.jpg
Stopped at Potter's Cafe in Lübeck on the way back home for a coffee (very good too) 
This is down by the River Trave, and shows typical Hanseatic architecture
http://gallery.leica-users.org/d/117462-1/_MG_7442-Edit.jpg
Lübeck was one of the richest towns of the Hanseatic League - this is a group of typical warehouses at the other side of the river. Today the city is better known for its marzipan. 
http://gallery.leica-users.org/d/117465-1/_MG_7443-Edit.jpg
Next coffee break in Lüneburg about half way between Kiel and Hannover - another formerly very rich city founded on the wealth of 'white gold' as salt was called at the time. Linked to, but not a member of the Hanseatic League, the value of salt for preserving food, particularly herring, was so immense (no refrigerators!) that Lüneburg held the Hanseatic League to ransom by refusing to provide salt for Baltic trading. 
http://gallery.leica-users.org/d/117468-1/_MG_7459-Edit.jpg
Red Brick Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque and Wilhelminian, Jugendstil - Lüneburg is packed with just about every architectural style there is. 
http://gallery.leica-users.org/d/117471-1/_MG_7460-Edit.jpg
The old harbour crane (powered by a treadmill) was actually still in use during the industrial revolution - it unloaded Germany's first ever steam locomotive from a barge on the , then navigable, River Ilmenau 
http://gallery.leica-users.org/d/117480-1/_MG_7470-Edit.jpg
The harbour basin ends at a weir which dammed the water for a group of flour mills on an island in the river, 25 years ago the area was almostr derelict, but has now been refurbished as a conglemerate of excellent restaurants, bistros and hotels. 
ttp://gallery.leica-users.org/d/117486-1/_MG_7472-Edit.jpg
A dazzling break in the weather lasted for about five minutes, enough for another view of the old harbour. 
http://gallery.leica-users.org/d/117483-1/_MG_7471-Edit.jpg
and the town hall, which is very untypical for N. German architecture an the tower IS strangely twisted. 
http://gallery.leica-users.org/d/117474-1/_MG_7467-Edit.jpg
Hope you like them - strange that the BW shots look darker in the gallery than in CS2 and Lightroom. 

C+C more than welcome
Cheers
Douglas




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