It was a fun trip to Flensburg but really,really tiring. Don't think I was really 100% up for it but I made it anyway. I walked an average of about 10-15 km each day around various areas. On the trip up my reserved seat on the ICE (freebie from Bettina's annual rail card points) I was on a table of 4 people . The other 3 people turned out to be from Toowoomba in South Queensland. A 4 Aussie table. Larf!! They were off to an agri-tech fare in Hannover. Nice guys. Bought me a coffee for helping them sort out their rail tickets with the conductor and what they needed to know.
When I got off the train in Flensburg I was talking to a young turk at the bus stop about best bus cards to buy when a young school girl came up to me and said," Your from Australia!" She was a year 12 exchange student from Auckland in New Zealand with 2 more months to go till her return to Sheepland. Anyway Chloe sorted me out with the right bus passes for 3 days and then rode with me quacking away all the way to my guest house at Seeewarte. I think the poor lassie was starved of english speaking people. Nice kid and a big help given how done in I was after the 6.5 hour trip up there. So a full day of new antipodean acquaintences.
The weather throughout my stay was mainly overcast and gray. Really consistent light rain for the last 2 days. Still I forced myself to walk through it all and covered lots of ground. I took a new pair of Blundies to break in as my old ones were letting in water after 5 years on the run here. Great boots. Never gave me an inch of trouble as always. The weather also really did not help a lot with my photos as I think my little Trip 35 struggles in the lower light a bit. I should have had the common sense to go up to a 400ASA film for the trip but I had gotten a good deal on Fuji 200 so I used that. The results were not too displeasing but the higher ASA would have given a bit more contrast in some of the shots.
Where I stayed was an old guest house called Seewarte. The guy who owns it Willie gave me a fantastic deal at 15 euros a night plus 6 euros more for a full breakfast each morning. It was a really quaint place with a lot of historical naval and shipping stuff around. The town is not so far from Rostock one of the largest U-Boat dockyards of the war years. So a lot of old navy relics on the walls. The place was warm, clean and friendly so I couldn't ask for more,
Willie's nephew Heinrich worked in Australia for a while. I found out he worked on the vineyards around Ballarat at Seppelts Wines and lived in town for 8 months. Larf larf larf again! He had designed and built up a really modern, ultra trendy cocktail bar under the guesthouse. Best in Flensburg he says. I would believe him. He mixed me a cocktail and threw in some beers as well. Win, win, win!!!
On the first night there it was very quiet given it was a Sunday. I found an old tudor / fachwerk pub in the city centre called Porticus 1740 where I managed to get in a couple of quiet beers. Ancient building with very, very low doorways. Ouch!!! They were holding their annual Skät card playing tournnament and although it was a closed function till 2030hrs they allowed me stay and watch and drink beer. Made for a very interesting Sunday night.
On one day I went out to see Schloss Glücksburg (Lucky Town Castle) which is a lovely water castle set on a lake. It was raining lightly and the inside of the castle was closed for the Winter but I walked the 5km right around the lake which was lovely. Wet but lovely.
Flensburg was the original trading port for rum,sugar, tobacco and spice woods from the Carribean. As a result they learnt to make their own rum and at one point had rum distilleries all over the town. Today there is only one left, Braaschs, which I visited for a small free tasting and bought some rum truffles which were to die for. It's the last dedicated full time rum distillery in Germany. http://www.braasch.sh/
They have two breweries in the town being Flensburger famous for their, "Plop", the sound there swing top bottle seals make when you open them. http://www.flens.de/ I visited the Plop Shop and scored some nice glasses for my collection. One was a free gift from the lady at reception. Cool. Hansens Brewery on the harbour is the northern most brewery in Germany and the meals they served were grotesquely large. My god I have never seen the likes. My roast pork had 9 slices about 1cm thick and about half a CD in size. A half litre of pickled red cabbage (rotkraüt) and a solid mountain of baked potato chips. I really could not eat more than a half before I started to feel like I was about to expire. A valiant effort even for a piggy like me. They make seriously good unfiltered beers which were extremely addictive. http://www.hansensbrauerei.de/.
The town is only 3km from the Danish border and as a result the last stop on the city bus line is just over the border in Denmark. I decided to ride to the end of the route and check it out. Typical border station. Three casino type places, a bunch of fast food take aways and a large bus parking area. Next town was 30km on and by bus in Danish krone far to expensive. For lunch I had a pair of fabulous danish hotdogs (bigger than a longboat) for 4 euros then got on the bus and went back to Flensburg. So yes, I've been to Denmark but only for a hotdog lunch. As you do.
The harbour is really quaint and has a wide variety of older sailing ship as well as steam boats which ply the fjord in the Summer months with tourists. I visited the Maritime Museum to get a feel for the historic background of the port. Their history going back to the Viking longboats and such is awesome. Really interesting. On the last evening in town I went to a small pub across the road from the guesthouse and ended up drinking beers with a guy called Rolf. We had a funny evening. Turns out later in the evening that he captains the big steamship from the main harbour around the fjord. The Alexandra. He said that if I do come back when they are operating I can visit the bridge and sit with him. I think that would be fantastic in an old steamer. Some times really nice things happen. Right place, right time. Arrrr Cap'n, Arrrrr Jim Lad !!
Long trip home and totally worn out but a nice experience to the land of the vikings.
Vikings - 3
Jimbo Shorthorn of the Long Glass -1
They took all my gold!
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