Getting started — An Elegant Sufficiency

Though we'd got off to a cracking start from the moment we arrived in Hamburg yesterday, it was only after a good night's sleep that we felt we could really begin our trip in earnest.

We decided to spend the day to the east of Eutin, on the coast of Ostholstein and headed towards the large island of Fehmarn. The weather would determine how far we'd go and for how long we'd stay, for the forecast was none too promising. We headed initially for Heiligenhafen, where I recalled playing in a concert.

The name stayed in my memory as a result of a sticker: Heiligenhafen Festspiele, stuck to the one of my parents' suitcases that I'd brought with me to Eutin. They were none too happy about that but it remained there for as long as I remember and as a result, the name stuck too.

In the centre of Heiligenhafen this morning, the town square was covered with sand and a few Strandkörbe had been placed around and about.

There was also a little excitement, for a large fire engine made its way into the square and parked by the town hall. Whilst I awaited the arrival of my Hero who had been sorting out the parking ticket, one of the fire officers jumped onto the elevator platform and began to rise into the air.

Initially, the platform seemed to be going towards the large “maypole” structure in the square, but it began to turn and move towards the town hall itself, where a window was open on the top floor. Was this an exercise and was the brave fire officer going to rescue a maiden in distress? Well, no. Not this morning. Someone leaned out of the window for sure and seemed to be directing him to the gutter on the edge of the roof above, from where he picked something out of the gully and all was done. A birds nest? A tile that had slipped down the roof? Who knows? Excitement over, we decided it was time for coffee!!

Heilgenhafen is a holiday destination and the shops and the goods on sale here reminded me a lot of those we'd seen in Porthmadog recently: beach toys, souvenirs and gifts to take home.

One shop in particular caught my eye: Ostsee Bär. This store was selling a variation on the traditional “gummi bears”, made to their own recipe and in a variety of location appropriate flavours: creamed herring, anyone?!

The whole time we were in Heiligenhaften, it was threatening rain and as this part of Germany isn't known for tropical weather, I imagine you can guess a close translation of this gift box of gummies? Well, it makes a change from “thank you for feeding my cat” doesn't it?

Whilst I was making my choices - nothing as exotic as creamed herrings but lighthouses and sea buckthorn - the assistant came around with a variety of samples, each one more delicious than the last. So, I left with quite an armful (as did the others in the queue, waiting to pay) Only later, back at our hotel did I wonder why I hadn't bought a crab roll or a fish sandwich? I did, however, buy a bag of lugworms for a small boy at home :-)

Returning to Eutin “the pretty way” (the long way round) we drove through coast areas filled with hundreds of wind turbines, which made for a distinctive landscape. We were heading for Dahme, where we'd read of a pair of lighthouses that were worth a visit. Today was most certainly not a day for climbing up there for a view - it was rather misty and I doubt that we'd have seen much. But we were curious and so we headed for Dahmeshöved. It seemed pretty remote and we drove along some narrow stretches of road, the whole time encountering people on bikes, for this area is flat and well suited to pootling about on a bike.

We squeezed through a variety of lanes and small roads, eventually finding our way to the lighthouses. First, the original…

and then the supplementary tower, built as an observational device. Hmmm. Though they were certainly distinctive, they didn't seem especially noteworthy or attractive, especially given their surroundings…

Effectively, they were fenced off to the side of an untidy car park.

Having seen what we'd come to see, we made our way back through the narrow lanes again and returned to Eutin, in time to sample the ice cream at Karamba, too!

Each time we've passed this small ice cream shop not so far from our hotel, there has been an immense queue outside. The area between the shop and the lake (and our hotel) has been filled with people enjoying their many flavours too. But so far, we've not been here at a time appropriate for ice cream when the shop open was for business. At last, we made it and it did not disappoint! In fact, I think my Hero could have happily gone straight back in for a second, were it not for the fact that it was late afternoon and not so long till dinner ;-)

So thank you Eutin, for a second set of happy memories of a lovely small German town, set on a pretty lake.