Advent in Lübeck

Last night we went to the Weinnachtsmarkt for gluhwein and music. The goal was to attend a Christmas concert at the Marienkirche, the big cathedral in the middle of town.

Lübeck was founded in 1143, and work on the Marienkirche began about a 100 years later, completed in 1350. The concert there was everything I thought it would be: beautiful German Christmas carols sung by two choirs, accompanied by the massive pump organ. One was a boys' choir of adorable jungen in black robes and big white collars. They held real candles and music books and were allowed to hold both while walking from place to place in the cathedral, which they achieved with no one setting their friends or their music on fire. At one point they were stationed right next to us, and were so cute I was itching to snap a photo, but I didn't dare, as I didn't see anyone else taking pictures. The other choir was a male chorus, which started the concert with a Gregorian chant. Sitting in that lofty cathedral surrounded by music and art and seven centuries of souls will likely be the highlight of my Christmas.

The other highlight will be the gluhwein we had at the Weinnachtsmarkt before the concert.


Lübeck was the "capitol" of the Hanseatic League -- a trade organization of merchants -- for a few centuries, and spent some time as part of Denmark. Lübeck is known for its marzipan, its brick gothic architecture, its progressive politics, and its culture, which are some of the reasons we chose this city to live in this winter. I may have mentioned that the old part of the city -- the innenstadt -- is located on an island in the Trave River. The innenstadt is just short of a mile long and 6/10ths of a mile wide, which makes it easy to reach everything with a short walk.

Our furnished flat is at the northeast corner of the innenstadt, next to the Burgtor gate, which used to be the gate to the castle (now long gone). The flat contains one large room that doubles as our living room and bedroom, an eat-in kitchen, a bathroom, and a guest room, all clean and modern. We're on the second floor, above a goldsmith who is noisy sometimes, but who fortunately doesn't work at night. Our building is part of a small complex of old buildings -- formerly a vinegar factory long ago -- that our landlord, Peter, bought in 2009. He renovated the complex and now rents the buildings to a variety of businesses: the noisy goldsmith, a hairdresser, a tailor, a graphic artist, and a bistro that has live music every Wednesday night. We could crawl there and barely get our knees dirty! They all surround a courtyard with an herb garden and a fire pit in the summertime. I'll post some photos soon.