Mews

We're enjoying a few days of staying "home” before our next outing, which will be either to a small town in Poland to visit Gary's relatives, or to Hamburg for the flea market, depending on the weather. 

One nice thing about having a place to live while you're traveling is that you're not kicked out on the street with your suitcase every morning, like you are when you're constantly moving from place to place. With a home to call our own, our life has gotten a bit routine, in a "let's go for a walk again today, in a beautiful city full of ancient surprises" kind of way. Not a bad life. 

Some of the most interesting things in Lübeck are the mews, or courtyards, built between larger buildings. We discover new ones on each walk we take. Some are reached by tunnels so short that you have to bend over to walk through them, and some are gated and locked, but most are open. Some provide a secret way to cut through to the next strasse without going around the block, others are sweet dead ends. 

The purpose of these little courtyards was a money-making scheme by landlords in the 1600s, to develop the space between houses as the population boomed. There used to be 190 of these courtyards, and 90 still exist in Lübeck's innenstadt. The tiny buildings inside the tunnels and arches used to be booths for artisans as well as widows' homes, but now they seem to be mostly housing. Today we discovered one that contains a print shop and a little cafe with a courtyard. We have to imagine what they must look like in summertime, with all the flowers blooming. 

We're also checking out the cathedrals we come upon as we walk. Some were bombed in WWII and have very spartan interiors. The ones that were left undamaged are dripping with artwork. 

It's warm enough outside (high 30s F) that some of the cafes have outdoor seating, with propane heaters between the tables. We stopped at one for apfel kuchen and tee yesterday.